An American Rhapsody

Anyone that is not moved after watching this movie might be related to the Grinch, having a heart that is 4 times too small to feel. Of all the crap that spews out of hollywood, we should be glad that they still make movies like this one. The acting was believable, and the story amazing. I can watch this movie over and over and not get sick of it. If you have not seen it, or thought it was a dud, watch it again with new eyes.

I saw "American Rhapsody," last night; it's the first film by a 50-ish Hungarian-born female filmmaker. It's features an amazing, personal, story of the early Cold War-era immigration to America of a Hungarian family, and it was really incredibly done. We love Scarlett Johansson ("Ghost World"), who plays the 15-year-old, but the girl who plays the lead character at age 6 is one of the most loveable child actresses ever, Nastassia Kinski as the mother is great, Tony Goldwyn, as the dad, is good, the pair who play the Hungarian rural couple (especially the man) are fantastic. Hungary and Budapest too play a key role. The movie will sicken you, somewhat, about the America-in-the-early-60s mentality (sicken you because you know how much a part of all of us it is). As one reviewer said, this is no State Department-backed immigration story. And it will make you fall in love with the Hungarian countryside. It's a terrific movie-going experience. I cried several times throughout.

Because of how little marketing and buzz the movie has generated, I fear it will come and go in a flash; that's why I issue this appeal.

By the way, don't go expecting great filmmaking techniques and perfect direction; it's her first movie and mistakes were made. But the experience, if you go in the right frame of mind, is great. It's in English.

A true story: While her parents and older sister flee Hungary a young girl is unfortunately left behind with her grand-mother who then ends up in prison. The young girl is adopted by a childless couple who adoringly bring her up until she is 5 or 6, at which point her grandmother takes her back to her real parents in the USA. The young child is very brave, but also confused, and never forgets her adopted parents. This story leaves you feeling desperate for all those involved. The scenes of the girl in her early years with her adopted parents are very powerful and poignant. They are so genuine and sincere in their love for the child and they hope she will never have to leave them, but deep down they know that some day it will happen, and it happens when they are least expecting it. I can't imagine the pain those two people went through, as well as the child, and yet there is more to come. I spent the whole film fighting back the tears, I was completely absorbed by the depth of feeling. Some have said this film was flawed in some aspects but I'm no film critic and I have to say that I was so involved with the story and first class acting that if it was flawed I didn't notice. It is slow-paced but justly so. I was happy with the ending and felt it resolved nicely.

A note about the acting which was superb throughout. I'm a big fan of Tony Goldwyn who is perfect in these roles. The young Suzanne was delightful and incredibly genuine as were the adopted parents that were so authentic. The teenage Suzanne was also very naturally interpreted and believable. All in all, a fine film.

We in the United States do not realize how spoiled we are with material things. I am 70 yrs old and remember the lst 10 years of my life, raised by poor farmer grandparents in the depression, having nothing.

Kids do not want to hear nor believe how spoiled they are. They want every new electronic gadget that comes unto the market whether they can afford it or not.They can't afford to fix their car, pay their bills, but they must buy a cell phone, a DVD, cable TV, go to the latest movie at the theater, go out to eat etc

This is a sad movie, but a great one. It shows the comparison between life in Hungary in the mid part of the 20th century compared to the same couple getting to the United States. I won't go into the plot. The little 5 yr old actress who starred in this movie was sensational.

We do not appreciate what we have in the U.S. either. We do not realize how material gadgets do not bring the happiness we thought they would. Please rent this movie...

Being the daughter of parents which also fled to American during the Cold War, this movie touched my heart. I watched it with my mother and two sisters. Since we all speak fluent hungarian, we did not need the subtitles which was a lot of fun, especially when we caught mistakes in the subtitles. The film brought back sad and scary memories to my mother. Tony Goldwyn did a good job speaking the language. The only criticism I have, is that it was unrealistic for the main characters to speak English as well as they did in such a short period of time. I doubt English was taught in the Hungarian schools back during that time. Also, it was not that easy starting a life in America at first. You had to work very hard and had very little, nothing was handed to you. The movie came across as though they lived comfortably quite easily and early on. Both my parents spent time in immigration camps in NY, which is were they met, they worked hard, scratched and clawed for everything they had. Not easy as it is now. Over all I liked the Film and still recommend it.