Bahrtalo! (Good Luck!)

Colour, 35 mm
Hungary, Austria, Germany, 2008, 80 min
IP – International premiere
Section: East of the West - Films in Competition

Synopsis

An original fiction documentary which follows a pair of Hungarian Borats on a journey across Europe. Lali, a moustached gypsy, and a bald guy named Lori come from Transylvania and are friends to the end. The charismatic duo initially set out for Vienna and later go off to Egypt together. Though their failures have been many, and even their successes short-lived, their friendship manages to overcome all obstacles. This fiction document with elements of the Borat-style “crazy comedy” is about a pair of hillbillies and their collision with civilisation. It’s a film full of sheer Eastern European poetry, effectively portraying the clash between the spontaneous East and the more reserved West. Encouraged by the director to play themselves, the actors deal with problems in their own, usually very peculiar way. Hovering on the border between documentary and fiction, the film maintains its unfettered energy and pure spontaneity. The protagonists’ camera presence is entirely natural and arches over the film’s otherwise mosaic structure.

About the director

Róbert Lakatos (b. 1968, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), a Hungarian director born in Romania, graduated in cinematography from the National Film and Television Academy in Łódź, Poland, in 2000. He is a Romanian citizen but his nationality is Hungarian. Since 2004 he has been teaching direction at Romania’s Sapientia University. His documentaries have earned him a number of awards. Some of his films have included Red in the Summer, Blue in the Winter (Nyáron piros, télen kék, 2000), The Kingdom of Silence (Csendország, 2001), Gen(i)us Diabolis (Ördögtérgye, 2003), Punters or Casino Transsylvaniae (Spílerek avagy Casino Transsylvaniae, 2004), and Moszny (2006). Bahrtalo! (Good Luck!) is his first feature film project.