American Rhapsody

I enjoyed this movie more than the author of the highlighted review. I found the separations of family (real or surrogate) which take place several times in the movie very emotionally powerful.

I assume the director's family did move to Los Angeles - in any event it does provide the greatest disparity with the rural Hungary for the young girl. As an Easterner, I kept wondering if they had moved to the New England countryside - or to any older rural area or city in much of the rest of the country - whether the differences for the young girl would have seemed so stark.

I disagree with the highlighted review that suburban America of the 1950s was shown as cold - to the contrary the film shows neighbors welcoming the new family (even if, as I think quite realistic, they don't pay too much attention to the country they're from), friends gathering for barbeques, strangers returning little lost girls to their homes, children from different countries easily making friends. I thought America was shown as a pretty warm friendly place.

One problem I did have was that instead of finding the adolescent girl "typical" or acting as a result of her past, I thought she was a horrid brat - sullen, routinely refusing to speak when spoken to, flagrantly disobedient in leaving through windows too stay out through the night, drinking through the night with older boys, etc.

I didn't sense that this WAS due to the long ago difficulty of adjustment, but was instead this girl's spoiled nature, her willfulness, her lack of obedience. (Nor do I think of it as a consequence of living in America). I was therefore completely sympathetic with Kinski's despair - only by Goldwyn's slowness to anger over her wretched behavior. I kept wondering why the family wasn't physically disciplining the child and treating the adolescent's "I hate you" statements" with the contempt they deserved.

I also disliked the withholding of information about the particular motivation for Kinski to leave Hungary for later dramatic effect. Even if the event is true, it was something that could have happened anywhere in the world - and therefore not particularly a reason to leave one country rather than another. Moreover, there was suficient reason for the family to wish to leave Hungary in any event.

Nastassia Kinski and Tony Goldwyn were wonderful - as was everyone - particularly the surrogate mother, the grandmother and the child at the heart of the movie.

This is a moving film - I do wish it had received more attention. It's well worth your time and rental fee.

It is difficult to encompass this film in a few words. It is a compelling drama that is delicately crafted by the director and superbly acted by the entire cast. In those respects it is flawless. There are enchanting, and disturbing pictures of life in America and Hungary. The story is at once sad, and heartening. It is a film of contrasts, skillfully presented. It draws the emotions of the viewer along with it, and evokes genuine sympathies for all the characters. That is rare in any film.

A young girl is torn between her youthful memories of one world, and one set of parents, while trying to grow up in another world with her real family that she seems to barely know. She is caught emotionally between her memories of two diverse worlds. The conflicts come to a crisis when she is 16, and she decides that she must return to Hungary in order to resolve them. I was so enthralled by that premise, and the skill with which the story was crafted, that I was engrossed from start to finish. I'm not even sure if I blinked the entire time. The scenes on the Hungarian side paint a poignant picture of people trying to live under the hopelessness of the communist regime after the invasion by the Soviets in 1950.

Natassja Kinski is superb. Her role is a departure from past efforts but she, as always, delivers a sterling interpretation of her character. But Scarlet Johansson and Kelly Endresz Banlaki really steal the show. Their performances as Suzanne are understated and genuine. There are some minor plot flaws in "An American Rhapsody", but they are inconsequential compared to the superb emotional ride the story provides. Watch this one for the dramatic and irresistible acting.

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.

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.

The film was entertaining and touching, but what I liked most about it was its faithful recreation of the 1950s. Having grown up in that period, I don't think I've ever seen such a faithful recreation of that era on screen. I kept looking at the screen and sayin, "Oh my God, I remember that."