HungariCom

<p> <a href="http://www.screendaily.com/chameleon/5003442.article">http://www.screendaily.com/chameleon/5003442.article</a> </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> <b>SCREEN</b> </p> <p> By Mike Goodridge </p> <p> <strong></strong> </p> <p> <strong>Already selected as Hungary's submission for the foreign language Oscar this year, </strong><em><b>CHAMELEON</b></em><strong><i> </i></strong><strong>is an entertaining thriller with western-style production polish, a plot which offers its fair share of surprises, and an impressive lead performance from Ervin Nagy.</strong> </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> Directed with confidence by Krisztina Goda, who is fast becoming her country's most consistent commercial director (<i>Just</i> <em>Sex And Nothing Else, Children Of Glory</em>), the film was a hit when it opened in Hungary in December last year. </p> <p> <em><b>CHAMELEON</b></em> should have some international sales value, especially with the Oscar bid in place, although arthouse distributors are often slow to embrace mainstream local films like this without the guaranteed backing of highbrow critics. <em><b>CHAMELEON</b></em> - unlike recent Hungarian exports <em>Kontroll</em> or <em>Taxidermia</em> - is almost too slick a product, yet bigger independents may also balk at its subtitles. A sale for remake rights seems a natural. </p> <p> Nagy plays a tall, handsome twentysomething called Gabor who runs a cruel scam with his old orphanage buddy Tibi (Trill). The two work as office cleaners and identify single women from their rubbish; Gabor then seduces them and swindles them out of their savings. The friends are trying to save up to buy a house which, as orphans, they believe is the key to security. </p> <p> Anxious to make a big money score, the two take on cleaning jobs at the offices of a celebrity analyst. There they target a ballerina called Hanna (Hamori), daughter of a millionaire tycoon, who is trying to overcome a knee injury. Gabor pretends to be a wealthy paediatrician, inveigles his way into her life and spots an opportunity when she says she wants to have expensive knee surgery with a pioneering doctor (Kulka). He thinks that he can walk away with the $100,000 fee, but the con is more complicated than he imagined. Goda hits the right tone in the film, neither too playful nor too dark. She makes clear that Gabor is an unsavoury character, yet he is never entirely repellent to the audience, and the director leads us to believe that he is on some kind of redemptive journey before hitting us with a final twist which puts him firmly in his place. There are a few clumsy plot points, but Nagy's striking central performance just about carries the drama through its rocky patches. A successful TV and theatre actor, he has enough brooding charm to convince us that women would fall for his act and hints at a turbulent inner life of insecurity, aspiration and desperation for love. </p> <p> <em><b>CHAMELEON</b></em> is set in a glossy 2008 Budapest of lavish parties, ballet openings, swanky apartments and fast cars, far from the poverty central to recent Hungarian festival favourites such as <em>Iska's Journey</em> or <em>Fresh Air</em>. </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> <b>HUNGARIAN PRESS REACTIONS</b> </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &quot;Amazing, astounding, absolutely amusing!&quot; - premierfilm.hu </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &quot;<b>CHAMELEON</b> is an outstanding movie. If we would replace the streets of Budapest with the ones in Paris or New York, the film would still work. An excellent, high-level work of art.&quot; - <b>ÉS</b> (weekly critical literary journal) </p> <p> &quot;Goda and co-writer Réka Divinyi created a plot in an enviably self-confident way. They shaped the colorful and tinted world of the swindler and of the country where he lives (Hungary) in which the winner is always one step ahead of his persecutors and/or loved ones.&quot; - <b>PestiEst</b> (a.k.a Hungarian Time Out) </p> <p> &quot;In this part of the world, where comedies usually resemble werewolf movies, and gloomy, socially sensitive films look like vivid operettas, the straight film language which is used in <b>CHAMELEON</b> is a real rarity.&quot; - <b>Magyar Narancs</b> (weekly political journal) </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &quot;The film is perfect! Regarding the critical aspects, the film is flawless. The actors' guidance is just right.&quot; - <b>VOX mozimagazin</b> (monthly movie magazine, like Empire) </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &quot;Trill is simply perfect. He entirely found the balance between the jokes, the funny side of the story and the pain of an orphan who lost his dear friend.&quot; - <b>www.origo.hu</b> </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> <p> <b>FESTIVAL REACTIONS</b> </p> <p> <b></b> </p> <p> <b>Raindance London, UK</b> </p> <p> Con-men Gabor and Tibi (played by Ervin Nagy and Zsolt Trill) at night pose as janitors in offices, digging through bins to find marks to help them pin down lonely victims. Gabor plays the slick gentleman, backed by Tibi, marrying women for access to their bank accounts. This brings them easy but not exorbitant amounts of money, but when Gabor starts to fall for a high-risk mark however, things begin to spiral out of control. Uncertain whether he is playing the beautiful dancer Hanna, or falling in love with her, he gets drawn into an increasing number of complex cons to keep their relationship up. </p> <p> <b>CHAMELEON</b>, unlike many of its con-film American equivalents has a certain depth, capturing the pathos of the victims, who also build an anger and ability to push back at their manipulator. Developing characters with meticulous detail, the protagonists question their tendency towards deception, disguises and sense of achievements whilst it is also uncertain who is betraying whom. </p> <p> The third feature from Krisztina Goda, after Just Sex And Nothing Else and Children of Glory, <b>CHAMELEON</b> is this year's official Hungarian entry for the Best Foreign Language film category of the Academy Awards. </p>