Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's (Mephisto) second feature film is a clever and moving paean to the relationship between father and son. The story begins simply with a narrator informing the audience that the main character has three memories of his father. Following these brief snippets, we are shown a desk on which are laid the belongings of the deceased father. Over the first half of the film, we watch the young Tako (Dani Erdelyi) create outrageously romantic fantasies in his mind about the father he never really knew. A compulsive liar, Tako spins tall tales to his schoolboy friends about his father's dangerous double life as a doctor (which he was) and a daring partisan (which he wasn't). In the second half of the film, Tako (Andras Balint), now a young man, meets a Jewish girl who lost many relatives during the Holocaust, and is now trying to fashion her own identity. It spurs him to investigate his father's past, whom he discovers was an ordinary man. Father employs a variety of cinematic techniques to convey the universality of its theme: a son trying to escape the looming shadow of his father. And while a few of the scenes suffer from a dated 1960s sensibility, most of the film is easily accessible to modern audiences, with powerful images that transcend both time and geography. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review--July 13, 2004--Kino, 85 min., in Hungarian w/English subtitles, not rated, $29.95--Making its debut on DVD, 1966's Father boasts a handsome b&w transfer, solid sound, and a select director's filmography and stills gallery. Bottom line: an excellent film nicely showcased on DVD, this is highly recommended.]
Father
b&w. 96 min. Hungarian w/English subtitles. Connoisseur Video. (1966). $59.95. Not rated Library Journal
Father
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