Johanna (2005)

Director:

Kornél Mundruczó

Writers:

Yvette Biro (co-author)
Kornél Mundruczó (writer)

Release Date:

10 November 2005 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama | Musical

Plot:

Johanna, a young drug addict, falls into a deep coma after an accident. Doctors miraculously manage to save her from death's doorstep...

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Opera | Television | Morphine | Prostitute

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Orsolya Tóth	...	Johanna (as Orsi Tóth)
Eszter Wierdl	...	Johanna's Voice
Zsolt Trill	...	Young Doctor
Tamás Kóbor	...	Young Doctor's Voice
Dénes Gulyás	...	Professor
József Hormai	...	1st Doctor
Sándor Kecskés	...	2nd Doctor
Viktória Mester	...	1st Nurse
Hermina Fátyol	...	2nd Nurse
Andrea Meláth	...	3rd Nurse
Kálmán Somody	...	Cleaning Man
János Klézli	...	Fireman
Géza Gábor	...	Patient
Kolos Kováts	...	Patient
Sándor Egri	...	Patient

Runtime:

86 min | Brazil:83 min

Country:

Hungary

Language:

Hungarian

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:16 | UK:15 | South Korea:18

Company:

Proton Cinema

Could not stay seated to watch the whole thing

Sat through about what seemed like 20 minutes of this attempt at art, though it may have been in fact only 8-12 minutes.

I don't know what sort of cameras they shot this with, but as presented at the 2005 Saint Louis Internation Film Festival, the picture had such visible digital compression artifacts that I wished it had been shot with antique analog video camera instead of whatever they used. Then at least the blown-out whites would have had some interesting flange and flare.

Sound, similarly, was digitally compromised, or at least had unintended sounds bumping in. The singers were competent, but the music itself was over-composed.

I'm not writing a review. More of a warning: You're going to have to love the concept, I think, to sit through this production.

I suggest to the authors that they load up a web-server with it, treat it as a storyboard for a real production, and see if anyone bites on it.

It's just not ready for putting people in the seats to experience it, and this is from one who loved J. Caouette's "Tarnation".