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.

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.

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.

In the Drama genre An American Rhapsody is a good movie. Not much action, but a story worth to be told. An emotional story about a kid left behind unwillingly by her parents in Hungary when everything went bad over there, and then to be raised by two lovely people before going to America. It was interesting to see a younger Scarlett Johansson and an older Natassja Kinski but the main star to me was the very young Raffaella Bánsági that did an excellent job playing her character. I saw it's the only movie she appeared in and I wonder why because for a child actress she did an amazing job. The movie has a good cast, and it's mostly dominated by the women that made this story a movie that will touch his viewers emotionally. Normally not the kind of movie I would go for but I certainly don't regret watching it.

I lived for five years in Budapest, from 1990-95, and I married a Hungarian woman, so I have a natural interest in Hungarian-themed films. I enjoyed this thoroughly. True, the ending was a bit abrupt and sappy, but I thought it was a nicely made film all in all. Well acted, especially by Scarlett Johansson and Kelly Endresz-Banlaki, who both played the central character of Suzanne/Zsuzsana at ages 15 and 6 respectively.

Natashia Kinski played well, too, and has aged gracefully, playing a woman in her into her late 30s or early 40s I suppose. I was particularly impressed by her, Johansson's and Tony Goldwyn's apparent mastery of Hungarian, no easy language, I can assure you. Much of the film is set in Hungary with Hungarian subtitles (and alternately in America in English). I speak it only moderately well, so perhaps a real Hungarian would criticize the accent, but to me to whole blending of cultures and settings was surprisingly authentic and compelling. It really captured the time and places for me.