It's been a long time coming but finally the Region 1 release of "Taxidermia" is imminent. On 23 March, 2010 this very strange and twisted tale will be available on Region 1 DVD (including Netflix).
"Taxidermia contains three generational stories, about a grandfather, a father, and a son, linked together by recurring motifs. The dim grandfather, an orderly during World War Two, lives in his bizarre fantasies; he desires love. The huge father seeks success as a top athlete -- a speedeater -- in the postwar pro-Soviet era. The grandson, a meek, small-boned taxidermist, yearns for something greater: immortality. He wants to create the most perfect work of art of all time by
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Spoiler
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) stuffing his own torso.
Historical facts and surrealism become intertwined as magical realism, like in the works of Gabriel GarcÃ*a Marquez or the Hungarian writer Lajos Parti Nagy; the script is based on two of the latterÂ's stories. Palfi added the third story, that of the grandson the taxidermist."
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Spoiler
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) "The first section begins with a disembodied voice pontificating obliquely about creation and three generations, explaining that if something has to end, the beginning has to be important. Immediately we see the grandfather, Vendel Morosgoványi (Csaba Czene), who is berated by his lieutenant in a remote outpost, with only the lieutenantÂ's fat wife and two beautiful daughters around. He retreats into the realm of gratification, no matter how extreme. He peeps in the daughtersÂ' bath, drinks the girlsÂ' dirty bathwater, masturbates until his penis emits flames of fire, and sleeps with the lieutenantÂ's wife. She becomes pregnant and the lieutenant blows off VendelÂ's head  but raises his child, Kálmán.
In the second part, Kálmán (Gergõ Trócsányi) has become obese and competes for Hungary in eating competitions that their backers hope will be recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Against a backdrop of empty Communist spectacle and military poseurs, Kálmán strives to win. He meets up with an oversized woman, Gizella (Adél Stanczel), another speedeating competitor, and the two get married, although she has sex with his teammate during the wedding party. She and Kálmán embark on a long honeymoon, returning to their respective factories to practice. Gizella gives birth to a tiny, tiny son, Lajos.
Section three, which is contemporary, is calmer, less manic than the previous two. Lajos (Mark Bischoff) has become a quiet taxidermist who has no prospects in love; he is rejected by the supermarket cashier, for one. He is as frustrated in his way as his grandfather was in his, but LajosÂ's fertile imagination will prove to work in a very different way. His father, Kálmán, has reached enormous proportions and can no longer move. KálmánÂ's wife has long ago left him, so Lajos brings food and cleans the apartment where Kálmán (now Gábor Máté, in a fatsuit) sits amidst boxes of food and the three cats he pushes to overeat. One day Lajos finds Kálmán dead, possibly having exploded from overeating or having been mauled by one of the cats. He stuffs him, and immediately after, begins stuffing himself by locking his body onto a board surrounded by perfectly attuned machines. At the end of the procedure, a glass blade he has set up decapitates him and an electric saw severs his right arm. The two men are found by a customer, Dr. Regõczy (Géza HegedÂs D.), who puts them on display at a chic art exhibition. Dr. Regõczy, whose lecture is a continuation of the voiceover at the very beginning of the film, maintains that one can mount oneÂ's father and oneself but can not mount the essence, that being what Lajos felt at the moment the blade cut off his head. The camera moves into the black void beyond LajosÂ's bellybutton."
From my 7 Feb., 2007 comments on Taxidermia :
"Gyorgy Palfi's Taxidermia :
"A triptych that moves through stages of sex, life and death the film is filled with genital nudity, bestiality, a flaming penis, a pig graphically butchered on screen, competitive eating, extreme obesity, self mutilation, gallons of vomit, and taxidermy." quoted from Twitch
This film is definitely NOT FOR EVERYONE. If you have a weak stomach or a closed mind stay away from this movie. On the other hand, if you like a unique, bizarre, at time disgusting and violent movie with a large amount of humor then this is the movie for you. I was continuously amazed at the images appearing before my eyes and found myself muttering "WTF" and "No frigging way" throughout the entire movie. After the movie ended all I could do was shake my head and repeat over and over "Unbelievable, Un..frigging..believable..." then I watched it again!
The 'Twitch' review by Todd says it much better than I ...
"Graphic, bizarre, absurdly funny, and yet graced with a strangely human heart Taxidermia will challenge, infuriate, entertain, and send you away question the largest questions of life. It is a vicious satire of Hungary's recent history that also finds universal themes and couches them in a language so strange, so visually arresting that it simply cannot be ignored. Do not bring any members of PETA to this film unless you wish to be lectured for hours on its conclusion. Do not go if you have a weak stomach. But by all means, if you are even remotely interested in unorthodox, experimental film, mark this one down. Only two films into his career Pálfi has very clearly established himself as a true auteur, possessor of one of the most unique cinematic voices in the world."
Taxidermia was Hungary's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).
"Taxidermia contains three generational stories, about a grandfather, a father, and a son, linked together by recurring motifs. The dim grandfather, an orderly during World War Two, lives in his bizarre fantasies; he desires love. The huge father seeks success as a top athlete -- a speedeater -- in the postwar pro-Soviet era. The grandson, a meek, small-boned taxidermist, yearns for something greater: immortality. He wants to create the most perfect work of art of all time by
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Spoiler
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) stuffing his own torso.
Historical facts and surrealism become intertwined as magical realism, like in the works of Gabriel GarcÃ*a Marquez or the Hungarian writer Lajos Parti Nagy; the script is based on two of the latterÂ's stories. Palfi added the third story, that of the grandson the taxidermist."
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Spoiler
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) "The first section begins with a disembodied voice pontificating obliquely about creation and three generations, explaining that if something has to end, the beginning has to be important. Immediately we see the grandfather, Vendel Morosgoványi (Csaba Czene), who is berated by his lieutenant in a remote outpost, with only the lieutenantÂ's fat wife and two beautiful daughters around. He retreats into the realm of gratification, no matter how extreme. He peeps in the daughtersÂ' bath, drinks the girlsÂ' dirty bathwater, masturbates until his penis emits flames of fire, and sleeps with the lieutenantÂ's wife. She becomes pregnant and the lieutenant blows off VendelÂ's head  but raises his child, Kálmán.
In the second part, Kálmán (Gergõ Trócsányi) has become obese and competes for Hungary in eating competitions that their backers hope will be recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Against a backdrop of empty Communist spectacle and military poseurs, Kálmán strives to win. He meets up with an oversized woman, Gizella (Adél Stanczel), another speedeating competitor, and the two get married, although she has sex with his teammate during the wedding party. She and Kálmán embark on a long honeymoon, returning to their respective factories to practice. Gizella gives birth to a tiny, tiny son, Lajos.
Section three, which is contemporary, is calmer, less manic than the previous two. Lajos (Mark Bischoff) has become a quiet taxidermist who has no prospects in love; he is rejected by the supermarket cashier, for one. He is as frustrated in his way as his grandfather was in his, but LajosÂ's fertile imagination will prove to work in a very different way. His father, Kálmán, has reached enormous proportions and can no longer move. KálmánÂ's wife has long ago left him, so Lajos brings food and cleans the apartment where Kálmán (now Gábor Máté, in a fatsuit) sits amidst boxes of food and the three cats he pushes to overeat. One day Lajos finds Kálmán dead, possibly having exploded from overeating or having been mauled by one of the cats. He stuffs him, and immediately after, begins stuffing himself by locking his body onto a board surrounded by perfectly attuned machines. At the end of the procedure, a glass blade he has set up decapitates him and an electric saw severs his right arm. The two men are found by a customer, Dr. Regõczy (Géza HegedÂs D.), who puts them on display at a chic art exhibition. Dr. Regõczy, whose lecture is a continuation of the voiceover at the very beginning of the film, maintains that one can mount oneÂ's father and oneself but can not mount the essence, that being what Lajos felt at the moment the blade cut off his head. The camera moves into the black void beyond LajosÂ's bellybutton."
From my 7 Feb., 2007 comments on Taxidermia :
"Gyorgy Palfi's Taxidermia :
"A triptych that moves through stages of sex, life and death the film is filled with genital nudity, bestiality, a flaming penis, a pig graphically butchered on screen, competitive eating, extreme obesity, self mutilation, gallons of vomit, and taxidermy." quoted from Twitch
This film is definitely NOT FOR EVERYONE. If you have a weak stomach or a closed mind stay away from this movie. On the other hand, if you like a unique, bizarre, at time disgusting and violent movie with a large amount of humor then this is the movie for you. I was continuously amazed at the images appearing before my eyes and found myself muttering "WTF" and "No frigging way" throughout the entire movie. After the movie ended all I could do was shake my head and repeat over and over "Unbelievable, Un..frigging..believable..." then I watched it again!
The 'Twitch' review by Todd says it much better than I ...
"Graphic, bizarre, absurdly funny, and yet graced with a strangely human heart Taxidermia will challenge, infuriate, entertain, and send you away question the largest questions of life. It is a vicious satire of Hungary's recent history that also finds universal themes and couches them in a language so strange, so visually arresting that it simply cannot be ignored. Do not bring any members of PETA to this film unless you wish to be lectured for hours on its conclusion. Do not go if you have a weak stomach. But by all means, if you are even remotely interested in unorthodox, experimental film, mark this one down. Only two films into his career Pálfi has very clearly established himself as a true auteur, possessor of one of the most unique cinematic voices in the world."
Taxidermia was Hungary's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).
