Happy Birthday (2003)
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Great Film overall
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
i have never watched a Hungarian comedy before and i am glad i did, it has set a mark for me and i might try to find of these great movies (and a very high mark that is as well). this fine Hungarian film is fresh and a great simple evaluation of a man who has failure to accomplish any of his dreams in life. the start may throw you off track and the ideas of reincarnation are faint and not well enough incorporated into the film, however are just a support act in to the cycle of ones life. unexpected in some scenes and information is sometimes abstract and this all the more adds to this scene of un-fulfillment and uncontentiveness with the present life style. it has excellent coverage of the country side and explores life and the equivalent of 'the great American dream' in modern Hungary. nice cinematography, beautiful and appropriate casting and a excellent representation of civil domestic failure of men in todays age. it was great!
If it's true that good Hungarian movies are a rarity these days (and it is), then good Hungarian comedies are about as common as snowmen in hell. BOLDOG SZÜLETÉSNAPOT! (Happy Birthday!) is a terrific little movie... a fresh script, great casting, excellent performances, production values, etc. A top-flight debut for director Csaba Fazekas. Worthy of special mention are Tamás Sas' cinematography and Eszter Ónodi's show-stealing work as Vera/Gyöngyi. See this one if you get the chance. (Seen at Magyar Filmszemle/National Film Festival, Budapest)