News

In 1942, Iveta Grófová’s film “The Hungarian Dressmaker” depicts Slovakia during World War II. The Slovak-Hungarian border region pulses with national tensions and political conflict. The Nazi-backed Slovak state creates an environment where personal identity crumbles under oppressive systems.

Marika, a widow with Hungarian roots, struggles after her dressmaking salon closes. Her life exists in a delicate balance until she encounters Šimon, a Jewish boy. By choosing to protect him during dangerous times, Marika transforms her vulnerable situation. Her choice introduces intense personal and political complexity to her world.

The film explores how individuals survive amid extreme social pressure, revealing the quiet courage of those who resist during dark historical moments. Marika’s protection of Šimon becomes an act of profound human connection against a backdrop of systemic violence and division.

Plot Overview: The Fragility of Survival in a Divided World

Grófová’s film centers on Marika, a widow in...

The perpetual Netflix cull continues, though rather than unceremonious cancellation, the streamer will instead be removing several of its own “original” television shows. The dream of streaming first began with the idea that there would be no ads, and that these new studios could create and license their own projects free of the Hollywood system. Sadly, the dream seems to be slowly dying, with the addition of platforms removing their own TV shows being just the next step in the inevitable demise of streaming.

The first Netflix original on the chopping block is the Hungarian romantic drama On Body and Soul, which boasts a hugely impressive 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The series will be leaving Netflix on February 2, 2025, (via What's on Netflix) meaning you don’t have long to catch up on this tale of a man and a woman who meet at work and slowly begin to realize that they...

The Hungarian Dressmaker, Slovakia’s official submission to the Academy Awards for best international feature film, is more apt than ever, says its director and writer, Iveta Grofova.

Through interpretation by translator Jakub Tlolka, the filmmaker shares her insight into spotlighting a specific part of political history with the World War II drama, which screened in Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s main Crystal Globe competition and stars Alexandra Borbely. “I found it very important to highlight the subject again,” Grofova says during a recent THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media. Marika (Borbely), a Hungarian widow dressmaker, shelters a Jewish boy in her home on the Slovak-Hungarian border. Adapted from Peter Kristufek’s book Emma and the Death’s Head, the movie takes place during the turbulent years of the Nazi-aligned Slovak state, forcing Slovakians to confront a dark era of their past that many, Grofova says, would prefer to forget.

Slovak director Iveta Grofova says she became fascinated with one of the darkest periods in her country’s recent past when she read Peter Kristufek’s book “Emma and the Death’s Head,” which tells the story of Marika, a Hungarian widow who shelters a young Jewish boy in her home.

Set near the Hungarian border during WWII in the Nazi puppet Slovak state, the novel embraces the imagery of the Death’s Head Moth, whose pattern reflects the same skull adopted by the Nazi SS, to force readers to confront a period Grofova says most Slovaks would prefer to forget.

This was part of the appeal of adapting it for the screen, she says – but what really interested her was the perspective of Marika and impossible decisions she would be faced with. Thus, “The Hungarian Dressmaker,” as she called her film, screening in the Karlovy Vary fest’s main Crystal Globe competition,...

Each December, we invite Notebook contributors to pair a new release with an older film they watched for the first time that year, creating a “fantasy double feature.” In practice, this offers something like a collective viewing diary, speaking to the breadth of moving-image art and the imagination of our writers. Even a quick scroll through this year’s doubles—dreamed up and defended by over 60 Notebook contributors—reveals an inspired bounty. Where else would you find Ulrike Ottinger on a bill with Adam Curtis or Jackass Forever?Our annual poll, now in its fifteenth year, is less about anointing the best than it is about bottling the year’s energy. What unexpected resonances arise between the past and present?CONTRIBUTORSArun A.K. | Jennifer Lynde Barker | Juan Barquin | Margaret Barton-Fumo | Rafaela Bassili | Joshua Bogatin | Anna Bogutskaya | Danielle Burgos | Adrian Curry | Frank Falisi | The Ferroni Brigade | Soham Gadre | Lawrence Garcia | Sean...

From Vertical Entertainment, The Affair, starring Carice van Houten, Hanna Alström, and Claes Bang, is now available in select theaters and on VOD services. This period piece hearkens back to classical World War II dramas, with powerful performances from its cast, and is definitely worth your time. It's admittedly outside of the Daily Dead wheelhouse, but with Claes Bang's version of Dracula being one of my favorite performances of the infamous vampire ever, I reached out to see if he'd be up for talking about both Dracula and The Affair. Thankfully, he was very excited to discuss both roles in our video interview you can check out below!

The Affair Synopsis: "In 1930s Czechoslovakia, newlyweds Viktor and Liesel Landauer are filled with optimism and happiness in their new home. But all too soon, extramarital temptations bring out their darkest secrets and desires. As Liesel turns to her sensual friend Hana...

Simon Mawer’s 2009 historical novel “The Glass Room” was well-regarded on both sides of the Atlantic, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and seemingly destined to be filmed sooner rather than later. It was, after all, a decades-spanning saga of illicit desire, betrayal and riches-to-rags survival against the shifting backdrop of the Holocaust and the rise of Communism in the former Czechoslovakia. You wouldn’t guess its lofty origins from watching its eventual adaptation as “The Affair,” and not just because Mawer’s tale is now hidden behind the most generic title imaginable — as if placed in witness protection, to prevent any parties interested in its former identity from finding it. Despite a fine Continental cast and gleaming production values, Czech helmer Julius Ševčík has made a muddled, maudlin hash of what ought to have been a sure thing; limping to a U.S. release two years after its European premiere,...

The Affair Trailer — Julius Sevcik‘s The Affair (2019) movie trailer has been released by Vertical Entertainment. The Affair trailer stars Hanna Alström, Carice van Houten, Claes Bang, Alexandra Borbély, Martin Hofmann, Petra Buckova, Olga Plojhar Bursikova, Brian Caspe, Kevin Michael Clarke, Karel Dobrý, Zuzana Fialová, and Jim High. Crew Andrew Shaw and Simon Mawer wrote [...]

Continue reading: The Affair Trailer: Carice van Houten & Hanna Alström Have a Forbidden Love During WWII in Julius Sevcik’s Movie...

"He doesn't deserve you..." "I know." Vertical Entertainment has released an official US trailer for an indie drama from Czechia titled The Affair. The film's original release title is The Glass Room, and it first opened in theaters in Czechia in 2019, but it's only now getting an official US release. Set in the 1930s in Czechoslovakia before WWII, the film is indeed about an "affair". Liesel Landauer and her friend Hana are linked by a lifelong relationship and an exceptional house built by the architect Von Abt for Liesel and her husband Bikto. The film's stunning cast features Hanna Alström, Claes Bang, Carice van Houten, and Alexandra Borbély. It looks like a dark, mysterious noir suspense thriller more than a romance, but the fiery passion is definitely in there, too. It seems like the performances are good, not sure about the rest of it. Here's the official US trailer (+ two...

Golden Bear winner takes home five awards.

The 2018 Hungarian Film Awards were presented in Budapest this weekend, with Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body And Soul winning both best film and best director.

The Golden Bear-winner, which also earned a best foreign language film nomination at this year’s Oscars, won five awards in total.

It also took home best screenplay, best actress for Alexandra Borbély and best supporting actress for Réka Tenki.

The awards were handed out by the Hungarian Film Academy at the Vígszínház theatre in Budapest on 11 March.

The best actor award went to Péter Rudolf for his...

"Is it possible that two people dream the same thing?" Netflix has released a new official Us trailer for the Hungarian romantic drama On Body and Soul, which is one of the Best Foreign Language Film nominees at the Academy Awards this year. It completely deserves this nomination, it's such an outstanding, tender, heartfelt film. Directed by Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, this tells the story of two shy people who work at a slaughterhouse in Hungary. They both have the same dream - where they are deer in a forest - and when they discover this, they try to figure out how to be together, but it's not easy in real life. Alexandra Borbély stars as the woman, Mária, and Géza Morcsányi as the man, Endre. I just watched this recently thanks to Netflix and totally loved it. Please take a moment and see this film, it's good for your heart & soul.

Netflix isn’t exactly known for adventurous film programming, but their February lineup is even more geared toward comfort cinema than usual — not that we’re complaining. The world is a cold place these days, so it’s worth celebrating life’s small pleasures; say what you will about the state of our union, but we now live in a world where you can watch “Ocean’s Twelve” on your watch. Steven Soderbergh’s criminally underrated masterpiece is only one of the reliable standbys coming to the streaming giant this month: the heist sequel is joined by a Martin Scorsese classic, Quentin Tarantino’s two best movies, a current Oscar nominee for Best Foreign-Language Film, and more.

Here are the seven best films coming to Netflix this month.

7. “Mute” (2018)

Full disclosure: We haven’t actually seen Duncan Jones’ new film yet, but anything from the visionary director of “Warcraft” deserves...

Ildikó Enyedi's On Body and Soul (2017) is having its exclusive online premiere on Mubi in the United Kingdom. It is showing from November 17 - December 17, 2017.Sex and violence are probably considered to be the most hotly contested controversial topics in film, from the hand-wringing parent who worries about exposing their kids too soon to blood and gore to governmental censorship boards editing out onscreen kisses. This isn’t to say that extreme levels of gore and gratuitously hardcore sex don’t merit discussions (see anything from the New French Extremity genre to the perennially talked about Baise-Moi). But there is, however, another film “quality” that ignites ire and repulsion faster than a close-up of an exploding head or a cut-to of cunnilingus: whimsy. Whimsy, that which is held to be quaint, playful, heartfelt and sweet, is often derided as superficial, saccharine. And, to be fair, it often is. Having...

A Hungarian love story set in an abattoir uses startling juxtapositions to beguiling effect

Cinema might be guilty of creating many of the cliches of romance, but, occasionally at least, it also destroys them. And this year brings two particularly strong examples of the latter. On Body and Soul, the Berlin Golden Bear-winning account of two outcasts who find love in a Hungarian abattoir, might not have the showy impact of Guillermo Del Toro’s forthcoming The Shape of Water (mute cleaner hooks up with fish monster) but the pictures share two things. Both combine the fantastic and idiosyncratic to beguiling effect; both rewrite the rules that govern who is deemed worthy of love in the movies.

The two main characters in On Body and Soul are Endre (Géza Morcsányi), the reserved manager of a slaughterhouse who hides his emotions along with his useless left arm, and Maria (Alexandra Borbély...

“The Other Side of Hope”

Winsome, sweet, and often very funny, the second chapter of Aki Kaurismäki’s unofficial trilogy about port cities is a delightful story about the power of kindness that unfolds like a slightly more somber riff on 2011’s “Le Havre.” The Finnish auteur’s latest refugee story begins with a twentysomething Syrian man named Khaled (terrific newcomer Sherwan Haji), who escapes from Aleppo after burying most of his family and sneaks into Finland by stowing away in the cargo hold of a coal freighter. His path eventually crosses with Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), a newly single restauranteur who could use a helping hand. Part Roy Andersson and part Frank Capra, “The Other Side of Hope” deepens the director’s recognition of how immigrants and refugees are victimized by their invisibility, and its timeliness could help it strike a chord with domestic audiences. “Le Havre” grossed more than...

“On Body and Soul” opens with the tender, lyrical image of a deer and buck wandering across a snow-encrusted landscape. With time, it’s revealed that these affectionate animals represent the shared perspectives of dreamers Endre (Géza Morcsányi), the middle-aged manager of a Hungarian slaughterhouse, and Mária (Alexandra Borbély), his much younger employee. Their inexplicable ability to join together in animal form after hours could easily turn absurd or painfully maudlin in the wrong hands. And it nearly does that, but writer-director Ildikó Enyedi mostly gets away with the outrageous scenario, injecting it with a touching, understated romanticism epitomized by that magisterial opening moment. Despite its otherworldly setup, “On Body and Soul” is grounded in familiar emotions.

Read More: Berlin Film Festival: Golden Bear For Best Film Goes to “On Body and Soul”

Enyedi’s name may not resonate around the world, but she’s been on the scene for quite some time,...

It’s one thing to give your movie a title as sweepingly ambitious as On Body and Soul, but quite another to deliver something equally transcendent. With this competition entry from Hungary, we saw some encouraging signs of artistic experimentation on the first full day of the Berlin Film Festival that’s sorely missing from the opening night presentation, but a home-run is still elusive.

The film opens with shots of two deer roaming, gently grazing against each other in a snow-capped forest. It’s a lovely sight not just for the natural grandeur and inherent serenity of wildlife, but also the camera’s intense focus, describing the texture and temperature of the scene in great detail. This quietly evocative introduction, which would prove to be a recurring theme and much more than mere decoration, leads to a montage of animals in captivity, waiting to be butchered and men, resting...

After Sundance Film Festival concludes in late January, the next big cinematic event on the globe is the Berlin International Film Festival. With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, they’ve now announced their first line-up of titles, including Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope (pictured above), Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party (pictured below), and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, as well as a restoration of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder TV show.

Check out the first titles below, and return for our coverage from the festival.

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul)

Hungary

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour

Romania/Germany/France

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti,...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among Competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Festival veteran Kaurismäki will debut new film The Other Side Of Hope about a Finnish travelling salesman who meets a Syrian refugee.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the film looks at at how far parents will go to protect their children.

Oscar-nominated Holland, who was nominated for the Golden Bear in 1981, will be at the Berlinale with crime-drama Pokot.

Potter returns to Berlin with ensemble comedy-drama The Party starring Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and [link...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny.

Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama The Queen of Spain, starring Penelope Cruz, will get its international premiere in the Berlinale Special strand.

More to follow…

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul) (Hungary)

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour (Romania / Germany / France)

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni, Vlad Ivanov

World premiere

Beuys - Documentary (Germany)

By Andres Veiel ([link...