Hukkle (12A)

The surreal underbelly of village life

Director: György Pálfi
Starring:Ferenc Bandi, Jozséfné Rácz, Jozséf Forkas
Hungary, 2002, 1 hour 15 minutes, subtitles

Wed 1 April 8.00pm - Bishops Castle Film Society The Three Tuns

Without a word of dialogue, this picture of village life is a smart exercise in undermining traditional forms of storytelling. There's as much focus on nature - moles creeping along their tunnels, bees buzzing, lily of the valley growing in deep, dark woods - as there is on human beings. But beneath the apparent harmony of the idyllic village there lurks a sinister mystery. The superb soundtrack suggests that the fierce pulse of nature is always ready to break through the mundane surface of events. Never has peasant life seemed so serene and so dangerous.