Taxidermia (2006)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

As Good As It Gets

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Taxidermia. Hungary 2006 Viewed at the 2006 Magyar film week. (filmszemle) New Hungarian features on view here range from the utterly ridiculous to the utterly sublime. At the ridiculous extreme is "TAXIDERMIA" by "Hukkle" director Pálfi György, while on the sublime side of the spectrum is the ethereally sensuous "The Bird Saviour, Clouds and Wind", by first time director István "Taikyo" Szaladják. "Taxidermia" doesn't have much to do with the art of taxidermy (although a taxidermist does make a brief appearance toward the end), but has everything to do with force feeding of fat people, voluminous streams of regurgitation, masochistic self-torture with candle flames, and graphically disgusting butchering of a pig. It seems that upcoming young director Pálfi is out to make an indelible impression on the local film scene by outdoing John Waters in shock effect, Bunuel in acid satire, and Peter Greenaway in sheer disgust. Missing from his film, however, is Waters' sense of humor, Bunuel's subtlety, and Greenaways erudition. The film starts out with a long dark sequence involving a sexually perverted soldier who revels in tickling the tenderest portions of his anatomy with candle flames when not engaged in other acts of sexual aberration with a constantly turgid purple penis. He is ordered about by a screaming, sadistic unteroffizier of some sort, which is perhaps meant to be a wry commentary on military discipline but comes off as a wry commentary on nothing. Fortunately this gruesome soldat is killed off with a quick bullet to the head some twenty minutes into the picture, whereupon we segue into the main part of the film -- a series of public gluttony competitions in which extremely obese people slop up messes of food from wooden trowels as fast as they can -- sloshing their faces in the mess as they go -- and then, with the help of assistants, vomit it all out as fast as they can, to get ready for another round of ravenous scarfing -- and then another round of puking ... and so forth. We focus on a particular extra fat couple who apparently are vying for the sloppiest scarfers in the world title, and they have a professional trainer to hone their skills. Somewhere in between there is a graphic hog vivisection where the hot steaming innards are pulled out in full camera close-up, and then the bloody butchered carcass is blackened over an outdoor fire. Perhaps this is meant to be a sardonic comment on the primitive ritual of Pig Killing (diszno ölés) traditional in many Hungarian villages at certain times of the year. On and on it goes -- more gluttony, more vomiting, and lots of blood and guts whenever possible. Personally I had gotten the basic message after the third or fourth stream of hot vomit --very realistically done, I must say, with none of the conventional gentility of ordinary films when a character gets sick to his stomach -- and considered hitting the exit several times long before the halfway mark, but for some reason, maybe just an excercise in patience and self discipline, I decided to stick it out until the bitter end, just to see how much vomit I could take without flinching -- and I did finally make it. If this was supposed to be a black comedy I did not hear a single chuckle the entire time, although oddly enough, there were no walkouts from the packed theater. A kind of mass hypnotism or something -- who can say? I was told later that some people actually liked the movie, or at least thought it was interesting. I guess even in Hungary "different strokes for different folks" is a valid bromide. I am most curious to see what kind of business this film will do in the commercial cinemas when and if it is released, or escapes. So much for the ridiculous. By the way, the music wasn't bad ... and, come to think of it, just for the cachet attached to the director's name and the blatant in-your-faceness of it all, "Taxidermia" may pack its way into some festivals -- especially the ones dedicated to horror and bad taste.

I'm not expecting this kind of movie, because watching it without knowing anything about it, is the decision. "Taxidermia (2006)" is not your typical comedy horror movie, the story tackles the real events when you're sexually frustrated and the life of "competitive eaters". Overall, it was a good movie and I thought this movie is not for everyone, because of its unusual content. But it gives me a new perception in these kinds of movies.

This was a complete and utter waste of time. I have never seen a Hungarian film before, and "Taxidermia" sure didn't leave much of a great impression.This was bizarre and over the top, and seemed more like an exhibition of freakshow more than it was a movie. There was a lot of strange and bizarre things being shown in the movie, and a bit too much sexual contents in my opinion, which leads to viewer discretion.The story is about three extreme people, in each their own way. But neither of the stories told really had much worth or entertainment to it. And it seemed this was all about just getting as much weird stuff crammed into each story as possible.Everything in the movie is very graphic and visual, and there are many scenes that could prove too much some some viewers.I am sure that the people hired for the roles were doing good enough jobs. I just didn't care one bit for this movie, so I didn't really pay much attention to their performances.There was just too much avant-garde film-making in this movie for my liking. But I am sure there is an audience out there for it.

What do you get when you put together an orderly during WWII, a professional eater, and a taxidermist? Well, I'll tell you. You get a concoction of grotesque imagery, hilarious situations and a strong need for a shower. This is a story about a very strange Hungarian family over the course of three generations. A disturbing film with a lot of dark comedy "Taxidermia" also provides an intelligent commentary on the lengths humans take with their obsessions of the body."Taxidermia" is director György Pálfi second feature film following the highly unique "Hukkle". Pálfi takes a more discomforting turn in this outing but keeps the dark humor he showcased in his first feature. This film has it's "WTF" moments, but in the end it is a well made film with some unforgettable scenes and a successfully artsy ending."Taxidermia" is film about three generations of Hungarians. First, an orderly during WWII who is abused and mistreated. During a night of insanity he fathers an illegitimate son who ends up being raised by the orderly's Lieutenant. The son grows to be a champion in the sport of speed eating, a sport that is on the brink of epicness it seems. Finally the speed eater marries and produces a skinny pale son who grows to be a skilled taxidermist. We witness the psychosis of the orderly, the gluttony of speed eating and finally the beauty of the taxidermist. Be prepared to laugh, puke, laugh and puke a little more.Visually the film is remarkable. Cinematographer Gergely Pohárnok returns from "Hukkle" providing excellent camera transitions and some unique "crane" shots. Veronika Merlin's art direction is also wonderful, the set pieces and costumes were very impressive and lent to the films gloomy yet comedic undertones. Along with the photography the music was phenomenal. Scored primarily by electronic artist Amon Tobin, I would say the music was the highlight for me.Make no mistake about it, "Taxidermia" is a difficult watch. Most probably won't even get through the first sequence. But with an open mind and an understanding of where this film is coming from it can be a very enjoyable experience. The mixture of troubling visuals, intelligent inner commentary and family relationship lessons makes this an easy recommendation for me.I look forward to more from director György Pálfi. I've enjoyed his first two films and know that his uniqueness will bring forth even more depraved yet intelligent films in the future.