tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post6222308598042484656..comments2023-11-22T09:11:01.567+00:00Comments on George Szirtes: New Links on Right and a piece of SindbadGeorge Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08889600788146987089noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-56959526575454308612010-07-08T17:31:19.111+01:002010-07-08T17:31:19.111+01:00If this seems bizarre you'll find the whole fi...If this seems bizarre you'll find the whole film bizarre, Kathy. I first saw Szindbád in a projection room at the Film School in Budapest along with an American poet who screwed up his face at the end and pronounced it kitsch. I didn't altogether disagree then. It is, I should say, the favourite film ever of many Hungarians, irrespective of gender (an issue which, to me then, seemed not irrelevant to the film). The director, Zoltán Huszárik, like many other gifted people - like his star here, Zolán Latinovits, died early. The first certainly by suicide, the second possibly.<br /><br />The film has grown on me since to the extent that I bought the video and have watched it a few times. There is a good deal of the American underground movie in it, combined with fragmentary story-telling and the kind of lushness one might associate with advertisement or even soft-porn.<br /><br />I still see those influences working in the film but now think it is valuable on two fronts: firstly, as an attetmpt to make a popular film using a complex artistic language and, secondly, as a kind of philosophy springing out of fascinating Central European desires and neuroses.<br /><br />That sounds a little grand, I know, and I do speak as the translator of the Szindbad stories so may be biased, but I think it is well worth hanging with the film if you ever get a chance to see it, even if seems - and is - odd and self-indulgent. It is, nevertheless, nostalgically, creepily, movingly beautiful.George Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08889600788146987089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-77224504132730935792010-07-08T15:23:32.916+01:002010-07-08T15:23:32.916+01:00Hi George.
I found this a bizarre excerpt of film....Hi George.<br />I found this a bizarre excerpt of film. Initially, the still image reminded me of Basil Fawlty and Manuel in Fawlty Towers. I found the close-ups of the food pretty freaky. If ever, I decide to go on a diet, I shall watch this to put me off my dinner. Although I can see how the images could appear sexual. Interesting to see how different cultures approach seemingly everyday activities.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-44896704097439128982010-07-06T13:44:11.745+01:002010-07-06T13:44:11.745+01:00Great footage. I've eaten in places like that....Great footage. I've eaten in places like that. They are still around. The man is definitely a Feinschmeker. The Tafelspitz (sliced boiled beef) had me dribbling - I'd take it, not with mustard, but with freshly grated horse-radish. Very sharp.<br />The library lady said the book should be there in next 2 days.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-17093172373190858842010-07-05T19:32:01.601+01:002010-07-05T19:32:01.601+01:00Gwilym, I am devastated at the scant readership of...Gwilym, I am devastated at the scant readership of The Lost Rider in Austria!!! Does the world mean to tell me that Austrian libraries are not packed out with eager readers of a bilingual book of Hungarian verse in English translation. I must throw myself in the Danube next time I'm near enough to it.<br /><br />I think New Left on Right has distinct political implications, though in England it would probably be New Right on Left.George Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08889600788146987089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4638619958588096610.post-46209922626558816882010-07-05T19:23:58.237+01:002010-07-05T19:23:58.237+01:00George, to me "New Links* on Right" is q...George, to me "New Links* on Right" is quite funny because it's typical of the way I speak in real life; a strange mixture of German and English; it's a new language called Denglisch.<br /><br />Links is of course the German word for left.<br /><br />I therefore on first glance read your headline as "New Left on Right" <br /><br />But I know what you mean. I'm still waiting for a reply from the Library re the book of Hungarian poems I reserved. I imagine the chaos of them lokking for a booklast borrowed in1999 or whenever. Hope they can find it.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.com