An American Rhapsody (2001)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Éva Gárdos

Writer:

Éva Gárdos (written by)

Release Date:

16 November 2001 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

One family struggles for survival, for justice, for freedom.

Plot:

A young Hungarian girl struggles to find her place in the world when she's reunited with her parents in the USA years after she was left behind during their plight from the communist country in the 1950s.

Plot Keywords:

USA | 1950s | Budapest Hungary | Budapest | Hungary

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Scarlett Johansson	...	Suzanne - at 15
Nastassja Kinski	...	Margit
Raffaella Bánsági	...	Suzanne - Infant
Tony Goldwyn	...	Peter
Ágnes Bánfalvy	...	Helen (as Ági Bánfalvy)
Zoltán Seress	...	George
Klaudia Szabó	...	Maria - at 4
Zsolt Zágoni	...	Russian Soldier
András Szöke	...	Istvan
Erzsi Pásztor	...	Ilus
Carlos Laszlo Weiner	...	Boy on Train
Bori Kereszturi	...	Suzanne - at 3 (as Boru Keresztúri)
Péter Kálloy Molnár	...	AVO Officer (as Péter Kállóy Molnár)
Zsuzsa Czinkóczi	...	Teri
Balázs Galkó	...	Jeno

Also Known As:

Amerikai rapszódia (Hungary)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent content and thematic material.

Runtime:

106 min | Argentina:122 min

Country:

USA | Hungary

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | Australia:PG | France:U | Iceland:L | Italy:T | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38019) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Fireworks Pictures

Trivia:

Éva Gárdos met actress Colleen Camp on the set of Apocalypse Now (1979), when she was a casting director for the film. During shooting breaks, Éva told Colleen her true story of her childhood as a Hungarian émigré and Colleen encouraged her to turn it into a film. Colleen Camp would ultimately help produce the film, and played a small role in it as a neighborhood housewife.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: A graffiti slogan in Hungary emphasized in the film that reads "Down with American Imperialism" is accurate only for the 1950s, but not the setting of the film in the 1960s.

Soundtrack:

Jaj Istenem

Nice, sentimental drama, true to life

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.