i was of course super-psyched about the cairo film festival’s last screening- kusturica’s promise me this. having already watched two other films that day, i arrived at the grand hyatt’s good news cinema having just had the best sushi in cairo. as i stood in the ticket line, groups of cinema goers huddled around me debating whether to buy tickets (good news is one of cairo’s most expensive movie theaters, L.E.30 or US$4 or so compared to L.E.5 at the downtown spots). as my turn came up and i was informed that the movie had been canceled and a hungarian movie was to play instead (no one seemed to know what the replacement film was called). it was almost 9pm, there weren’t any other film festival choices so i decided to try my luck out.
panic (pánik) a hungarian film by attila till turned out to be one of my festival’s gems. a non-stop, briskly-paced comedy that centers on zsuzsi, a stunning, successful thirty year old who on recently being dumped by her boyfriend suddenly starts suffering panic attacks, her family and a gay, in the closet, cop couple.
zsuzsi checks herself into a super newagey panic clinic as she grapples with the meaning of life. her unbelievably and hilariously self-obsessed mother barely notices and is out shopping for a second-hand dildo when her son attempts to shoot her but mistakenly almost kills zsuzsi instead! gives you a feeling for the abusurdist plotline.
it’s a warm, tender humane film where every single character suffers exaggerated neuroses. the film’s light comedic touch (really really funny) masks our constant flirtation with psychosis. one for the woody allen lovers out there.