Slightly different Kino Eye this week. Wondering what seasonal gift to buy your film-loving friend? Try this new box set from Second Run, three rarely seen Hungarian classics: Merry-Go-Round (Zoltán Fábri, 1956), Current (István Gaál, 1963) and Angus Dei (Miklós Jancsó, 1970).
All three were important films when released and have stood the test of time. Merry-Go-Round captured the spirit of a people about to rise against their oppressors in 1956 with its effervescent, optimistic tale of a Romeo-and-Juliet love reaching across the barriers between collective farmers and private holders; István Gaál’s film is one of a number ushering in the Hungarian New Wave, partly inspired by films from France by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard; and Miklós Jancsó’s Agnus Dei is his idiosyncratic take on the failed 1919 Hungarian Revolution and its aftermath in a small Hungarian village.
All three films are beautifully restored with new sub-titles and highly informative booklets giving background information to the films (here I must confess I wrote the booklet for Merry-Go-Round). Both the Gaál and Fábri films were voted among the ten best Hungarian films of all time by a panel of Hungarian film journalists. Well worth the £39 cost: secondrundvd.com
