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Movies / On DVD / Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy Sunday

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Gloomy Sunday (2003)

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Reviews Counted:64

Fresh:54

Rotten:10

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: Gloomy Sunday is beautiful, well-acted, and every bit as downcast as its title.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Nov 7, 2003 Limited

Box Office: $223,827

Synopsis: Set in pre-World War II Budapest, GLOOMY SUNDAY is a romantic melodrama that evokes the haunting melody of the same name, fabled to have caused over one hundred suicides in the 1930s. Before the... Set in pre-World War II Budapest, GLOOMY SUNDAY is a romantic melodrama that evokes the haunting melody of the same name, fabled to have caused over one hundred suicides in the 1930s. Before the dark days of the war, Laszlo (Joachim Krol), a Jewish restaurant owner, enjoys a successful business while happily living with his lover and the restaurant's sultry hostess, Ilona (Erika Marozsan). When they decide to hire a restaurant pianist they meet Andras (Stefano Dionisi), a brooding composer who quickly captures the heart of Ilona. However, her love for Andras does not diminish her feelings for Laszlo and the trio embark on an agreed-upon ménage-ŕ-trois that seems to be successful, at least on the surface. Andras's passionate love for Ilona inspires him to write "Gloomy Sunday" which becomes an overnight sensation and the restaurant's signature song. Ilona's beauty captures the heart of a third suitor, Hans Wieck (Ben Becker), a German customer who becomes a corrupt SS officer after the Nazi occupation of Hungary. Hans' friendship is a strategic necessity as the trio struggles to keep the restaurant open and Laszlo free from persecution while the threat of war looms. [More]

Starring: Joachim Krol, Stefano Dionisi, Ben Becker, Erica Marozsan

Starring: Joachim Krol, Stefano Dionisi, Ben Becker, Erica Marozsan, Andras Balint

Director: Rolf Schubel

Director: Rolf Schubel
Screenwriter: Rolf Schubel, Ruth Toma
Producer: Richard Schops
Studio: Menemsha

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Release:

Sep 12, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Gloomy Sunday
  • Gloomy Sunday, winner of major German film awards and an art-house favorite that ran 70 weeks in Boston, hits all the right notes with its poignant, glowingly shot tale set in Budapest during the Holocaust and, like Schindler's List and The Pianist, filled with the passion and pain of that tragic era. The song itself ? recorded by Billie Holliday and other greats ? is the stuff of legend, reportedly having a fateful real-life impact similar to that shown on screen. But it's love's power that is ultimately at the heart of this acclaimed film. And from the opening scene to the deft twist ending, that power is extraordinary.
  • Source: Warner Home Video
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    Reviews for Gloomy Sunday

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    Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
    05/14/03
    St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    This handsome, moving and romantic German drama is so well made and features such strong, funny and heartbreaking performances, that its sorrowful tone is tempered with consolation.

    Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
    11/07/03
    E! Online
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
    01/27/04
    Boston Phoenix

    Director/co-writer Rölf Schöbel's tight, philosophically sound narrative shows the essential relation of nationalist offenses to personal demons like lust, envy and blind resentment.

    Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
    02/19/04
    Orlando Weekly

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    Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
    04/17/04
    Philadelphia Inquirer

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    Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
    05/13/05
    Apollo Guide
    N/R

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    Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
    07/21/05
    Houston Chronicle
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    06/24/06
    Time Out
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
    11/06/03
    Andrew Sarris
    Andrew Sarris
    New York Observer
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It does come pretty close to being as good a time as you could conceivably have at a movie that deals with this kind of material.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
    11/07/03
    Bob Strauss
    Bob Strauss
    Los Angeles Daily News

    A smoothly crafted, intermittently charming film . . . the dips and turns are predictable and the tense scenes surrounding unhinged or scheming Nazis have been done before.

    Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
    05/06/05
    Brian Gibson
    Brian Gibson
    Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

    This sounds like a gloomy subject with gloomy music, but it's not a gloomy movie. It's engaging and has a very satisfying ending.

    Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
    12/12/03
    Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
    Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
    TheMovieChicks.com

    With the Hungarian song "Gloomy Sunday" as its thematic centerpiece, this personalized story of Budapest during World War II becomes a satisfying romantic drama about four divergently different people.

    Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
    05/13/09
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

    This is kitsch with paprika.

    Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
    12/12/03
    David Elliott
    David Elliott
    San Diego Union-Tribune

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
    11/06/03
    David Sterritt
    David Sterritt
    Christian Science Monitor

    Its strong suit is that it's a richly woven war drama that also tells a fascinating romantic story.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    10/22/03
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews
    N/R

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    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    07/28/08
    Derek Elley
    Derek Elley
    Variety

    It's a piquant story but unfortunately the movie creaks with European-style artifice.

    Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
    11/07/03
    Desson Thomson
    Desson Thomson
    Washington Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    An old-fashioned love-in-time-of-war melodrama such as one seldom sees anymore and which the film makes us lament.

    Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    10/31/03
    Donald J. Levit
    Donald J. Levit
    ReelTalk Movie Reviews

    An apocryphal, pretty, and somewhat pat biography of the title ballad.

    Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
    11/04/03
    Edward Crouse
    Edward Crouse
    Village Voice
     
     
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