This Hungarian film is a Netflix hit

Photo: Print Screen from YouTube trailer

There are many people who look back with nostalgia to the decade before the fall of communism. Nyugati nyaralás (Riviera East) was released last September and became the biggest success of 2022 in cinemas. It turned out to be the most-watched Hungarian film in the autumn, and since February, it has also made it to the TOP 2 on Netflix.

The comedy Nyugati nyaralás (Riviera East) directed by Dániel Tiszeker and Balázs Lévai debuted in Hungarian cinemas last September. It was so well received that it became the most-watched Hungarian film of last year with more than 83,000 viewers, and has been available on Netflix since 1 February. Since then, it has made it to the TOP 2 of the most-ranked films in Hungary.

Specific historical time and setting

Dániel Tiszeker and his team have done a double, as their film Nagykarácsony (Christmas Flame), a charming, predictable romantic comedy, was also the best of the bunch last year. Riviera East, on the other hand, is a different genre. It is billed as a crime comedy set in a specific historical time and setting.

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The historical time is evident from the very first few minutes of the film: it evokes the era of the Linda series and the Mézga family, which are typical Hungarian entertainment TV programmes from the 80s.

Mézga family (Mézga család), the Hungarian retro TV series from the 80s

Photo: Facebook/Mézga család

In 1984, in socialist Hungary, the Maurer family dreams of a holiday in the West, a mobile home holiday on the Riviera. But a day before the trip, it turns out that the communist authorities have refused to give the youngest child a passport. This unexpected turn of events means that the holiday is ruined, explains VG.

The protagonist owns a well-established garage, he is the best mechanic in the county. A sports car with German license plates is brought into the car service. The owner’s Hungarian passport is left in the car, and that’s when the family comes up with the brilliant idea of borrowing the car and going on holiday to Lake Balaton, pretending to be West German tourists. But what they don’t know is that they have borrowed the car of a West German spy, which gets them into trouble.

Mixed opinions on the Hungarian film

Máté Mészáros is very well portrayed as a fool who will do anything for his family’s happy holiday, Lia Pokorny is a sensual beauty, both adoring and distressing her husband, and the children, Abigél Szőke and Mátyás Tóth are credible. The film is problematic in terms of period accuracy, and there are also some logically questionable scenes, according to SzeretlekMagyarország. However, less critical viewers will like it, as the comments below the film show. Critics and less critical alike agree that what we get is a hybrid with some really funny situations here and there.

“Finally, a really good Hungarian film! You can’t smell the sweat on it, the horribly awkward acting! The leading actor is brilliant! I rarely feel that it would have been nice if the film had been longer!”

writes one of the commenters.