Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This must be the only foreign language film, (apart from Albert Lamorise's "The Red Balloon") not to require subtitles. The only one there is translates the title of this rural set Hungarian film, from 2002 - as "Hiccup".But, what we do have is an elderly gent, gently hiccupping his day away, sitting outside his old cottage - as the world goes past. A world that includes a pig, its testicles swinging wildly, just after a shot of villagers enjoying a game of bowls. The postmistress on her bicycle, delivering. Geese, of course. And a giant combine harvester. Plus everything else. So, we have wit. We also have dark goings on as the womenfolk seem to be feeding their men food and drink that seem to have come from a special source.Every conceivable village activity, from beekeeping to the flour mill, from the bobbing of the cotton wheels and whirring of sewing machines, to a giant, lazy catfish gobbling a mouthful in the local lake. Even a mole underground, at night, scratches its way to devouring a juicy worm. What IS going on?The images are often in close-up, the natural sounds amplified. The camera loiters behind objects to throw us off the scent. The scent of what, though? The local constable knows something's going on. Is he exempt? This ever interesting short film (70mins) does seem to take its time to make its point. Though it actually doesn't, doesn't really matter. A joy....but like actual hiccups, you'll want to move on once it's over.

I suppose we should be thankful for this. Its as purely cinematic as you will get if you think of narrative separate from vision. That's the philosophy of this, one I almost violently reject.But we do have it. And it is enjoyable, clever, engaging. The notion here is one of granularity. I've written elsewhere about the size of the components in a film, that there are wonderful effects that can accrue when these are exploited. By that I meant component in several dimensions. There's the rhythm of the thing is how long the camera lingers and lines are spoken and effects presented. Mastery of this is rare but when you see it, it matters.But there's granularity in the narrative as well. You might present chunks out of order, in which case the physical life of them is less important than the degree of abstraction in the way they are presented. Moving, shifting levels of abstraction only seems to work when the size of the brick, the steps in levels of abstraction, are constant. When these two bricks: abstraction in several senses and physical heartbeat are modulated together, then you have something that can penetrate your being.Now to this. Its lovely. Its a slightly interesting puzzle that leaves us with a refreshing and welcome moral. Its offbeat and therefore attractive on that score as well. But I really didn't like it because there's no understanding of the bricks, the nature of the units that make up a film. This isn't me saying I like this tradition or convention, oh no. Its a matter of how our minds actually work.Look at this seriously. Its difference from what we normally expect is part of its reason to be and presumably is there to increase its effectiveness at what it is. Small things like a bee's dance, or a bud's breaking are the same abstract "size" as larger things like planting and marrying, and they are the same "size" as global earthquakes and war. Placed in this is a mass murder of husbands, established also as the same size.Its a nice idea. Wish it worked.Interesting as all getout is the nature of the Hungarian mind. This is a small country. Many small countries in Europe, especially in the southeast, suffer an inferiority complex. Hungary is a bit different. They are ethnically different from other Europeans, profoundly so. They are a nation with one city surrounded by farms. So invested are they in this city that it is the most urban and in many ways sophisticated in Europe. Hungary — given it size — has produced a phenomenal number of brilliant scientists and mathematicians. Absolutely phenomenal.And if you know these men and their work, you'll know that they are/were the primary warriors in defining the world geometrically. You don't want a treatise on warring theories in science in a movie comment, but be aware that there are different views of how things are put together in the world, and it boils down to how you abstract the bricks.We owe the bright Hungarians for the notion that the world has symmetries that transcend numbers and probabilities. Mirrors exist before the eye does. If you go to Budapest, you will find great minds. But if you go to the outskirts and talk to the non-urbanites, you get a kindergarten version of geometric existence. That's where this comes from. Its interesting. Its novel. Its ineffective and dumb. But pretty. Blocks, all the same.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I nearly missed it the first time. I then re-watched the movie. There really is one core story going on here - the movie only diverges from this story in a handful of scenes. There is A LOT more going on than what you might originally suspect. You need to be very observant of what's going on in each scene especially the glances given by people. Follow objects and people around - try to memorize a few faces. I rewound the DVD a couple of times on my second viewing just to check up on people to make sure who was who. A very bizarre story it is - apparently inspired by true events. Loved the music and of course the imagery is fantastic.

This strange and wonderful Hungarian film was shown at the Seattle International Film Festive this year (2003). The film is told without words. Images of idyllic farm community gradual show an underlying menace. Like a David Lynch film something seems to be going on as a mesmerizing murder mystery is slowly revealed. Even the film's official website is unique