18/17
Most of the actors who play him are friends, students, or teachers of writer-director Gábor Reisz
Story
Abel is a high school student struggling to focus on his final exams while being madly in love with his best friend, Janka. Due to the subject matter of the film, the Hungarian government did not provide funding for the film, so it had a small budget and crew.
The basic premise is a bit far-fetched and it takes away from the story
There was a lot of hype around this film last year, which is not surprising since most directors in Hungary don’t deal with politics these days. I understand that the creators wanted to show how something small can blow up in today’s political climate, but it still makes the whole story feel a bit stilted.
And while there are some funny/sarcastic moments, overall it’s not even a comedy
One can clearly feel that the creators wanted to avoid insulting any side (right-wing conservatives or left-wing liberals), but as a result, the film seems very cautious. That said, there are some effective scenes that show how deep the political divisions in the country are.
I also liked the character of the ambitious right-wing journalist, but her performance could have been more complex
While the main character very effectively conveys how unpleasant adolescence can be for many, this character is too uninteresting to be remotely memorable. From this point of view, this film reminded me of Moszkva tér by Ferenc Török.
The most complex character in the film is probably the right-wing father, and I liked Isván Snamenák’s performance
Interestingly, in the early 1980s, this actor played the teenage lead in the Hungarian cult film Time Stands Still (Megáll az ido), which is full of memorable teenage characters.
