One month from today one of the most essential films of the year will be arriving to theaters. As people line up around the block for The Force Awakens, we’d first offer a recommendation for Son of Saul, a formally dazzling Holocaust drama that marks the feature debut of Béla Tarr protégé László Nemes. Hungary’s Oscar entry and Grand Prix winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it’s one of the most impressive, affecting films I’ve seen in 2015. The first U.S. trailer has now landed thanks to Sony Classics and without featuring a word of dialogue it shows off the remarkable visuals, shot in 4:3 aspect ratio.
One can read our rave review, which says, “By approaching his material through a purely experiential style that purposely eschews psychology, Nemes has crafted a towering landmark for filmic fictionalizations of the Holocaust. […] The result is claustrophobic...
One can read our rave review, which says, “By approaching his material through a purely experiential style that purposely eschews psychology, Nemes has crafted a towering landmark for filmic fictionalizations of the Holocaust. […] The result is claustrophobic...
- 11/18/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
★★★★☆ The latter part of that old adage about never working with children or animals has been taken on and smashed beyond all recognition in the strikingly original Hungarian parable White God (2014). What starts off as what could be only be described as a dark reboot of The Incredible Journey, directed by Lukas Moodysson, later settles into a much more chilling and unpredictable fable, complete with a moving coming-of-age tale subtly interwoven throughout. When teenager Lili (an appealing turn by Zsófia Psotta) is unceremoniously dumped by her mother on her divorced scientist father Daniel (Sándor Zsótér), it's clear he isn't happy with Lili's faithful hound Hagen.
- 8/4/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Stars: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Lili Monori, Gergely Bánki, Tamás Polgár | Written by Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi, Kata Wéber | Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Some films are hard to classify, they do not want to be stuck in just one genre, and they just want to tell a story. White God is a story that could be described as Homeward Bound with teeth or even The Birds with dogs. In truth, it is a film that shows you the story, and then lets you take from it what you will.
When Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is sent to stay with her father her pet dog and best friend Hagen is thrown out onto the street to fend for himself. Lost and confused he learns to survive, used and mistreated by the humans that he meets, until one day he has enough and decides to lead a band of...
Some films are hard to classify, they do not want to be stuck in just one genre, and they just want to tell a story. White God is a story that could be described as Homeward Bound with teeth or even The Birds with dogs. In truth, it is a film that shows you the story, and then lets you take from it what you will.
When Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is sent to stay with her father her pet dog and best friend Hagen is thrown out onto the street to fend for himself. Lost and confused he learns to survive, used and mistreated by the humans that he meets, until one day he has enough and decides to lead a band of...
- 8/3/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and/or own this week via various Digital HD providers such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical exclusives for rent, priced from $3-$10, in 24- or 48-hour periods The Water Diviner (drama; Russell Crowe, Jai Courtney, Olga Kurylenko; rated R) White God (drama; Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér; rated R) A Lego Brickumentary (documentary; narrated by Jason Bateman; premieres 7/31 on cable Mod and in theaters; rated G) Digital HD: Rent from $4-$7 or own from $13-$20 (HD may cost more than Sd) Vudu Offers the same movies as cable Movies On Demand for...
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- 7/29/2015
- by Robert B. DeSalvo
- Movies.com
White God
Written by Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi and Kata Wéber
Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Hungary/Germany/Sweden, 2014
Kornél Mundruczó’s White God does for Budapest canines what Rise of the Planet of the Apes did for San Francisco simians. Instead of Caesar the ape, White God has Hagen the dog, who endures various means of suffering at the hands of human abusers before leading an animal uprising of his own. That plot point isn’t exactly a third act spoiler, as White God has an in medias res opening wherein Hagen and hundreds of dogs pelt through abandoned city streets, seemingly chasing a girl on a bicycle; the reveal is also the main image being used to advertise the film, so you might also draw a comparison to the Apes series there (“Statue of Liberty… that was our planet!”). It’s certainly an immediate attention-grabber, but it’s a...
Written by Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi and Kata Wéber
Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Hungary/Germany/Sweden, 2014
Kornél Mundruczó’s White God does for Budapest canines what Rise of the Planet of the Apes did for San Francisco simians. Instead of Caesar the ape, White God has Hagen the dog, who endures various means of suffering at the hands of human abusers before leading an animal uprising of his own. That plot point isn’t exactly a third act spoiler, as White God has an in medias res opening wherein Hagen and hundreds of dogs pelt through abandoned city streets, seemingly chasing a girl on a bicycle; the reveal is also the main image being used to advertise the film, so you might also draw a comparison to the Apes series there (“Statue of Liberty… that was our planet!”). It’s certainly an immediate attention-grabber, but it’s a...
- 3/28/2015
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- SoundOnSight
In the cunning, nimble Hungarian thriller White God, homeless city dogs are driven to the breaking point and turn on their human abusers. Coming from Eastern Europe, it’s the sort of film that gets labeled a parable (slaves versus masters, etc.) for added prestige, but I like it just fine as a B revenge movie with A-plus direction by Kornél Mundruczó and a cast of canines so personable that even when they tear out people’s throats you still want to take them home.The film has a pair of strong protagonists: a willful little trumpet player named Lili (Zsófia Psotta) who has to move in with her divorced dad, Daniel (Sándor Zsótér), for three months, and the soulful mutt she totes along, Hagen (played by brothers Bodie and Luke, a mix of Shar-Pei, Labrador, and hound), who turns out not to be welcome in her dad’s building.
- 3/27/2015
- by David Edelstein
- Vulture
Editor’s note: Our review of White God originally ran during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but we’re re-posting it now as the film opens in limited release. Some say the world will end in fire, others say in ice. Honestly, no one even saw the dogs coming. Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is the child of a broken home who finds solace and consistency in the love of her mutt, Hagen. When she’s passed off to her father (Sándor Zsótér) for the weekend he accepts her but has no such warmth for the dog. He tosses Hagen out on the side of the road leaving the dog and his owner in desperate straits, but the road to reunion is a dangerous one. Hagen is chased, abused, forced to fight and turned into a darker creature than he was, and when the opportunity for escape from the dog pound arises he takes it — and hundreds of...
- 3/26/2015
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The infamous stray dogs of Bucharest, Romania, numbered 60,000 in September 2013, the same month a pack stormed a playground and tore apart a four-year-old boy. Since then, a new euthanasia law has harshly halved their ranks. Neighboring Budapest, Hungary, doesn't have that problem — or final solution — but local writer/director Kornél Mundruczó's White God imagines what if it did. His Cannes-winning doggie dystopia is a slow-burning, brutal watch where every grown-up is channeling Cruella de Vil. The star, a sweet ginger mutt named Hagen, has an expressive face and a knack for trouble. Dumped by his young guardian Lili's (Zsófia Psotta) estranged father (Sándor Zsótér) and hunted by the pound, he's ca...
- 3/25/2015
- Village Voice
“It’s a hard world for little things,” said Lillian Gish’s Rachel Cooper in Charles Laughton’s masterpiece Night of the Hunter. The same goes for our four-legged furry friends in director Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, a thinly veiled allegory of class struggles in modern-day Hungary. While fascinating and at times gripping, this primarily canine-centric drama ultimately falls flat when it shifts focus to its human characters, resulting in an uneven if ambitious film about humanity’s true place in the animal kingdom.
When Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is forced by circumstances to live with her estranged father (Sándor Zsótér), she comes into conflict with him over her pet dog Hagen, who is classified as a “mongrel” by the authorities. Due to incur a hefty fine for harbouring a dog that is not of pure stock, Lili’s father abandons Hagen on the side of the road. This sudden...
When Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is forced by circumstances to live with her estranged father (Sándor Zsótér), she comes into conflict with him over her pet dog Hagen, who is classified as a “mongrel” by the authorities. Due to incur a hefty fine for harbouring a dog that is not of pure stock, Lili’s father abandons Hagen on the side of the road. This sudden...
- 2/25/2015
- by Liam Dunn
- We Got This Covered
★★☆☆☆The recently crowned winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at this year's Cannes is Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó's sixth feature, White God (2014), a sort of canine Rise of Planet of the Apes (2011). Following a short surreal opening which sees a girl cycling through a deserted Budapest, pursued by a large pack of dogs. At first it seems a dream sequence, there's something about the girl which is quite dreamy as well as she doesn't seem terrified or even to be peddling particularly quickly. The girl, 13-year-old Lili (Zsófia Psotta) has been sent to stay with her ex-professor father (Sándor Zsótér) by her academic mother, who is off to Australia for a conference with her new professor partner.
- 5/23/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
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