This movie has been hyped to the high heavens by every movie critic I have read, and I just could not understand why. All the comparisons were to the Secret Life of Amelie, a cute french movie I have seen once and liked (though not enough to rewatch) so I thought, what the heck, will give it a try.
Liza the Fox-Fairy (why not call it Kitsune? Hungarians know what that is) takes place in a weird alternate 1970s Budapest where communism never happened, we have MekkBurger (a funny wordplay on McDonalds and the sound a goat makes), Cosmopolitan, but the city is the same old and run-down place as it was in the real 70ies. This and the fantasy elements are the best part of the movie... and I wish there were more of them. But they are not delved into and the movie instead focuses on the main characters... which is a problem.
Because booooy our main characters are BORING. Liza, a nurse looking after the wife of a japanese ex-ambassador, is impossibly naive and shut-in. At the age of 30, it feels like she has never been to a party, had sex, or even talked to a member of the opposite sex. Not helped by how unemotive the actress is, who mumbles all her lines so much I need subtitles to get it. The detective who moves in as her tenant is characterized by being a stoic man of few words. So few, he maybe has 2 longer monologues in the whole movie. Since the movie should be about their epic love, you can see why this is a problem.
The main plot is, Liza keeps seeing a long dead japanese pop star's ghost who only appears (visible only to Liza) to goof around and sing (fake) japanese songs. This entity is however, more of a Grim Reaper - like malign being, and has his sights set on getting Liza for herself. Every man who Liza even takes a passing interest in dies due to various accidents. Now, this would be a funny idea for a 20 minute sketch, but a one and a half hour movie makes this extremely long and boring, as we meet various suitors and learn of their weird fetishes (one loves unusual mix-matched dishes, the other locks himself in cabinets...) before they meet their demise. The scenes with the clueless police do nothing to drive the plot along. Neither does the detour with the local Casanova whom Liza mistakenly assumes to be in love with her.
The big finale also makes little sense. Despite the title and the allusions, we as the viewers know it was only Death who made Liza believe she is a Kitsune, she isn't really one... So the long drawn out scene of the detective running to save her while battling accidents that are caused by a ghost he cannot see... all the while Liza also has to confess her love? Why, when she was not a Kitsune, and there was no curse to break? And are we to assume Tomy Tani will haunt the detective to the end of his days, trying to kill him via accidents? Not sure if this relationship was worth it, dude...
All in all, the magical stuff - visions and dreams - and the alternate 70ies reality are the best parts of the movie, and they are directed well. The actors are rather lackluster though, and the plot of the movie is paper thin and not enough for such a long movie.
Liza the Fox-Fairy (why not call it Kitsune? Hungarians know what that is) takes place in a weird alternate 1970s Budapest where communism never happened, we have MekkBurger (a funny wordplay on McDonalds and the sound a goat makes), Cosmopolitan, but the city is the same old and run-down place as it was in the real 70ies. This and the fantasy elements are the best part of the movie... and I wish there were more of them. But they are not delved into and the movie instead focuses on the main characters... which is a problem.
Because booooy our main characters are BORING. Liza, a nurse looking after the wife of a japanese ex-ambassador, is impossibly naive and shut-in. At the age of 30, it feels like she has never been to a party, had sex, or even talked to a member of the opposite sex. Not helped by how unemotive the actress is, who mumbles all her lines so much I need subtitles to get it. The detective who moves in as her tenant is characterized by being a stoic man of few words. So few, he maybe has 2 longer monologues in the whole movie. Since the movie should be about their epic love, you can see why this is a problem.
The main plot is, Liza keeps seeing a long dead japanese pop star's ghost who only appears (visible only to Liza) to goof around and sing (fake) japanese songs. This entity is however, more of a Grim Reaper - like malign being, and has his sights set on getting Liza for herself. Every man who Liza even takes a passing interest in dies due to various accidents. Now, this would be a funny idea for a 20 minute sketch, but a one and a half hour movie makes this extremely long and boring, as we meet various suitors and learn of their weird fetishes (one loves unusual mix-matched dishes, the other locks himself in cabinets...) before they meet their demise. The scenes with the clueless police do nothing to drive the plot along. Neither does the detour with the local Casanova whom Liza mistakenly assumes to be in love with her.
The big finale also makes little sense. Despite the title and the allusions, we as the viewers know it was only Death who made Liza believe she is a Kitsune, she isn't really one... So the long drawn out scene of the detective running to save her while battling accidents that are caused by a ghost he cannot see... all the while Liza also has to confess her love? Why, when she was not a Kitsune, and there was no curse to break? And are we to assume Tomy Tani will haunt the detective to the end of his days, trying to kill him via accidents? Not sure if this relationship was worth it, dude...
All in all, the magical stuff - visions and dreams - and the alternate 70ies reality are the best parts of the movie, and they are directed well. The actors are rather lackluster though, and the plot of the movie is paper thin and not enough for such a long movie.