Prince’s Grace: a game of life and death
With the successful launch of his comedy Heads Off! (o.t. Le a fejjel!) last March on Hungarian screens by HungariCom, the filmmaker Péter Tímár yesterday made a return to the screens with his 11th feature film, Prince’s Grace (A herceg haladéka). Produced by Gábor Kálomista for Megafilm, co-produced by RTL Klub, the director's new opus, based on his own script, revolves around a mysterious game whose participants ignore the most important rule: they put their lives in danger. Played by Gabi Szabó, the heroine Alida is forced to find meaning in her life in an environment where living can only be understood within the context of death, as human beings don't know what living means. The cast also includes Zsolt László (Thor) Tibor Gáspár (Herceg), Kati Lázár (Luvnya) and Judit Pogány (Manyó). Distributed by HungariCom, Prince’s Grace marks Peter Timar's comeback and will be a surefire hit in the national box office since his first feature film in 1985, with Megafilm, that has already produced two of his most recent films, 6:3 in 1999 and Blind Guys in 2001.
Other new films this week include two Danish productions, a rare duo on Hungarian screens. Budapest Film has released Lars von Trier's Manderlay (read critique at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival), while the puppet film Strings by Anders Rønnow Klarlund, a Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and British co-production released by Cirko Film - Másképp Alapítvány. Moreover, it is worth mentioning Budapest Film's release of the short Before Dawn from the young Hungarian director Bálint Kenyeres. This film featured in the Official Selection at Cannes last year and at several international film festivals.
At the box office, the highlight of 2005 was the excellent performance of the Hungarian comedy Csak szex és más semmi by Krisztina Goda, produced by Megafilm, and distributed by HungariCom, which has made over 355,000 euros in four weeks, making it the 3rd most popular film last weekend after the blockbusters The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but ahead of King Kong and five other American feature films. Another Hungarian film finished in the Top 10: Blond Coke, the first feature film from Ákos Barnóczky, produced by New Balance and distributed by SPI International.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
