An American Rhapsody (2001) User Reviews

Nice, sentimental drama, true to life

[bruner123 · 7/10 · 27 February 2002]

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.

Entertaining---great recreation of the 1950s

[cherylread · 7/10 · 25 November 2002]

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."

Good movie of a story worth to be told.

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 5 July 2020]

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.

A Wonderful and Moving Film

[teuthis · 1 March 2003]

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.

A film, lost in translation, that made me see 'Lost in Translation'

[Weredegu · 7/10 · 1 February 2007]

Experienced Hollywood editor of Hungarian origin Eva Gardos threw this movie together more or less about her own life for her first feature film direction. One unfortunately has to be suspicious about any such first film a director puts together about his or her own life. Few could pull that off to produce a masterpiece. The tale, surely a moving, intriguing, even fascinating one, is not told too well. Still I will recommend this film for two BIG reasons. If you're not interested in what I deem to be problems with the film, move on to the last para.

The language problem, the constant dilemmas the film-makers had to face about when to use dubbing, when not (also depending on which market you want to sell on), when a character should be speaking in American English, in English with a Hungarian accent, in Hungarian with an English accent or Hungarian, obviously must have posed a great difficulty in handling the task of story-telling, and would have made suspending disbelief a bit more difficult for the audience anyway. But English with a Slavic accent as English with a Hungarian accent really doesn't work well when you hear it. OK, for an American with no Hungarian connection it can be alright. But there were problems if you put yourself beyond this, too. Beside errors in telling the story, the Hungary showed in the movie is just not real. It's interesting that among the comments so far I have only seen a guy from Kent (the UK) point that out, even contrary to some others who found the atmosphere of the Hungarian scenes authentic. I have felt neither the political situation get across to the viewer, nor local culture being authentically presented. Altogether, the mood of the era is not captured at all, not translated to the mainly American audience that may still, of course, feel as though it would be.

So why would I still recommend the film? On the one hand Eva Gardos doesn't do justice to herself, for the story is really damn interesting. Not just because of the role history plays in it, but because you have women in the focus here and so you're guaranteed to see strong female characters. Or not exactly guaranteed, for I have seen films with women in the focus end up differently, but in 'American Rhapsody' this is something that actually works well. It's primarily one person's responsibility I believe. She is the other reason you have to check this movie out. After the film I looked up her name on IMDb, thinking it was time for some talent-spotting. 'Scarlett Johansson' – OK, I decided to remember the name. Next week one TV channel played 'Lost in Translation'. She was in it, so I decided to watch it. Just guess if I started disliking her after that… :-). I'll help you out. Whenever I walk across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge here in Budapest I think with amazement of her having walked across there in 'American Rhapsody'.

Touching Film

[Brice209 · 7/10 · 13 March 2011]

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.

Desperately poignant

[JCR-4 · 9/10 · 19 November 2003]

A true story: While her parents and older sister flee Hungary a young girl is unfortunately left behind with her grand-mother who then ends up in prison. The young girl is adopted by a childless couple who adoringly bring her up until she is 5 or 6, at which point her grandmother takes her back to her real parents in the USA. The young child is very brave, but also confused, and never forgets her adopted parents. This story leaves you feeling desperate for all those involved. The scenes of the girl in her early years with her adopted parents are very powerful and poignant. They are so genuine and sincere in their love for the child and they hope she will never have to leave them, but deep down they know that some day it will happen, and it happens when they are least expecting it. I can't imagine the pain those two people went through, as well as the child, and yet there is more to come. I spent the whole film fighting back the tears, I was completely absorbed by the depth of feeling. Some have said this film was flawed in some aspects but I'm no film critic and I have to say that I was so involved with the story and first class acting that if it was flawed I didn't notice. It is slow-paced but justly so. I was happy with the ending and felt it resolved nicely.

A note about the acting which was superb throughout. I'm a big fan of Tony Goldwyn who is perfect in these roles. The young Suzanne was delightful and incredibly genuine as were the adopted parents that were so authentic. The teenage Suzanne was also very naturally interpreted and believable. All in all, a fine film.

Lost in Paradise

[vovers1 · 6/10 · 3 December 2020]

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.

Must-see movie about family, place ...

[TimmyMaplewood · 10/10 · 2 September 2001]

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.

A girl torn between two families, and two countries.

[joposa · 7/10 · 22 July 2007]

This autobiographical film by director Eva Gardos is about a troubled teen who was reunited with her birth family in the U.S. after spending the first six or so years of her life with a couple in her native Hungary. Her birth parents fled communist persecution in Hungary, but couldn't take the infant out of fear she would cry, and alert the communist authorities. They intended to retrieve her shortly thereafter, but matters were complicated, and she remained. After a few years had gone by and she had grown to love her surrogate parents, the first ones she ever knew, she was taken from them somewhat deceptively by her grandmother. As a teen, she longs to return to her native land to see her surrogate parents, if only for a visit.

The film is touching, both sad and joyous, but I was a little disappointed that there were no references, at least that I caught, of the Hungarian revolt against the Soviets in 1956, one that was brutally crushed by the invading Red Army.

One thing that led me to this movie, which I purchased on DVD, was that I read that Hungarian actress Eva Soreny was in it, albeit very briefly. She's the elderly waitress in the first scene that takes place in America, in L.A. She has quite a story of her own, worthy of a full-length feature film, a story that mirrors The Sound Of Music. She was forced to flee her native land with her family following the 1956 revolt after communist authorities told her of their interest in using her for propaganda purposes, since she was regarded as Hungary's premiere actress of that era. Her story is told in an episode of the 1950s-60s TV series The Armstrong Circle Theater, entitled "The Hunted: The Eva Soreny Story", in which she plays herself. After coming to America, she had a few other acting jobs, mainly guest appearances in TV series. I saw her in The Twilight Zone (episode:Mute) and Family Affair (A Waltz From Vienna). As far as I know, as of this writing, she is still alive at age 90.

Dreadful

[Teebs2 · 3/10 · 21 March 2004]

I had to pinch myself when I read a previous review calling this a profound cinematic work of art! I just hope that reviewer hasn't seen many films in order to make that statement. This is worse than most TV or direct to video films and respected critic Roger Ebert gave it three stars!?. The direction starts off promising. The escape from Communist Hungary is recreated in black and white that has the look and feel of an old film but after this it descends into mediocrity with a strong reliance on flashback and heavy-handed symbolism. The acting is pretty average all around except Scarlett Johanssen whose portrayal of the teenage Suzanna was good given the limitations of the script, which is pretty limited. What lowered it below being an average, sentimental TV drama was a general lack of respect for the history and culture of Hungary. The representation of 1960's Hungary is dreadfully inaccurate with various factual errors. Although much of the Hungarian scenes were shot on location in Budapest, the rural scenes were suspiciously Romanian. Much of the language was blatantly an English script translated, and therefore the Hungarian language is often used inaccurately and unrealistically, particularly the phrase "I love you" which is not said in the same way as in the English language. The final insult is that much of the "traditional" Hungarian music in the background wasn't actually Hungarian but of Slav origin. Although apparently a vaguely autobiographical story of Eva Gardos, the director, this film shows remarkable ignorance to it's subject matter. Not recommended and certainly not an example of a "new dimension" in filmmaking by any standards.

All people under the age of 60 should watch this movie

[boots-15 · 9/10 · 9 August 2002]

We in the United States do not realize how spoiled we are with material things. I am 70 yrs old and remember the lst 10 years of my life, raised by poor farmer grandparents in the depression, having nothing.

Kids do not want to hear nor believe how spoiled they are. They want every new electronic gadget that comes unto the market whether they can afford it or not.They can't afford to fix their car, pay their bills, but they must buy a cell phone, a DVD, cable TV, go to the latest movie at the theater, go out to eat etc

This is a sad movie, but a great one. It shows the comparison between life in Hungary in the mid part of the 20th century compared to the same couple getting to the United States. I won't go into the plot. The little 5 yr old actress who starred in this movie was sensational.

We do not appreciate what we have in the U.S. either. We do not realize how material gadgets do not bring the happiness we thought they would. Please rent this movie...

Very good up until a certain point...

[bellino-angelo2014 · 7/10 · 24 April 2023]

I wanted to see AN AMERICAN RHAPSODY from at least three years because of the subject and also because it's one of Scarlett Johannson's first movies. Last February I finally saw it and I liked it up until a point that made it unpleasant, so let me explain all the plot.

The story begins in Hungary in 1950 when Peter (Tony Goldwyn) and Margit Sandor (Nastassja Kinski) are forced to leave their country because of the oppressive Hungarian People's Republic and go in the United States but are forced to leave behind their infant daughter that is raised by a foster couple. 10 years later Peter and Margit make their daughter Suzanne (Johannson) come to the States and she has to adapt to the new lifestyle causing lots of troubles. At age 15 Suzanne decides to come to terms with her roots and decide to return to Hungary for finding her true identity and staying there forever.

The subject was interesting and I liked the performances by the leads. However at half-way there is a bad point where Margit forbids Suzanne to see her new boyfriend and to even leave her house to the point of putting iron grates to the windows and locking her room's door up until Suzanne shoots at the door nearly breaking it. I mean, why put this part? It was better if it was cut because it was so nasty and mean-spirited and if it wasn't for that I would have given the movie a higher score because after that point it became great again.

Overall, a great story ruined half-way by an unnecessary moment that could have been deleted from the script as well because it's the movie's major strike. But excluding that, it has great performances and a satisfying ending.

Huh?

[saumacus · 3/10 · 1 June 2007]

One of the opening scenes of this film, where Soviet soldiers harass a young Hungarian woman in a restaurant and shoot her father for an attempt to protect her, is totally false. It has probably been made that way for a benefit of an average American moviegoer, who would easy understand a bar brawl scene, but set in in Eastern Europe few years after the Second World War ended ... One has to understand the restrictions the occupying Soviet Army's solders were under: Were they allowed to go to a restaurant? (No, they wouldn't.) Would they have money to pay even if they were able to go? (Same answer.) Would they have loaded weapons on them to shoot anyone there? (Absolutely not.) The whole episode (spell it c-l-i-c-h-é) belongs to a bad Western movie.

An all-around good movie

[lissiemd · 17 December 2003]

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.

Okay for sentimentalists but nothing special

[=G= · 6/10 · 30 January 2002]

Little Suzi is left with foster parents in Hungary while they immigrate to the USA and then rejoins them sometime later leaving emotional ties behind. Big Suzi is a typical teen living with her natural parents in the US, throwing temper tantrums, and wondering who to call "Mom" and where to call "Home". Suzi takes a trip to Hungary to sort things out.

That's the gist of this journeyman flick which is hardly rhapsodic and has the "feel" of a low budget made-for-tv drama. An okay watch, "An American Rhapsody" could have been better but plays out as just another sentimental no-brainer out of the cold war era. Recommended for sentimentalists.

A Fresh Take on the Teen Rebellion Genre as Immigrant Refugee

[noralee · 7/10 · 14 October 2005]

"American Rhapsody" is an exceptionally well-written, acted, and directed Lifetime TV/Hallmark Hall of Fame-like movie.

Based on the life of the debut writer/director Eva Gardos, the movie adds the immigrant refugee perspective to the teen-age rebellion genre. While I can't know if the black-and-white scenes in 1950's Hungary are portrayed accurately, the Kodachrome sights and sounds of growing up in '50's and '60's suburbia are among the most acutely portrayed I've ever seen in the movies. While my parents weren't the ones with foreign accents--it was my grandmother-- boy do I remember that making me different from the white bread around me.

Scarlett Johannsson turns in another stellar performance, as in "Ghost World." This is Natassja Kinski's best role in years, and Tony Goldwyn does fine in the sympathetic paternal role that Aidan Quinn usually does. Even the kid who is "Grace" in TV's "State of Grace" is apt.

All this quality helps to overcome the sentiment and nostalgia, and the creator does avoid the didacticism of most heart-warming TV movies on the same subject of reconciliation.

A fine PG-13 family movie, though I would have liked to see more of what Gardos said in an interview that in her real life rebellion "I did worse."

(originally written 8/11/2001)

The second(Babette's Feast is number 1) best movie of my life

[mattimj · 10/10 · 27 January 2004]

If anyone can watch this heartbreaking tale without crying, you must have a heart of coal. Natasha, Scarlet, the war between Mom and daughter, the trip to Hungary, her reunion with the farm couple who adored her, oh my God. I saw this first in Santa Monica with a male friend who is a stolid and Stoic Estonian , and he sobbed. A movie of great passion and love. When I want to cry I watch it again.

A sporadically touching film with third act problems.

[Bullingdon · 6/10 · 9 August 2001]

Director Eva Gardos has made a film about what its like to be a person that doesn't belong to any culture. "An American Rhapsody" is set in the 1950's through the 60's, and goes from the turbulent laden Hungary to the prosperous but cold America. As the story usually goes: the characters in this film come to America to find a better life, and end up finding that to some extent. Although, adapting to the American culture is not always automatic.

At the screening I attended, the director told the audience that this is a personal film, and she basically wrote it (between her freelance editing jobs) from her own experience. This is a story worth telling.

Both in the film and in real life, Eva's parents left Hungry fearing the harsh communist government (the exact details are murky), but they had to leave Eva (called Susie in the film) behind with her grandmother, who, before being jailed, handed her off to a kindly peasant couple. In the film, young Susie grew up in a modest but warm environment, a bond forms between Susie and her foster parents. Eventually Susie's well off American parents enlist the aid of Red Cross to help her come back to the states. Once there, the film centers around this mal-complacent girl and her struggle for identity. Parents Peter and Margit, well played by Tony Goldwin and Nastassja Kinski, are nice people too, but the connection was not the same. The film jumps ten years later to a teenage Susie (this time played by a precautious Scarlett Johansson) who inevitably becomes a rebel. Susie is a child of a different kind of revolution, and by doing usual adolescent stuff like drinking, smoking, shooting up her room with a shotgun, and making out with local boys; her strict mother is displeased by Susie's indifference. Mother feels she should respect her newfound freedom and Susie just wants a sense of home. Margit doesn't quite know how to handle her daughter, and apparently Peter is working too hard to be around. It is then that Susie makes the life changing decision to go back to Budapest Hungary in effort to find a sense of actualization. The longwinded synopsis I just gave takes around 130 minutes screen time, the third act is a brief and unsatisfying fifteen.

It is obvious that this was a personal film for Gardos, and the basic storytelling skills are present. But in the end we are never invited into the characters hearts and minds. For the simple reason that Susie goes back to Hungary, she undergoes a this pivotal transformation, but this means nothing because all the film does is tell us that she changed. Susie may understand the transformation but we don't, and the film doesn't earn its sappy and abrupt conclusion. The sentiments in this film are nice and all, but after recently seeing a comprehensive and heartfelt film called `Sunshine,' I was spoiled by that films prolonged storytelling magic and rich gimmickry. That similarly themed tale of doom and family in communist Hungary didn't just pay off for one generation of fully developed characters, but three! I was lost in Sunshine's complex web of duty, love, and inevitable failure. By raising some worthwhile family related themes, "An American Rhapsody" started off quite well, and the acting (especially by Johansson) is first rate, but unlike "Sunshine," the film cant pay off with any resonating emotional cadence. By asking us to fill in the blanks as to why character arcs in this film go from point A to point B, the director/writer Eva Gardos is essentially forcing the audience to do her homework for her.

Grade: C

Eva Gardos has moved cinematic art into a new dimension

[gkearns · 10/10 · 22 September 2001]

The following paragraphs contain SPOILERS. In "An American Rhapsody" there is no apparent climax (as some critics have been eager to point out). And rightly so, I think. I suppose Suzanne is the defined protagonist - the story is autobiographical, and told from Suzanne's point of view. But each of the other characters could justifiably claim that nebulous title. Certainly, while there are many conflicts and powerful dramatic moments; and while, sadly, Suzanne must make a choice, there is no wrong, anti-protagonist option. Each opposing choice is as right or wrong as the other. So in the end there is no emotional moment of truth that proclaims itself. Her decision is uncomplicated, and stated with a simplicity that defies conventional dramatic practices; one is stunned by how quickly that simple moment of truth passes.

(SPOILERS)In the period of Hungary's futile battle for independence from the repressive communist yoke, Margit and Peter, along with their young daughter Maria, make their run for freedom. The dangers for their baby, Suzanne, are too great, so the terrible decision is made to leave her behind with her grandmother, who in turn must pass the child over to a good, dependable rural couple - only moments before she herself is arrested and taken to prison. For six years Suzanne lives an idyllic life with her loving surrogate parents. Finally, Margit and Peter are successful in their never-ending efforts a get their baby back with them in America. At this point, although unrecognized by all concerned, the six year old Suzanne meets her first betrayal. She was told she was coming to America for a visit, but finds out soon enough that it's to be her permanent home. There are moments of frustrated rebellion for the child, until that poignant scene in the park when her gentle, loving father promises that when she's older if she still wants to, he'll let her visit her other "parents" in Hungary.

(SPOILERS)Ten years later, sixteen year old Suzanne still savors her memories of and mementos from that early idyllic life in Hungary. But she is also thoroughly "Americanized." She smokes (heck, back then darn near everybody smoked); she hangs around with the gang; and, reflecting her adolescent hormones, she's got a guy - all normal teenage behaviors that frighten her mother and lead to several typical parent-child arguments. But the panicked mother takes a major step beyond "typical" - leading to a frightening and memorable scene. (SPOILER)Suzanne wakes up to find that her mother has had bars put on her window - the image of the shocked Suzanne looking out through the bars is emotionally staggering to watch. Her mother has also put a latch on the bedroom door that can only be opened from the outside. Effectively, her mother has made her daughter a prisoner, just as she felt she was back in Hungary. And Suzanne strikes out for freedom as dramatically as her mother did. As a result, when she asks her father to keep his long-ago promise, he realizes he must give her a chance to revisit her "family" back in Hungary.

(SPOILERS)Back in Hungary she finds the love between her and them as strong as ever. But life there isn't the same as her memories - and she also is different. And her understanding of her real mother's motivations is changed. So she has that heart-rending decision to make between people she loves and people she loves. And it's that decision that slips by without fanfare. Which is as it should be. It fits. Eva Gardos was not giving us a conclusion so revolutionary as to call for dramatic scenes of introspection or indecision or conflict. Only one factor in the end moved Suzanne, and she spoke it; and that was that.

The cast was outstanding. Natassja Kinski's Margit was deeply affecting. Scarlett Johansson proved with her sensitive, true-to-life portrayal of Suzanne that her earlier moving reading of the role of Manny in "Manny and Lo" was no accident. Scarlett is among the best in the business. Six year old Kelly Endresz-Banlaki played the conflicted, confused, and betrayed young Suzanne with stunning depth.

Eva Gardos has moved the art of cinema into a new and more profound dimension.

Heartfelt story of Hungarian immigrant family...

[dwpollar · 6/10 · 25 July 2004]

1st watched 7/25/2004 - out of 10 (Dir-Eva Gardos): Heartfelt story of Hungarian immigrant family's trek to the U.S without their baby and the trials that came after this to reunite the whole family. This is definitely a story written from a point of view that understands all the feelings that came with this situation. I'm curious whether the writer/director 'Eva Gardos' was either one of the ones involved or was very close to the family. I digress, anyway, this is a well-done portrait of these lives and one of the few films that doesn't have a bias towards the Hungarian way of live as opposed to the American way of life. What seems to be most important is a feeling of closure felt by the child which she reaches at the end of the film. When the parents left Hungary, the child became a well-loved foster child and then was stolen by the real grandmother and sent to America to be a part of her real family. The discovery of the child's real upbringing is most important and this is where the story goes from here. Unique slow-moving feature film with an uplifting final message with well-done portrayals from the main characters but some very bad acting from subordinate players that doesn't deter from the story.

Ahhhh what?

[Irishchatter · 2/10 · 4 August 2016]

I don't understand this film because half the film, everyone was speaking Hungarian and I hadn't a clue what they were talking about. I couldn't understand why the movie didn't include the subtitles because I was unable to access a subtitle option with Putlocker. Probably if I was renting this on DVD, then I probably would have the option to use English subtitles.

As well as that problem, I didn't really understand the story line because every character was racing around and it gave me a headache a bit. I felt you had to concentrate at one thing after the other and after the other. I seriously needed a breather and that's when I decided to stop watching the movie after watching 50 minutes of it. I am disappointed despite the movie having great reviews even it has a IMDb rating out of 6.9. I think its better if I just give this a 2 because it just didn't impress me enough to think of it as a great movie!

This movie makes me cry every time I see it!

[l_hendrex · 10/10 · 6 September 2005]

I am not an avid movie watcher, so I had never seen this until my daughter checked it out of the video store. From the very first scene until the final credits, I was mesmerized. There was not a single scene that I did not find captivating. At the end I was sobbing like a baby.

I think that a quality necessary to make a story this gripping is that it has all the elements that are common to the human experience - but with circumstances that make everything exaggerated. It is easy to identify with what these characters are going through, but at the same time, the situation is so unique as to stimulate the imagination and cause the viewer to see the world through different eyes. The story is both familiar and strange at the same time.

The acting was outstanding, especially the performance of the little girl who played Suzanne at age 6. It amazes me that a child so young could pull off a performance with this kind of depth and insight. I also loved the couple who played her foster parents - the foster father was just oozing with personality and character. The actors who played Peter and Margit did a first rate job as well.

I really wish I could find out more about the true story this was based on. My only criticism of the movie was that so many questions were left unanswered...Did the grandmother ever see Margit again? Did Suzanne ever again visit her Hungarian foster parents after her trip to Budapest at age 15? Did the culmination of this story really solve the family's relationship issues for good? Did Margit ever have the courage to return to Hungary and face the ghosts of her past? My daughter says that the mark of a good story is that it leaves you wanting more - so that must mean that this is a really good story.

After seeing it forthe first time, I watched the video 4 times before letting my daughter return it. I hope Eva Gardos writes a book about her life someday. I would be willing to read a detailed account of her experiences. What a yarn! Whew!

ScarJo comes in after an hour

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 November 2014]

It's 1965, Zsuzsi Suzanne Sandor (Scarlett Johansson) is 15 and going back to Hungary. Back in the early 50s, her parents publisher Peter (Tony Goldwyn) and Margit (Nastassja Kinski) are in danger in the repressive Hungary and had to flee with their eldest daughter Maria. The plan was for baby Suzanne to be smuggled out to Vienna but Margit's mother has second thoughts about the dangerous plan. She gives Suzanne to a friend's parents to live with in the countryside. She herself is arrested by the police. Years later with the death of Stalin, she is released. Little Suzanne is sent to America with the tireless work of Margit. Suzanne thinks it's just going to be a visit and she would back for school and to her parents she had known all her life. She doesn't adjust well in America with her overprotective mother. As a teen, Suzanne grows up rebellious yearning to return to Hungary and her other parents.

The chemistry between Johansson and Kinski is incredible. I'd rather have Scar Jo in more of the movie leaving much of her childhood as flashbacks. The simple linear storytelling is fine and has some great moments. There are compelling scenes like when little Zsuzsi gets lost in the uniformity of the suburbs. Johansson is just a great actress that it would serve the movie to have her throughout the whole film. Of course, the other way to do this movie is to make it about Margit rather than Suzanne. This has some very memorable moments but the switch from childhood to teenager is a little jarring.

Meh, not good

[andras-ocskay · 4/10 · 18 February 2022]

I am sad to watch this film.

It can not show the hard times good enough.

Storytelling is flat.

Lot of character errors.

It could be a good movie, sadly Andrew Wajna doesn't know how to make a food movie:(

The suffer and the integration and identity problem not coming through the film.

Music is terrible. Dont understand why gypsy music were chosen as Hungarian background?

Also the sound guy made terrible job:( The dub terrible.

As well at the train station somebody shout in Hungarian "nyald a seggem" (lick my ass) And talk to Zsuzsa.

The director should pay attention on this and cut that sound out of the movie.

But Andrew W. Doesn't care, He can not make good movie anyway.

Such same to ruin this good story.