maczelkalaci Reviews

Üvegtigris 2. (2006)

I have seen much worse second parts before

[8/10 · 19 January 2006]

Üvegtigris 2, as its title shows is a sequel. As it is a sequel to a successful movie, I had high expectations, as well as fears when I bought my ticket for the movie. In the beginning, as I was sitting in the cinema and the characters came marching in, one by one, without any order I was scared. Csoki arrived with his old motorbike, carrying loads of beer and shouted "Easy Rider my bro!" as in the movie before. It seemed it would be nothing more than the first Üvegtigris re-told. But later the actor-director Péter Rudolf (Lali in the movie) came up with bright ideas, which went over the standard before: A funeral where the mayor's speech makes everyone laugh, the two stock-policeman characters, who try to run in front of their own speed cameras to exceed the limits themselves as no one is around. Scenes like these make the audience laugh. The most brilliant parts in the movie are the bits which look like music videos a'la Hungarian style. Being a bit like a "re-make" of the previous Üvegtigris, the movie fails to come up with a totally satisfactory effect on the audience. There is one thing, however that has a brilliant conception: the sense of being alone depicted. The sense that time has stopped, that nobody cares. With all their swears, all their jokes and easiness, the guys are a bunch of losers after all, stuck in the Hungarian reality. Watch it if you liked the first part, forget it if you did not!

Üvegtigris (2001)

A truly great Hungarian movie

[10/10 · 7 January 2006]

The Hero in Hungary does not arrive driving a super-car like a red Ferrari: he rides a Babetta, a Czechoslovakian funny motorcycle. But he is really riding in style. I really liked this movie and this was (as you may suspect) not because it had great technical solutions or unusual movie experiments in it. It was excellent because you do believe what the characters say or think, from the first take till the very last one Üvegtigris makes you aware of the ironic Hungarian world we are surrounded with. And even though it represents 'the great Hungarian reality' it never fails to be funny and make you think. In one word: this movie is a must see and I hope it will be known by vast audiences abroad soon.