Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Hukkle (György Pálfi, 2002)

- May 10th, 2025

Sunday May 11, 2025, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Hukkle * (Hiccup) * 2002 * by György Pálfi * 78 min * In Hungarian and Czech with English subtitles * doors open at 20:00 * intro & film start at 20:30.

This is a gorgeous little gem by Hungarian director György Pálfi. There is a small genre of films that is hugely neglected of movies that don’t rely much on dialogue. This has a bit of dialogue, but it’s minor and mostly inconsequential… for the most part it’s emerged into real life and nature. It’s a movie that steps back to see the bigger picture, and it makes most other cinema look incredibly fixated and narrow-minded in contrast.

In this journey we are tossed into a small countryside village in Hungary. In a seemingly random series of vignettes we see the entire environment unfold with all of its dynamics. Ants, an elderly man, a tree, a pig, an open field, a close-up of an ancient sewing machine, crickets… they are all more or less given the same importance. After all, they are all residents of this rural community. The movie drifts, and woven into this chain of events there is a story, but it’s a subtle one. In fact, it’s so minor you could even miss it perhaps. This is the kind of film that encourages you to open up, sharpen your perception and really see with your own eyes. The images are astonishing, and feel fresh… and the effect, in the end, is that you and your imagination are sent reeling.

The soundtrack likewise also tends to take the side of nature, in the sense that whenever human words are spoken tend to be smothered by the sounds of leaves crunching, birds singing, dogs barking and insects buzzing. The film can be seen as a deadpan comedy, a lyrical ode to pastoral life, and perhaps even the sinister presence beneath the surface of everyday life.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net