Csontvary (1980)

Director: Zoltán Huszárik
Stars: Itschak Fintzi, István Holl, Andrea Drahota

The intertwined and counterpoint lives of two psychologically unbalanced Hungarian artists: Czontvary, the painter of frescoes whose art was posthumously rehabilitated, and actor Zoltan Latinovits, an actor who was to have played Czontvary, but committed suicide. An impressionistic insight into creativeness.

I walked into this movie as part of a Hungarian film series years ago and the only thing I knew about it was that the title must be a proper name since the rest of the titles were given in English. It unfolded as a singularly impressive presentation, immensely compelling even if not entirely comprehensible. Produced in the same year as its American cousin "All That Jazz" it presents two stories dealing with both artistic and personal issues of artists. As I eventually found out, Csontvary Kostka Tivadar was a Hungarian painter, and the actor Latinovitsj Zoltan, who was originally slated to play him in the film, committed suicide during the preliminary planning. The movie incorporates both the stories of both by way of a dazzling series of dazzling images incorporating Grecian, Roman, Jewish, Christian, and possibly more traditions of splendor along the way. It features one of the most pungent alienation sequences I've ever seen on film, and also lends an awesome splendor to the artistic calling which is reassuring in a world where this is often swamped and demeaned by commercialism. A great film, highly recommended.

More in My Blog