Arrière-saison

Set during the Israeli trials of Adolph Eichmann, Late Season is a story about how ordinary Hungarians became complicit in the Holocaust and its continuing effects on the country a couple decades later. A stylishly experimental film, its tones veer between broad comedy and horror. The story is about a prank played by a group of elderly roustabouts that leads to man's confrontation with his actions during World War II. This seems like an odd subject to laugh about and the comedy does not always work. But the story, once it gets going, is absolutely riveting, and there are moments when it is genuinely funny. Fabri, the director, performs a lot of tricks, some of which work better than others. Various moments are sped up in an attempt to heighten the comedy (was there ever a time when people found sped up action funny? even in the silent era?) and there are a lot of freeze frames and cut shots. The sound direction is more successful. The soundtrack is spare and haunting and there are moments when individual noises are isolated on the track to heighten suspense. Not a perfect movie, but close enough to be essential viewing.