A trudge through three generations of a Hungarian family in the second world war, the Communist era and the present day, Taxidermia is very odd indeed. It has enough gross-out moments (practically its entire 91 minutes, in fact) to merit comparison with comedy horror like Re-animator, or real horror, like early Cronenberg, but it's never really very funny or very horrific.
Yet at times, it looks classy and is clearly filmed with loving care and its director Gyorgy Palfi, still only 33, made a much-admired debut with Hukkle. I suspect an allegory aboiut Hungarian life, but the only message I could divine is that life in Budapest makes you sick. Potential viewers should have sickbags to hand, ideally. All three sections are equally gross, featuring masturbation, speed-eating, a Mr Creosote/Jabba type (the obesity seems to get a little more obese in each section), the taxidermy suggested by the title, more vomiting than a Saturday night kebab house ater the pubs close, and a scene in which a cock is pecked by a cock - a neat visual pun, but does Hungarian have the same words for both types too?
There's not much dialogue, though I do recall the speed-eater's claim that "I had a vomiting technique named after me," a boast most of us can only dream of.
