Black Brush

The tempo of this unadulterated Hungarian slacker comedy is meticulously adapted to the slothful way of life of the protagonists. Helped by the minimal techno and the trip-hop on the soundtrack, this results in a dreamy, almost hypnotic effect. The black & white images filmed with great precision in wide-screen format are reminiscent of the early works of Jim Jarmusch, such as Down by Law. Vranik himself mentions this film as an indirect influence, along with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. Four kids in Budapest have holiday jobs as chimney sweeps, but they are primarily busy avoiding everything that looks in the least like work. Zoli, Anti, Dofi and Papi would much prefer to lie on the roofs in the sun. In Black Brush, we follow an extremely active day in the lives of these layabouts. The bored foursome, who would rather get rich quick than expend energy, lose a large sum of their boss’ money in a cock fight. Fortunately, they win the lottery immediately afterwards. But then a goat eats their winning lottery ticket. When they slaughter the goat to get the lottery ticket back, they cannot find the valuable piece of paper in its stomach – although they do find an answer to all their problems. (LC)

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