Part II: 1981 onwards
From puszta to Pest
The first three essays in part II of this special focus all cover the same period of Jancs�'s career, 1981 to 1991. Although the three authors (one Hungarian, one Czech and one Canadian) analyse these films in different ways, they all as recognise this as a rich and innovative stage in the director's filmography.
The tyrant's waltz
Jancs� in the 1980s�first view
Jancs�'s films made between 1981 and 1991 drew accusations of "self-parody" from critics at the time of their release. Graham Petrie reassesses four features made in this period of "punctured equilibrium."
Now's the time
to rot forever
Jancs� in the 1980s�second view
The start of the 1980s was a watershed in Jancs�'s career, as he moved from the modern to the post-modern. Jarom�r Bla�ejovsk� charts the director's progress from revolutionary optimism into ontological scepticism and authorial irony.
Acquired uncertainty
Jancs� in the 1980s�third view
From 1981 onwards, Jancs�'s films are characterised by a loss of structure. G�bor Gelencs�r examines the order and chaos in Jancs�'s art and how it affects the meaning of these works.
Five interviews
Kinoeye here presents five interviews with Jancs� and his collaborators, conducted in the mid-1980s by Graham Petrie. Apart from the one with Jancs�, they have not previously been published. Together, they are valuable insights into the director's working methods and the nature of the Hungarian film industry in the 80s, even though T�r�csik and Nemesk�rty do not speak exclusively about their work with Jancs�.
Hamlet in Wonderland
Jancs�'s Nekem l�mp�st adott kezembe az �r Pesten (The Lord's Lantern in Budapest, 1998)
Jancs�'s career rebounded in the late 1990s with a work that won him instant recognition from the critics and found him a new, young audience. Andrew James Horton looks at the first of the films to feature Pepe and Kapa.
