An American Rhapsody Movie Review 2001

A mother/daughter conflict steeped in history and based on the experiences of writer/director Gardos. Margit (Kinski) and her family flee Hungary during the communist takeover of the 1950s but she is forced to leave her infant daughter behind. While the family settles in L.A., Suzanne is being raised in the country by adoptive parents and knows nothing of her origins. She gets a rude awakening at the age of 6 when her grandmother Helen (Banfalvy) makes arrangements to reunite Suzy with her unknown "real" family. The child grows into a sullen teenager (Johansson) who longs to return to Budapest. Her father finally agrees to a solo trip and Suzanne learns just what her family suffered and where she truly belongs.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 106 minutes.
Originally from United States, Hungarian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Coming of Age, Period Piece: 1950s, Family Ties, L.A., Grandparents, Culture Clash, Teen Angst, Immigration

Screenplay

Eva Gardos

Cast

Nastassja Kinski, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Goldwyn, Kelly Endresz-Banlaki, Agnes Banfalvy, Zsuzsi Czinkoczi, Balazs Galko, Zoltan Seress, Mae Whitman, Lisa Jane Persky, Emmy Rossum

Cinematography

Elemer Ragalyi

Director

Eva Gardos

Music

Cliff Eidelman

Other

Peter Kardos, Margaret Goodspeed, Beatrix Aruna Pasztor, Vanessa Vogel, Alex Tavoularis

Producer

Colleen Camp, Bonnie Timmerman, Fireworks Pictures, Seven Arts Pictures, Paramount Classics