Great Film overall

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

In this admittedly controversial but thought provoking film, Benjamin Meade follows a trail to unlock the mystery posed by old `home movie' footage that he purchased in Hungary. There is something unsettling about these home movies, one scene depicting what appears to be piles and piles of tagged pieces of jewelry. This immediately makes one wonder how a person would come to possess this type of thing right after WWII? Is there a connection to the death camps? Meade taps film expert Stan Brakhage, psychiatrist Dr. Roy Menninger and mystery writer James Ellroy for their interpretations of this odd family footage, but it is the tracking and finding of the (now grown) children who appeared in the original home movies themselves that truly takes this film into bizarro land. The audience members' reactions to this brother and sister are the meat 'n potatoes of this film. Do the sins of the father visit the houses of the children? Well........... do they? Georgia Mueller

This is a film that deserves much more attention then it will probably ever receive. "Vakvagany" is at different times disturbing, thought-provoking, and hilarious. It is a documentary done by a relatively unknown director, and yet it is not only as good as any documentary film you will ever see, but to its great credit, it is also probably as accessible to a mainstream audience as a film like this could be. Hopefully the inclusion in the film of the renowned author and personality James Ellroy (at his wry best) will create an audience for the film; it has a timelessness about it that should allow it to sustain its relevance and impact over time. Three different perspectives about a series of remarkable old "home movies" that were discovered in a decrepit apartment in Hungary are provided by a filmmaker, a psychologist, and an author. Their vastly contrasting input provides the perfect framework for the astonishing footage that is the foundation of this film. The decision by the director Benjamin Meade to splice the comments of a panel of interviewees with disparate perspectives about a central subject reminded me of Errol Morris's great film "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control."

The dark heart of Benjamin Meade's "Vakvagany" consists of creepy home movies, filmed sometime between 1948 and 1964, purportedly stolen from a filthy house in Hungary that was said to be crawling with cats."Vakvagany" zig-zags through time, sampling the stolen family films, juxtaposing them with newly-filmed footage of the old movies' still-living participants, and interviews with three spirit guides who offer their take on lurid life with the family depicted in the old and new footage: crime novelist James Ellroy (of "L.A. Confidential" fame) , psychiatrist Dr. Roy Menninger and filmmaker Stan Brakhage.The vintage films focus on life with the Locsei family, a Hungarian couple fond of filming one another and their eventual, ill-fated offspring.The setting for the `found' film is demolished, post-World War II Europe (much of the footage depicts damage done to cities during the war).The usual family moments are captured in the old family films, such as giving the new baby in the house a bath.But the camera lingers lasciviously long on naked son Erno, a cause for concern for `expert witness,' Dr. Roy Menninger, who seems increasingly to be wincing as the film (and the old family footage) unfolds. There are moments in Vakvagany - old and new - that are apt to make virtually any viewer, even the most jaded, wince, as well.Benjamin Meade's "Vakvagany" (or, variously, "Dead End") is eighty-plus minutes of very strange cinema. Love it or hate it, it is something new, and it feels dangerous and important.Meade has said he became enthralled with the vintage home movies and their potentially sinister subject matter: in particular, father Locsei's never clearly defined role in allegedly `helping' the European Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. The form this `help' takes is sufficiently vague to leave room for some very dark deductions regarding what exactly Papa Locsei does for a living that could be construed as `help' for potential Nazi victims.Director Benjamin Meade lets the viewer, and his three `experts,' attempt to decide (You know you're along for a strange, strange ride when noir novelist James Ellroy, notorious for his wild stage presence and book readings, tends toward the most mundane explanations for some very, very strange behavior.)The Alloy Orchestra, famed for its wonderful scores for vintage silent films, provides a haunting, beautiful soundtrack for "Vakvagany."While a sometimes disturbing view, Meade's film is a rewarding ride that can't be forgotten.

In Budapest, Hungary, a man with a moving truck helps two middle aged siblings relocate and steals a box of home movies from their belongings. The film reels are then sold to a visiting independent filmmaker from the United States who returns home and views them only to find them too good to be amateur. Much of the family footage contains short narratives impersonating cinema as well as several images that would ordinarily be considered inappropriate for filming. There are also several reels of the father at work in what is apparently a government position documenting the inventory of jewelry and other personal property following WW II. The filmmaker puts together a production crew and returns to Hungary to track down the two siblings in an attempt to answer questions about the film content. Both the son and daughter are found living chaotic and separate lives of drunkenness and mental illness.With new film material in hand, the filmmaker returns to the United States and invites three professionals (James Ellroy, Stan Brakhage, and Dr. Roy Menninger) to experience the old and the new material and offer their own interpretations.