A nyomozó (2008)

Director:

Attila Galambos

Writer:

Attila Galambos (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 October 2008 (Hungary)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Morgue | Murder

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Zsolt Anger	...	Malkáv
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
András Márton Baló	...	Mehtar ben Jaron
Péter Blaskó	...	Artúr Kertész
Csaba Czene	...	Köpcös
Kata Farkas	...	Business woman
Tamás Fodor	...	Antiquarian Bookseller
Zsuzsa Járó	...	Secretary
István Juhász	...	Schwartz, inspector
Ilona Kassai	...	Malkáv's mother
Éva Kerekes	...	Ágnes Noszfer
Réka Kiss	...	Girl on bicycle
Judit Lax	...	Nurse
Helga Mandel	...	Notary
Júlia Nagy	...	Evike's mother
Ferenc Pusztai	...	József Szemben
Pálma Pusztai	...	Evike
Judit Rezes	...	Edit
Lilla Sárosdi	...	Cashier
Sebastian Selymes	...	Svedish professor
Kornél Simon	...	Cleric
Andrea Spolarics	...	Ildikó, inspector
Zoltán Tamási	...	Monori
Réka Tenki	...	Blonde woman
Sándor Terhes	...	Ferenc Szirmai
Ildikó Tóth	...	Mrs. Szirmai
József Tóth	...	Dr. Zoltán Kutya
Katalin Várnagy	...	Mrs. Gábor
András Vinnai	...	Cashier
Zsolt Zágoni	...	Küklopsz

Also Known As:

The Investigator (International: English title)

Runtime:

Czech Republic:107 min (Karlovy Vary Film Festival)

Country:

Hungary | Sweden | Ireland

Language:

Hungarian | English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Anagram Produktion

Compelling, with a few truly unique moments

I had high expectations when going to see this film. It had quite unanimously garnered words of exultation from critics and movie buffs. And not undeservedly so, as I was about to find out in 90 minutes.

The Inspector is pure and unpretentious. A true crime story - the end of which keeps you guessing until the closing sequences - with a delicate touch of humour and outright wittiness. A black comedy, true to the heritage of Shallow Grave and Very Bad Things, that is also reminiscent by its purity of the classics of film-noir. Certain qualities make you think about Claude Chabrol and Francois Ozon, others about David Lynch, while it is apparent that it was Six Feet Under that had the most influence on writer-director Attila Gigor. The Inspector is the quintessence of the best attributes of great pieces of the past, yet unique and utterly ingenious. In some scenes the protagonist's thoughts are shared with the viewers through sublime dialogues or monologues of other characters which make the film all the more bravely experimental.

Although I can only praise this piece of work with pleasant and justifiably complimenting words there was something I lacked in it. Something that would make it easier for me to rate it a tener. Something that is very difficult to articulate. Perhaps the best word for that would be catharsis. Yes, that was what I did not feel no matter how hard I tried. It just did not come. Don't get me wrong, this is a must see nonetheless. Way better than average. Actually, no crime story have managed to make me wonder what the outcome would be in quite a while.