Kolorado Kid is a Hungarian movie directed by Anras B. Vagvolgyi.
In the summer of 1959 Béla Kreuzer (played by Zsolt Nagy), a loader and gambler, is handcuffed and arrested. He is placed in detention and at first thinks it is because of his dubious activities on the racecourse. It soon becomes apparent however, that the reason of his incarceration is due to his participation in the 1956 Hungarian revolution, where wackiness ensues!
Mr Anras B. Vagvolgyi was kind enough to answer a few questions about the film.
The Movie Club - Thank you for the opportunity to discuss Kolorado Kid with The Movie Club. Could you please tell us a little about yourself and your filmography.
I studied sociology in Hungary and Britain in the 1980s. At the time of the transition here I was pretty active, and has been one of the founders, later the editor of a weekly called Magyar Narancs, which reportedly has changed the language of the print press in Hungary and was a kinda fresh voice of the media here, won Pulitzer Price, etc.
In the mid-90s I was awarded with a Lucius W. Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, where I took the film class lead by internationally renowned Yugoslav director Dusan Makavejev. (His Australian pic, The Coca Cola Kid the - with Grata Schachi and Eric Roberts - probably might have an effect on me in finding out the title of my movie.) I made a short in NY and a doc in Detroit during this year. Later I made a bunch of docs, some in the States, one in Hong Kong, another one in South Africa. I was assistant to LA-based Hungarian director Gyula Gazdag for a doc on Allen Ginsberg. I worked with Bela Tarr on his movie Werckmeister Harmonies and with old master Miklos Jancso in one of his late pictures. I've written a number of scripts and Kolorado Kid was the first to be shot.
The Movie Club - Is the Hungarian revolution a great interest of yours? What made you want to tell this story?
I think in the history of the 20th century the 1956 revolution was the positive event in Hungarian history which was spectacular enough for movies. Also, I was born into the regime which followed it. And this regime was based on betrayal.
A very good elder friend of mine, the writer Istvan Eorsi was a political prisoner from his age of 25 in the aftermath of the revolution and his book (Reminiscences of the Good Old Times) on his prison years has a great effect on my film (he was a leading figure of the political and cultural opposition in the Communist years). His son, Laszlo Eorsi is a historian specialized on the stories of the guerilla groups of Budapest in 1956. He approached me with a series of reports of a jail mole: this was the jumping board of the script.
I like the film noir genre pretty much, and thought this genre would fit the storyline well, with the tension that no noir could have been made in Hungary in the 50s - that era was for "socialist realism" and comedies. Kolorado Kid is a multiple and cumulative betrayal story, sort of paradigm of my Hungary at the time, the place I was born into.
The Movie Club - Would you say this movie is against the death penalty?
I myself am very much against death penalty and about 300 death penalties occurred in Hungary in the aftermath of the revolution. I think this movie of course is against death penalty in general, but particularly it is against betrayal and moral relativism.
The Movie Club - What was it like working with your main cast? Was there any improvisation on set? How long did shooting go for?
Well, the story of making this film is a troubled one, recent politics and shortcomings in funding belated the process. We had 35 days of shooting between 2006 and 2008. I think a film like this in France or Germany would go for the double of our period for shooting, and in the US probably this film would have been shot in 90 days. We had a script, which has changed sometimes and there were rewritings, but in general we stuck to the script. I liked to work with the actors/actresses, no complaints. Same with DOP, art director, sound etc.
The Movie Club - What are your current/future projects?
I do preparation for a low budget thriller, a much bigger budget feature with the title "1989", I have feature animation project (about filmmaking and radical politics in Japan). I used to live in Tokyo more ten years ago - in the1970s. The last year and a half I shot a doc on a guy who's from Budapest, but is the singer of the most famous and scandalous black metal band in Norway. I think, these are enough for the next five years.
The Movie Club - Again, many thanks for the opportunity to discuss Kolorado Kid with the movie club. Congratulations on the film and we wish you the best with your future projects!
Kolorado Kid is screening as part of the Windows on Europe Film Festival at 7:PM, 15 Feb 2012, at Dendy Cinemas, Canberra.
Luke McWilliams, Feb 2012