American Rhapsody

Moving take of family disconnection and loss as a result of war and politics. Although Scarlett Johanssen has a very strong performance as Zsuzane I feel the younger version played by Kelly Endresz-Banlaki was the standout performance. Conveying with few words the stories message and feeling of loss and confused definition of home. Well worth watching.

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 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."

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.