Liza, a rókatündér

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 best compares to the French movie Amelié, though it isn't quite as good, it is still unusual and interesting enough to be worth a watch and a warm recommendation to lovers of Amelié. Where Amelié was very French, this is a Hungaries film though it at least on the surface draws a lot more from Japanese culture than Hungarian. It gives it a nice charm of mixed cultures.

The humor is mixed, some good some that misses the target, but it does the job overall and can put a smile on your face unless you are too cynical. The main character is perhaps a little to clichéd naive, but that is also what drives the plot, so I will excuse it.

I originally had no idea what to expect. I just wanted to watch a movie & saw this had a rating over 7. So it couldn't be too bad could it? WOW! What a pleasant surprise!

Don't be scared off, even if you need subtitles. This was still some of the most fun I've had watching a film in a long time. That's saying a lot for something that is basically just a love story.

As the film's titles drop onto the screen, they are suspended by imaginary ropes and dangling to and fro. It lets me know right off the bat that this is a comedy even though the text is in a language I can't read.

It starts off with a fairly tale feel right away too but... we are soon introduced to a sequence with Japanese pop music. I found this and all the song and dance segments to be hypnotic. The music sounded great but what I really couldn't get enough of were the visuals. These were really beautiful for me to look at. (and I'm not normally a big fan of musical numbers in film).

As the story unfolded, we come to understand the legend of the Fox-Fairy. As an Anime fan I was hooked from that point on. There are some great sight gags all along the way. Some fun with the local Mekk Burger and even a little social commentary on the merits fast food.

They live happily ever after... those who manage to survive that is.

Apparently. Unbeknownst to me. Director Károly Ujj Mészáros, is some kind of love child of Guy Ritchie and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

If you get what I'm putting out there. You're going to love this movie. Some dark comedy and humor; good story telling, and fantastic characters; interwoven with Japanese Kitsune lore, and lots and lots of murder. All set in 1970's Hungary. Did I mention a curse, and Japanese fast food? In there too. Plenty of it... with murder.

It's a shame this kind of movie is a rarity these days. Just goes to show, good writing and storytelling beat out the CG filled crap we're fed these days.

Don't miss it. Really. Did I mention all the murder? :)

Liza the Fox Fairy follows a woman named Liza who is best friends with the ghost of a Japanese popstar. One day she gets cursed becomes a fox fairy, which means that anyone who falls in love with her will die.

I'm just going to get this out of the way, this movie is very unique. The concept alone should be enough to pique your interest. If it somehow doesn't, well, it makes me wonder who hurt you.

Putting the concept aside, how well is it presented? If you ask me, it's very well presented. For starters, the comedy is great. It's full of often dark, often goofy, often overly-anime-Japanese-ish comedy and everything still feels like it's in the right place. Yeah, I don't get it either. But trust me, the humor is pretty great.

The soundtrack is actually pretty good, and it adds yet another surreal-weird layer to the film.

The characters are weird and interesting, and fit the movie perfectly.

The whole movie is pretty unpredictable too, as it is a very unconventional movie so you as the audience really has no idea where it's going. Unless you've already seen it, of course.

Overall Liza the Fox Fairy is weird, but it's hilarious and unique and yet nothing about it is out of place. It's a movie you have to see to believe. In the end I would definitely recommend this movie.