Liza, the Fox-Fairy

Liza, the Fox-Fairy is a 2015 Hungarian black comedy film directed by Károly Ujj Mészáros, starring Mónika Balsai, Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas and David Sakurai. The film drew an audience of over 100,000 in Hungary.
The film's music was elected as one of 2015's "catchiest soundtracks" in Hungary and four songs were recorded on a limited 7-inch vinyl.
Plot
Liza is a 30-year-old, naïve, lonely nurse living in "Csudapest", the capital of a fictionalized 1970s Hungary with a capitalist system. She has taken care of Márta, the widow of the former Japanese ambassador, for the last 12 years. Taking inspiration from a cheap Japanese romance novel, on her 30th birthday, Liza goes to a Mekk Burger restaurant in hopes of falling in love. While she’s away, Márta is killed by Liza's only friend, Tomy Tani, the ghost of a Japanese pop singer from the 1950s, resulting in Liza inheriting her apartment. Relatives report Liza to the police for murdering Márta. Sergeant Zoltan is put on the case, who gets very nearly killed in the process, and falls slowly in love with Liza after moving into her apartment as a flatmate. She gains confidence, but all her dating efforts end in fatal accidents. Liza is convinced that she has become a fox-fairy, a demon from Japanese mythology. According to the legend, men who fall in love with a fox-fairy die soon afterwards, and the fox-fairy is doomed to be alone forever.
Cast
Mónika Balsai as Liza, the Fox-Fairy
David Sakurai as Tomy Tani
Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas as Sergeant Zoltán
Piroska Molnár as Márta, the widow of a Japanese Ambassador to Hungary
Zoltán Schmied as Henrik
Antal Cserna as Károly
Gábor Reviczky as police Colonel
Mariann Kocsis as Hildácska
Ági Gubík as Inge
Lehel Kovács as Mr. Ludvig
Győző Szabó: Mr B., or Jonny
János Bán as Heartbreak
István Hajdu as Ferenc, a manager
László Nádasi as staff sergeant
Sándor Szűcs as police doctor
Nóra Diána Takács as Police Secretary
Dezső Rancsó as chimney sweeper
Vali Dániel as Teri
Zsuzsa Töreky as Edit
Mária Bókay as Vilma
István Gőz as Dr. Keserű
Kata Bartsch as Kriszta
Klára Jarábik as Orsi
Rodrigo Crespo as Orsi's husband
Batjav Batod as Eskimo
Zoltán Karácsonyi as Teleshop Giovanni
Katalin Kiss Horváth as Johnny's daughter
Orsolya Mihály as Mekk Burger's salesgirl
Andrea Balázs as sick-nurse
Katalin Ben as Malvinka
Kata Losonczi as Timi
Gyöngy Bérces as Cosmo cover girl
Gábor Harsányi as Narrator (voice)
Production
The film is based on the play Liselotte és a május by Zsolt Pozsgai. The Japanese theme was added by Károly Ujj Mészáros, who was fascinated by Japanese culture, especially pop music from the 1960s and 1970s. He was also attracted by similarities between Japanese and Hungarian traditions. He had directed several commercials in Japan, which gave him further familiarity with Japanese culture. The film was produced by Filmteam with co-production support from Origo Film Group. The budget was 420 million forint (~1.6 million USD), of which 220 million came from the Hungarian National Film Fund. The cast rehearsed for a month before filming started.
Release
The film was released theatrically in Hungary on 19 February 2015. It was also screened at various film like Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal) on 2 March 2015 and Seattle International Film Festival (USA) on 25 May 2015.
Awards
31st Imagine Film Festival
- Silver Scream Award, Méliès d’Argent for the best European fantastic film
nominated for Golden Méliès
- The audiences top-3 of the festival
33rd Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF)
- 7th Orbit Award for Best Film (haven’t already been presented at Brussels and have been produced in the last two years, attributed by a national jury of professionals)
- The Pegasus Award, Prize of the Audience
Nocturna 2015 - Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival
- "Paul Naschy" Award(Best Film)
- Best Director
- Best Play: Actor (Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas) and Actress (Mónika Balsai)
- Best Screenplay
- Best Special Effects
Fantaspoa - XI. International Fantastic Film Festival of Porto Alegre
- Best Actress (Mónika Balsai)
41st Seattle International Film Festival
- Grand Jury Prize, New Directors Competition (Károly Ujj Mészáros)
8th CinEmaCity International Film Festival - Serbia and the region
- Cineuropa Prize, which singles out the best international film hailing from the Danube countries
10th Fantastic Fest - Austin
- Audience award 2nd Place
21st Lund International Fantastic Film Festival − Lund
- Siren Award for best international film,
- Audience Award for Best Feature
4th Monsters of Film - Stockholm
- Audience Award for Best Feature
3rd Cellar Door Film Festival - Ottawa
- Audience Award for Best Feature
15th Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles
- Best Film "Hungarians in Hollywood" Award: Károly Ujj Mészáros
- Best Actress Award jury prize: Mónika Balsai
29th Leeds International Film Festival - Leeds
- Audience Award for New Narrative Feature
17th European Film Festival in Essonne - Ris-Orangis
- Grand Prix (2015)
54th Hungarian Film Critics Award - Budapest
- Best First Film of 2015 (Károly Ujj Mészáros)
Adaptation
An Indian adaptation of the film, titled Aafat-E-Ishq, was released on October 29, 2021.
Notes
References
External links
Cannes 2013 International Village Hungarian pavilion 106 2012 Liza, the Fox-Fairy synopsis p. 1, Hungarian National Film Fund
Catalogue 2015, Liza, the Fox-Fairy synopsis p. 5, Hungarian National Film Fund
2015 romantic comedy-drama films
2015 films
2015 black comedy films
Films based on Japanese myths and legends
Films set in the 1970s
Films set in Hungary
2010s ghost films
2010s Hungarian-language films
2010s fantasy comedy-drama films
Hungarian fantasy films
Hungarian romantic comedy-drama films
2015 comedy films
2010s Japanese films