Jupiter’s Moon

People fly all the time as a matter of course in today’s superhero movies, but director Kornél Mundruczó uses the ability to soar as the premise for a wildly imaginative parable about guilt and redemption in a Hungary (and, by extension, all of Europe) torn by anti-immigrant fever. The strange, surrealistic mixture of religion and politics here focuses on Aryan (Zsombor Jéger), a handsome Syrian refugee—son of a carpenter, no less—who is shot by brutal cop Laszlo (György Cserhalmi) while trying to cross the border. Instead of dying, however, Aryan literally takes flight, and winds up in a hospital where down-on-his-luck Dr. Stern (Merab Ninidze) observes the man’s unusual powers and decides to use him as a moneymaking tool, showing him off to rich patients for a handsome fee as an angel sent by God to cure them. As they travel through the city, the cynical Stern comes to believe that Aryan might actually be a divine messenger, and starts to wonder whether he can reform his own life. Meanwhile, the two are pursued relentlessly by Laszlo, who wants to finish the job, and the three men eventually confront one another in a sumptuous hotel. The individual strands of Jupiter’s Moon make for intriguing viewing, but in the end they fail to meld into a coherent whole. Still, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)