Mario the Magician

At the beginning of the 90s, not long after the regime change, a miracle occurs in a tiny Hungarian village with the arrival of a warm-hearted Italian entrepreneur, Zserardó (Vittorio Marsiglia).


He sets up a new factory offering jobs and well-being to the local women and kick-starting the previously sleepy village. Vera (Júlia Nyakó) also joins the factory and soon becomes the best worker and most trustworthy of all the women.



Zserardó leaves as the elegant, handsome and mysterious owner of the factory, Mario (Franco Nero) arrives and decides to manage the factory himself. Mario appreciates Vera’s diligence and he trusts her more and more, even to the point of making her his deputy. Meanwhile, Vera becomes deeply enchanted by the man’s special charm. She cannot resist his charisma, starts to buy new clothes for herself, learn Italian and cook Italian dishes for her husband who, unsurprisingly, doesn’t like all these shenanigans at all. Vera falls so deeply in love with Mario that, after a while, she completely loses her own identity. She thinks that’s she’s an Italian and dreams obsessively about a better life at Mario’s side.



Or so goes the film from Tamás Almási, one of Hungary’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers, who turns his hand to movie making for this wonderful romance. Set in 1990’s Hungary, this is a heartfelt tale and shouldn’t be confused with the famous Thomas Mann novel. It’s not just for lovers of romance but also for those who are interested in Hungarian society in the midst of the upheavals, which followed the fall of communism.

All very well, you might say, but as it’s a Hungarian film you might be thinking that you’re going to have to brush up on your Magyar before you can experience this superb film. But you’d be thinking wrong, as from the premier on November 6th onwards, Toldi Cinema will be showing this probably-soon-to-be-a-classic-show-watch-it-on-the-big-screen-while-you-can with English subtitles – so you’ll have no excuse not to feel the love, experience the history and leave your fella for a good-looking Italian who cooks macaroni for you every night.

If you don’t feel like braving the mean streets of Budapest, then you can as also download the film from www.filmklik.hu – a video-on-demand system which will, for the fist time, allow people to download the film on the day of its premiere.



This film is hotter than an Italian’s underpants, but if you need some proof of this, then it comes in the form of its nomination for the Golden Pyramid at the A-category Cairo International Film Festival.




Dates: November 6-26
Place:
Toldi Mozi
1054 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 36-38.

Tel.: +36.1.472.0397