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Taxidermia
R2 - United Kingdom - Tartan Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Joe Harbridge (1st October 2007). |
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The Film
 "Taxidermia" is a very odd film. It opens with a man drinking in the essence of a candle by sucking flame through his harelip only to shoot it back out his penis. Then it gets really weird. The film's Hungarian director has chosen to tell the story of three generations of a family of truly disturbing characters. The first generation consists of the communist solider who has a vivid imagination and the ability to shoot magical things from his penis. These traits unfortunately lead to his early demise, but not before fathering a child that is part man, part pig, and all fat. The child grows up to be a champion speed eater for the Hungary national team, and not only wins glory for his nation, but the prize ham of the woman's speed eating circuit. I will take this moment to warn the potential viewer that during this part of the film, there is an insane amount of vomiting as the fatties repeatedly stuff themselves and then hurl into specially designated areas. I am not squeamish, but even I felt mildly ill watching most of the film and I would recommend skipping the popcorn for this one, as it is guaranteed to make your stomach churn, if only a little...and it's definitely not a date movie, unless your date is bulimic. But tragically, the love the couple shared was not to last (foreshadowed by his bride having sex on their wedding day with another speed eater, while the groom sings of his love to all at the reception, karaoke style.) The story moves on to the third generation to find that his parents have split up and his father now lives on his own, unable even to stand now with his incredible girth, with a pack of giant cats that he is training to eat by feeding them nothing but margarine. While being a dutiful son, he is nothing like his father. He is bone thin and withdrawn where his father is huge and grandiose. Where his father sits and eats hundreds of chocolate bars, foil on to save time, the son is weird in his own distinct way, taxidermy. It is clear that the film is meant to shock the audience, and it certainly succeeds. Be it weird sex, speed eating everything from gruel to caviar, stuffing things that should be sacred; the film pushes the boundary of taste, but does so in a way that is somehow constantly amusing and fascinating. Its conclusion falls short of profound, but it is a movie more of emotion than ideas, and in the week since I saw it, I have reflected mostly on how it made me feel, not what it made me think. This film is not for everyone. It is also a lot of fun if you relax and don't fight the natural urge you will feel to frown upon the characters and their baffling behaviour. At times you feel you really ought to look away from the screen, but simply cannot not bring yourself to do it. It elicits a certain curiosity, much like seeing someone sunbathing nude from your office, or driving past a pile-up on the motorway. I can't guarantee you will enjoy this film, but if you enjoy pushing your own boundaries, this is certainly the film for you.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this anamorphic transfer is excellent, the image is sharp and nicely detailed. Colours are vibrant and lush, with deep and bold blacks and consistently good shadow detail especially in darker more dimly lit scenes. Skin tones appear natural and the print has no dirt, it's pristine in presentation for the most part. The image has some grain but nothing that's distracting and in fact adds a little texture to the final product.
Audio
As usual Tartan have included three audio tracks in the film's original language of Hungarian, the tracks are in DTS 5.1 (half bit-rate) as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS track and found it as good as the image, the film's ability to suck you is aided by this vibrant sound mix that provides an uneasy atmosphere, the ambient sounds are well balanced and subtle but the track's range reaches into the more dynamic as well with the film's music and sound effects coming into play. The dialogue is clear and distortion free and overall this sound track is certainly a fine effort. Optional subtitles are included in English and I found no spelling or grammatical errors.
Extras
Tartan has included only the film's original theatrical trailer as an extra which runs for 2 minutes 11 seconds. The DVD packaging states that there is also a "making-of" however it is not actually featured on the disc.
Overall
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