Taxidermie

• Don't watch this while eating
• Don't watch this with other people
• Don't watch this if there's even just a risk of people walking past the screen while it's on
• Don't watch this if surgery scenes make you squeamish
• Don't watch this if taxidermy creeps you out
• Don't watch this if full nudity makes you uncomfortable
• Don't watch this if you hate scenes where people vomit on-camera

If you can prepare for/ handle all of the above, then do watch this, because it's.... something, alright.

György Pálfi's second feature length movie is Taxidermia, which is about three generation of a family, and all of them has something very peculiar about them: the first one is a horny officer, his son is a very big sport-eater, and his job is very important of him. The third isn't special in any ways, but wants to be. He's very skinny, and there is nothing important about him. His relationship with his father is not very balanced: they diverge from each other in every possible way. But he's secretly planning something, from what he will be famous of... Nothing in Hungarian cinema's history can be compared to this. Not a single Hungarian movie was as violent as this one is sometimes. In some scene it reminded me of Pasolini's Salo. But the disgusting and the violent scenes are all meaningful; probably they are a perverse, misshapen mirror of the society. We can't say, that the leading characters are perverted, because everybody is as much perverted, as the ones we see. Fortunately this unique movie is presented by a big amount of humor - and we simply can't take the characters totally seriously. Taxidermia is a milestone in Hungarian film-making, and was worth every single cent of the Sundance money, from which it was made.

Oh my god! I just got out from seeing Taxidermia at MIFF 2006 and I was literally speechless. As I was one of the first to leave the theatre, I took it upon myself to stand out the front and watch the expressions on the faces of other patrons as they exited. Most were laughing in disbelief at what they had just seen, some were white as ghosts and some looked plain baffled. Whatever way you look at it, Taxidermia will certainly make a strong impact on you.

I saw Gyorgy Palfi's "Hukkle" a few years ago at MIFF and although that was an interesting film, he's really excelled himself with Taxidermia. One thing's for sure, you'll need a strong stomach to watch Taxidermia a) for the gore & b) cause you're gonna laugh your head off! Outstanding cinema! 10/10

Beginning in World War II-era Hungary, two soldiers stay at a remote country home. The sexually frustrated soldier Vendel (Csaba Czene) concerns himself with myriad masturbation techniques while watching his commanding officer's wife and daughters. The product of his frequent seed spillage, Kálmán (Gergo Trócsányi), grows to comfort his country as a champion eater. While the International Olympic Committee refuses to recognize his sport, Kalman remains stolid and captures the heart of Gizella (Adél Stanczel), a fellow female champion. Their heir, Lajos (Marc Bischoff), has not inherited an ounce of his parents' impressive girth. This sickly lad lives a life of quiet desperation as a taxidermist. A disappointment to his corpulent father, Lajos finds a few lucky solutions to solve his problems.

Following these three generations of fairly twisted fellows, TAXIDERMIA is light on plot but heavy on visuals. Visceral often to the point of being gross, few bodily fluids and orifices go unseen in Palfi's sophomore feature effort. Recommended.

Gyorgy Palfi's second feature Taxidermia is definitely a milestone in Hungarian film-making, it is a truly astonishing experience and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone wanting to broaden their taste for cinema. I found the film to be a deep black comedy with some stomach churning, twisted scenes intermixed with beautiful artwork and sophomore characters.

Through chronicling the lives of three generations of one family (a soldier from the Second World War, a sportsman and a taxidermist) each is shown to have their own perverse and distorted lifestyle which is cleverly exhibited through (among other approaches), myriad masturbation, excessive gluttony, deformation, dismemberment and taxidermy. In this film Palfi has created a deviant and anomalous world and, via his own talented cinema techniques, has managed to depict it in a shrewdly reflective manner i.e. he holds a mirror up to our own. Those familiar with European cinema will be able to reminisce with the many influences on show, with some scenes even harking back to Pasolini's epic, Salo - this is also combined with many other surreal influences. Some would argue that Taxidermia is a gory, violent and unnecessarily eccentric film but it is all necessary in serving its narrative and is not present for titillation purposes - as is so often found in some of the more contemporary European cinema.

Generally I feel that Taxidermia tells of a society in which defect, sleaze and dishonesty serves its creators own personal vision or goal to further themselves and that this search justifies everything, regardless of how twisted or harmful. In addition to this journey Taxidermia presents the audience with some of the ugliest and darkest places of the human mind. Without saying anymore, I would even go so far to say that Taxidermia is one of the greatest feats of 21st century movie-making.