Time Stands Still (1982) User Reviews

Adolescent delight.

[jeff-201 · 9/10 · 23 April 1999]

Just prior to the explosion of American teen films in the 1980s that followed American Graffiti (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Risky Business, The Outsiders, Revenge of the Nerds, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Stand By Me, Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing and My American Cousin just to name a few), Gothar made this Hungarian film about a group of teens living in Budapest. The film traces their lives over the course of over ten years, focusing on two brothers in a family torn apart by politics. The institutions represented by the school and revolutionaries frame the protagonists' plot, but do not interfere. The result is a delightful and intriguing tale of a young man dealing with all the problems of adolescence: women, friends, popularity, sex, alcohol and cigarettes - combined with the ever-present influence of American culture. The film is beautifully photographed and there are some innovative uses of the camera and colour. All the tricks are here: slow-motion, wide angle, different colour; but they do not cloud the film and they are certainly not kitschy. Gothar creates an atmosphere filled with confused and mature teens (more like the dramatic Dead Poets Society rather than the other films mentioned above) that will keep you involved and interested in the characters' lives.

Highly recommended.

Revolution and Rock n'Roll

[george-367 · 9/10 · 5 April 2006]

This is an excellent film, rather more than worthy, set, as the previous comment says, in post-1956 (hence post revolution) Hungary. It traces the lives of a group of kids in their last days at school, the father of one of them having fled into exile after the failure of the revolution. The kids are trying to cope with the world the revolution has left behind, and what they chiefly find helpful is western rock n'roll. They want a decadent lifestyle in a puritan state. If rebellion with a cause was no good, why not try being a rebel without a cause? Sex and drugs and the rest.

Sharp, realist, lyrical and poignant, it avoids both sentimentality and cynicism. Nor is it grandeur it is after, but the low hard nitty-gritty of adolescence in a vacuum. Top stuff, and probably the director Gothár's best.

Exceptional

[JasparLamarCrabb · 9/10 · 2 May 2007]

A great movie. Director Peter Gothar crafts a masterpiece of teen angst set against the backdrop of post-revolution Hungary. It's tragic, bleak, depressing and yet somehow uplifting. Gothar's teens are just as lost as their American counterparts and just as rebellious (albiet with much higher stakes). The lead, Magda, is trying desperately to fit in, while at the same time trying to do what his father has told him (be your own person and DON'T SPEAK up about anything unless asked). The movie is littered with rock-n-roll tunes from the 50s and Gothar makes particularly haunting use of "You Are My Destiny." Extremely well made and excellently acted.

Of gaving up ideas

[marosffy · 10/10 · 11 July 2008]

Beside all mentioned in the previous comments, this film is about how one can get lost without usable idols and how revolutions fade away. (It is very easy to associate the film with the '56 uprise of Hungary, but by revolution I rather mean the rebelling tendency that is in every man, especially in youth.) The main character Köves Dini is to choose between several possibilities represented by his family, school-mates and teachers. There are every kind: the hard-line communist teacher Rajnák, fallen rebels like his father and Bodor, the old-fashioned catholic headmaster Szombathy, the ambitious brother who does anything to become a doctor, or the ultimate bad boy: Pierre. Since none can be real idol, Dini evidently gets lost, as we can see in the final scene: as drunken soldier he is pissing on the street.

On the other hand, the film is full of revolutionary ideas: after the fight in '56 father has left to America, Bodor gets in prison, Dini and all the kids are trying to escape into rock and roll and plan a daring getaway to Vienna. By the end of the film, everybody give up these ideas: father comes home, Bodor becomes a well paid servant of the system, Magda and Dini returns home from half way to the Border. The only one who holds on is Pierre, but his fate is well predictable: he is most likely shot by the border guards.

Sad as it is, but very true. Sooner or later most of us conform with reality.

On the other hand, don't think that this film is nothing but mere philosophy and sadness. Most of the scenes are in fact funny, full of brilliant dialogs. So can be really enjoyable. A masterpiece any way.

Excellent study of Goulash Communism

[leafboy-2 · 8/10 · 13 July 1999]

A worthy look at Hungary, just after the '56 revolution. The Communists allowed the Magyars to enjoy many western luxuries to ensure they wouldn't revolt again. It caused a national personality crisis

An embarrassment from beginning to end.

[agnes220cpw · 1/10 · 2 November 2020]

Hungary has produced some excellent films through the years, but this one seems to be a failed attempt by an aspiring film cinematography student's test work. Cinematography, acting, script are uniformly dreadful. In one scene a character jumps through a window head first. In the next scene he is shown with his leg (!) in a cast.