Delta (2008)

Regista:

Kornél Mundruczó

Writers:

Yvette Biro (screenplay)
Kornél Mundruczó (screenplay)

Data di uscita:

2008 (Germany)

Genere:

Drama

Premi:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Recensioni degli utenti:

If you like it slooow and are a fan of Eastern Europe, you will love Delta

Cast

Félix Lajkó	...	Mihail
Orsolya Tóth	...	Fauna
Lili Monori	...	Mother
Sándor Gáspár	...	Mother's lover
resto del cast in ordine alfabetico:
Lajos Bertók	...	Mihail (scenes deleted)
Mari Kiss	...	(scenes deleted)
Martin Wuttke

Durata:

Canada:92 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Nazionalità:

Germany | Hungary

Lingua:

Ungherese

Colore:

Colore

Luoghi delle riprese:

Romania

Company:

Essential Filmproduktion GmbH

Curiosità:

During the first half of production (before the death of lead actor Lajos Bertók), Mari Kiss played his mother. After his role was recast, the director chose another actress, Lili Monori to play the role of the mother.

If you like it slooow and are a fan of Eastern Europe, you will love Delta

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Brother returns to his remote birth's village (in this case to the Danube Delta) where he meets his sister – seemingly for the first time. Their affiliation toward each other – and the fact that she moves to him and helps to build a riverside house – embarrasses the community, making the end of the film tragic.

For me, the simplicity of the story alone wouldn't be a fault: it makes only the task of the director heavier. With perfection in the details and brilliant acting this simplicity could have been a strength, unfortunately this movie lacks these. Lili Monori, the mother (and partly Orsolya Tóth, the daughter) , plays a realistic and elaborate character, but the others (among them most strikingly our protagonist, played by Félix Lajkó) just doesn't really fit to the environment / their roles.

The other problem is with the cut: there are many scenes without any role, others seem to be very long compared with their contribution to the plot. In some cases the dramaturgy is at least mysterious as well: we see Fauna in the party at the end, for example. Some people are starting to shaft her in the party, then she leaves the safe crowd alone (so that those people can kill her)– would anyone do that?! Or there is another key momentum, the raping scene: her mother is like 50 meters away and still doesn't follow from the house what's happening?!

So why I gave 6 out of 10 for a movie with so many weaknesses? First of all because of the cinematography and music (also by Lajkó Félix) and the representation of the delta landscape. For fans of Eastern Europe some scenes will surely be unforgettable (like when they are tearing the bread and pour brandy onto it), and there are some 3-4 scenes of brilliant atmosphere (e.g. the first encounter of Fauna and Mihal). I believe when cut to about 70 minutes this movie could have been much better.