Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There will be many ways to interpret this tale. I'll not synopsize this nearly mute (plenty of sounds - just minimal sub-titled language - and song lyrics, at that!) film gem for you. Plenty of that has already been done by others and in other places.It is a splendidly crafted film - outstanding storyboarding, cinematography, and "casting." Just see it! Make up your own "gist," if you must. But, whether or not you come up with an underlying theme or specific story, you must "enjoy the ride." See some of the other reviews for the ideas of others as to how to make it more than "beautiful cinematography, sound, and editing" for their own sakes.(Personally, I think it has subtle hints that make of it a sociological gender study that is not necessarily limited to rural Hungarians, and a murder mystery and subsequent quandary.)

...and even then the Hukkle keeps its own regular rhythm at the very end.As a kid, I remember there used to be a visual game in magazines where a photograph zoomed in extremely tight or shot from an odd angle was presented, and you had to guess what the object was. This film features many such shots...and in its speechless stroke of genius, the story itself is presented that way as well.Let me state that this movie is clearly not for everyone, at first it reminded me of the beloved Ann Arbor Film Festival, which hosts many fine but often fiercely independent short films. But "Hukkle", while succeeding in its artful attack, moves beyond that.But it does so slowly...The film moves almost at the pace of the tiny Hungarian village where it was mostly shot. Indeed from the DVD extras, I get the sense that Gyorgy Palfi wanted to have the film linger even longer in spots. The (human) actors are all non-professional; while I believe the pig, cat, snake, mole and frog were all professional. The frog also was apparently delicious, at least according to the famished catfish.I really want to resist saying more, I'm just trying to figure out a way to direct the people who would enjoy this film toward it. I suspect that if you ever entertained notions of attending film school, you would enjoy this. Rambunctious creativity is on display, as it was in "Daisies" which I recently watched and reviewed. Similarly, just seeing a village might appeal to some folks like myself living in the United *Sprawl* of America.In that village, we see some folks living with plastic sheets as part of their homes. I don't think this could have been made anywhere ...nor by anyone else. Palfi's approach on screen is gentle but, I don't know, proudly peculiar?? Or maybe peculiarly proud? He likely was a city mouse out in the country, but he was welcomed in to their wine caves, their apiaries and those plastic thatched houses, but more importantly the lives of the sturdier folks occupying them.With the DVD you get a couple of bonus tracks, the subtitled commentary by Palfi and his cinematographer was very insightful on several levels. It almost seemed at times like the film was not only a riddle from Palfi to us the audience, but a puzzling challenge to Gergely Poharnok and the rest of the crew!Additionally Palfi's voice, it's genuinely genial tone but never mawkishly so, while I don't speak Hungarian, I was curious to see him interact with the villages...and that is also in the Extras!I eagerly look forward to more of his work, the Taxidermist is not readily available yet...but hopefully soon. Oh, and here is a plug for having Palfi film an adaptation of "The Thought Gang" - a fine book by Tibor Fischer!This film has grown from a 6 to a 7.5/10 for me...still rising!!Thurston HungerTwo more comments...1) Would love to track down the music (and field recordings) to this.2) Funniest scene in the film...the very un-Hollywood police chase!!

If you've read the other comments here you'll already be aware that Hukkle is about 75 mins long, visually arresting and that there is nothing spoken (except some overheard snatches of conversation here and there). May I also add that in addition it is also rather beautiful, somewhat brutal (some of the animal stuff bothered me a bit, especially the semi-paralysed cat - which I trust was faked somehow, I hope...) and just when you start slipping into the rhythm of the film the director keeps pulling out surprises to keep you on your toes, or awake depending on your stamina and tastes.I can't quite see the oft-noted parallels to David Lynch so much as Donnie Darko which seems more like kinfolk to Hukkle. Some will not be able to take the pace and lack of conventional narrative, but if you like something different (and this IS something different) and don't want everything mapped out for you, this could be the ticket.

It's hard to describe this film. It's quite unique. The closest I can compare it to are maybe the Cremaster films of Mathew Barney, but it's really something all of its own. Hukkle is kind of a symphony of sights and sounds, without any real dialogue. It's just rhythms and patterns and cause and effect, and it's very very cool. Often funny, often disturbing, always fascinating. It's sort of like a nature documentary, with humans as just one of the subjects, just one part of the ecosystem. And underneath it all, there's a strange murder mystery. I saw this film as part of the Seattle International Film Festival. I hope it gets a wider release, because I'd like to see it again. I want to work out some of the details that I missed the first time through.