Its difficult themes will be too provocative for some viewers, but Kornel Mundruczo's stately drama offsets its violent overtones with hypnotically beautiful cinematography.
Its difficult themes will be too provocative for some viewers, but Kornel Mundruczo's stately drama offsets its violent overtones with hypnotically beautiful cinematography.
Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo (Johanna) helmed this bucolic incest-themed drama. The picture reflects on man's need to re-bond with his natural habitat, and meditates on the unseemly consequences of fraternal love that drifts into unacceptable territory. Felix Lajko stars as the unnamed protagonist, who hearkens back to his family's agrarian home after years away. Unkempt, unshaven and noticeably laconic, he makes contact with his sister (Orsi Toth of Johanna), his mother (Lili Monori) and
his mother's recent husband, a brutish sociopath (Sandor Gaspar) - who uniformly toil away in a decrepit local pub. In time, the lead character and his sister move into their deceased father's abandoned property, set about constructing a house and a pier, and consummate an extremely intimate relationship as they begin to experience a more deep-seated and harmonious relationship with the natural world around them. When the others find out, however, they react in utter horror, shunning and ridiculing the couple and driving the story to a heartbreaking conclusion. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Having played in competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Korneo Mundruczo's plaintive contemplation of the deceptive duality between natural beauty and nature's immutable laws--as both broken and inflicted--"Delta" is an art house film of the first
Strikingly shot though it is, this Hungarian film, by Kornel Mundruczo, is sunk by a drama that represents art-house cinema at its worst: a dull, gloomy tale that skirts questions of plausibility.
Mundruczó's first instinct is aesthetic rather than emotive. But if that strips the film of a measure of moral authority, it only adds to the feeling of hollow nihilism that stays with you long after the closing credits.
Long, lyrical takes - including a startling shot of a floating funeral procession - and Schubert's 'Death And The Maiden' on the soundtrack remind us that forbidden passion will only end in tears. The Danube's rarely seemed so blue.
A few days after seeing it and I am still touched by the imagery of the film. Beautiful, patient shots that capture both the landscape and the people in a way that no hollywood film would dare. I found the film very meditative and refreshing. The faces of the villagers are so real and expressive it feels like you
are in a Walker Evans photo. The sound design is also splendid.
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