Liza, a rókatündér

This movie starts like a fairy-tale, and retains this style throughout: Liza is a simple young (well, she's hitting 30) girl who hasn't found her dream prince yet. She's working in a fictional Budapest as a live-in nurse for an elderly lady, who teaches her Japanese because she used to be the wife of the Japanese ambassador. Did I mention that it's a very complex fairy tale? Simple Liza reads her favourite Japanese novel over and over, listens to J-Pop and dreams about meeting her prince over a crab burger, just like in the novel. One day, a Japanese pop star from the Sixties appears to her, and they both shake it out. Liza manages to get two hours off to go to a burger joint, which is the closest thing to the crab burger joint of her dreams. While she's gone, her ward dies, killed by the only seemingly innocuous spirit of a Japanese pop singer, Tomy Tano. Liza inherits the flat, but the evil spirit is now jealous of her quest for a dream lover. Many good men, and some mediocre ones, die, and Liza's only explanation for this is that she is a fox-fairy, a Japanese mythological figure of a young, attractive woman who is inevitably killing off all of her suitors ...

This is a very odd, very complex and very well made movie in the style of Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain about a young woman finding happiness. I especially enjoyed the subcosmos of equally erstwhile as well as fictional J-pop star Tomy Tano, he seemed to be living in an eternally hip and fun world of great tunes and swinging moves.

Finally a Hungarian movie on an international level.

If you like movies made by Wes Anderson, you will like this too.

A very strange story about a naive girl, who is looking for the love of her life, put in scene beautifully.

Normally I don't like Hungarian movies, because all of them still try to solve the trauma caused by the communists, but Liza is different.

Although the set design reminds me to the communistic design of the 70's, it fits the story completely and doesn't lessen the experience. Rather the opposite.

If you have the chance to watch it, you have to!

Had to write this after seeing a cruddy review from some local misery guts who waffled on forever and ever about how bad it was. Long reviews are generally an indicator of little to say along with a sense of self importance. Well Liza was a great film in my opinion. The movie, if fantasy fairy tales are your thing, is a well written, beautifully visualised and made European film. There aren't reams of dialogue to put off those who don't like subs, just enough to move the plot and produce gags. The casting is faultless. God bless the Hungarians for financing it's production. To invoke the awful Hollywood cliché that invariably stops me from seeing movies, it is a 'Timeless Classic', Much like 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. I recommenced it, it's funny and entranced me and will do many others for decades.

This movie has a touch of the trend setter "The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain" in regards to the heroine who is a very naive and bit weird girl living in the big city in her own special world -this time in Budapest not Paris- without really knowing how the things are working in the "grownups" jungle gym. She barely gets out of the apartment where she lives till the day comes.... But it is definitely not a remake and has its own unique easily lovable atmosphere.

In general it is a really nice romantic movie with loads of special design elements /mimicking/ the 60s, sarcastic humor and twists in the story to make it absolutely enjoyable for both parties of the randevu not only for the ladies.

For me that's the kind of movie I can recommend for those friends of mine to see a different kind of movie who would never go for an "art film".

Liza, the Fox-fairy is one of the most pleasant surprises I ever had watching a Hungarian movie. The cinematography and scenery were beautiful, the actors did an excellent job. The idea of adding Japanese pop culture and mythology to a fictional capitalistic 70's Hungarian scenery might seem a little far fetched at first, but it really works well. The story was captivating.

Most reviewers mention Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'Amélie' and Wes Anderson's movies as probable inspirations. I have to agree, but these influences are not explicit at all, they stay on a vibe level. Also I have to add, it's way darker than those movies and that it has more of a 'Delicatessen' mood, (also) a Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro movie.

Anyway, if you like weird love stories with dark twists and dark humor you should definitely give this movie a chance.