FirstLoveMovies

Shot in B&W, Gyula Gazdag's film follows the surreal and often comic quests of young Andris, an orphan searching for a father who doesn't exist, and Orban, a government clerk who's had enough of oppressive bureaucracy.

cinefiles.bampfa.berkeley.edu wrote:Gyula Gazdag's resplendent black and white A Hungarian Fairy Tale is, as its title indicates, a fable: a fantastic view of a child's world reflected through the prism of modern Hungarian society. There is a law in Hungary that requires children to have the names of their fathers registered by the age of three. If the father is not known, a fictional name is invented by the mother and the prsiding official. In Gazdag's tale, young Andris sets out to find his father, not knowing that the name and address he has been given are fabricated.

His search for his father and the love he expects to find is poignantly told. As Andris tries to track down his father, the official who named him finds himself on a strange voyage of his own. Moments only possible in a fairy tale intervene - chance, fate, incredible events - but Gazdag's fable carries deeper meanings for a society that doesn't know who its own father is. - Piers Handling