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Some period films come across as homages to classics of the past, while others play perilously on the edge of imitation. “Budapest Noir” definitely falls in the latter category, channeling any number of noir films, including “Chinatown,” with the usual stock figures: hard-boiled investigative reporter, femme fatale, corrupt officials, sleazy underbelly, and an urban landscape used as if it’s one of the main characters. It’s a tried-and-true formula, but to make it work there needs to be more than an ounce of originality, which editor-turned-director Éva Gárdos (“An American Rhapsody”) has a hard time locating in either András Szekér’s script or her own direction. Instead, the movie feels like the pilot for a period detective series, which might not be far from the truth since Vilmos Kondor’s novel launched fictional newshound Zsigmond Gordon as a recurring character.

As a fairly anodyne mystery, the film can be...