Like Hungarian goulash, Hungarian film is hearty stuff that sticks to your ribs. And Robert Koltai's latest work, "May Day Mayhem", does indeed fill your plate, yet doesn't leave you feeling too full, just pleasantly satisfied.
In "May Day Mayhem", Koltai stars as the delightfully mischievous Chocho, a simple man born into complicated times. Set in post World War II Hungary, "May Day Mayhem" opens up to show Chocho as a political prisoner, locked away in a gulag for committing crimes against the State. Actually, what he did was sing a few songs that were deemed anti-Communist. However, Chocho is needed, as he is the town's only hope to properly organize the May Day parade. He's also the only one who can keep the town's hapless soccer team focused long enough to win the championship game.
And so we go, following Koltai's Chocho, from one curious happenstance to another, rooting for Chocho the way we root for Buffalo in the Super Bowl. Koltai, both as an actor and a director, insinuates himself so cleverly and yet so gently that we are ashamed when we lose faith, even for a moment. Unfortunately, we do lose a bit of faith; the film lacks the structural perfection necessary to keep us fully engaged with all the sub-plots. However, Koltai doesn't lose complete control, and the movie never really suffers. It's just that the second half lacks the perfection that was evident during the first half.
Now on to the positives, which are plentiful.
The acting by the principles is excellent, with a few standouts worth noting. One of them is Adel Kovats, who plays the wife of the central KGB officer, Lt. Colonel Gubinyi. Kovats is reminiscent of a young Shirley MacLaine, both in her beauty and in the depth of her acting performance. Kovats will receive awards for this performance and is absolutely worth the price of admission.
The writing is also excellent, subtle, and charming. In fact there is one moment of brilliance where Chocho tells a simple story, intent on being pithy and disarming. But as it unfolds, the story becomes a parable for the oppression of the Hungarian people. As the story goes, a man is at his farmhouse, where his wife is upstairs in labor. However, out in the barn, there is a fire building. So he has to make a decision: Does he stay with his wife, to help her give birth? Or does he save the cows in the barn? When it is over, the baby is born, the barn has burned down, but the cows are safe. Why did he save the cows? Because, says Chocho, the cows wouldn't ever leave the barn, and the baby would come, no matter what else was happening. It is simple to see the parallel to the heartbreaking events surrounding the innocent victims of Stalin's reign over Hungary.
