Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Wordiezett So much average

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Chung Mo The subject is a Hungarian family at first only known by a set of "found" home movies. The filmmaker (who apparently has commented here about his own movie) goes off on a search to find the subjects of the home movies. He does and films the wretched lives of the children, now grown and in their middle ages. Apparently not enough comes of this so the film maker enlists an unusual trio of commentators to view and react to the footage; a novelist, a psychiatrist and an avant-garde film maker. The result?A very disturbing glimpse into a ruined family. The commentators' opinions come at the same time as your own as they react to footage at the same time you see it. Some times they are insightful, other times just confused. Interestingly, the avant-garde film maker's comments are frequently the most insightful. Many things are not explained as a standard documentary would try to do. Perhaps the film makers were at a loss at what they had filmed when it was finished but that's not a drawback. You have to involve yourself with the mystery to really watch this film.A word on the "disturbing" end, namely the son's visit to his sister and the drinking binge right before it. It's clear that the film maker didn't know that the son would consume two full bottles of wine (gifts from the film maker) before the trip to his sister. Filming it was part of the story. The break-in happens after the son (who is mentally retarded) starts to worry about his sister who lived with him all his life, but hasn't spoken to him for a while now that they live apart. The actual entry into the house is done by a neighbor of the sister and the first view of her filthy kitchen made me think that she had been deceased for a long time. The sister is first seen sleeping, oblivious to the noise in her house, as if dead. She is extremely paranoid and quite crazy. she refuses to talk about her father except for a last comment that says tons about the man.A great film about the results of parents who smother the emotional growth of their children. The method of delivery, however, will not please many people.

copyed01 I purchased a copy of "Vakvagany" at a film festival in Kansas City and was treated to a pioneering piece of film. Meade has taken the medium of family home movies and transformed it into an art form, worthy of criticism and interpretation (which, of course, he also does). Critics of "Vakvagany" most certainly will attack the filmmaker's invasion of privacy to get what he wants out of Etruska, but I found his introduction of her to be one of the most moving moments in the film. Both Eturska and Erno are the personification of abuse victims: they are portrayed as awkward children in these home videos, playing parts in the role of a "happy" family while, after the cameras turn off, only the Locseis themselves know the extent of the abuse inflicted upon these children, if any at all. Erno and Etruska are the epitome of tragic characters. The abuse at the hands of a seedy father and alcoholic mother have molded them into, quite frankly, pathetic adults. And the only way we can gauge the full effect of their traumatic childhood is to see these two in the flesh, to see that Etruska lives in squalor and still hasn't faced the proverbial demons of her past, instead shutting down completely. In a sense, Meade has done a favor to Etruska and Erno by exposing their lives for us to see, to alert us to the plight of the "survivor" of a dysfunctional family. It is through these two that we can recognize the acts that the Locseis display for the camera likely veiled a darker side of the family.My comments here roughly reflect what I got out of the movie: that our home movies indeed turn us into actors, that we sometimes present ourselves to the viewer in a different light and that, try as we may, our true nature still could shine through. And after the filming is done, we need to be able to take responsibility for our actions and our treatment of our family and to account for what we have produced (in this case, the Locsei "children"). While the home movie is a snapshot in time, it also is a case study of the inner workings of the family unit. I believe Meade is telling the viewer that we have a responsibility to face what our family has molded us into as adults, no matter how horrible. Amid all of the criticism "Vakvagany" has received, Meade should know that he has at least one fan who recognizes his film for what it is: a trailblazing look at humanity.

John Seal The found films that serves as the basis for Vakvagany are fascinating, and the commentary by special guests James Ellroy, Stan Brakhage, and Roy Menninger at times is thought-provoking, but filmmaker Benjamin Meade crosses a dangerous line with this film in the final reel, as he literally breaks into someone's home in order to film them. Perhaps that would have been justified if the subject were a secluded war criminal. Unfortunately, Meade's victim is a slightly disturbed though quite coherent middle aged woman who is thoroughly aware of the pornographic intentions of the director's camera. In an afterthought segment aired after the film on the Sundance Channel, Meade admits that he went too far. Self awareness is important, but it came too late to save an otherwise fascinating piece of work, making Nick Broomfield look like Miss Manners in comparison.

bmeade-1 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.