Indy Film Fest: It’s Not the Time of My Life (Ernelláék Farkaséknál)

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Chaos.

We are thrust into a world of madness when we first meet a hyperactive 5-year old boy named Bruno and his parents, Farkas and Eszther. While Farkas and Eszther entertain their dinner guests, it’s difficult for the viewer to become oriented because the camera movement does not seem to sync with the characters’ actions. The sound seems to jump from one snippet of conversation to the next ... then back to Bruno, who, if he could slow down, might bring this frenzied room to a halt.

Farkas, who appears to be having a difficult time adjusting to his role as a parent, treats Bruno terribly. For example, after their dinner guests drunkenly stumble out of their condo, Farkas begins telling his wife how much better life would be if their son weren’t so unchangeably odd. Farkas seems to long for the “good ol’ days,” pre-Bruno, when things between he and Eszther were better. As a parent, it's difficult to hear this brutally honest conversation; I felt like a voyeur listening to Farkas confess this dark secret to his wife.

Just as you're digesting what you've just heard, there is a late-night knock at their door and we get introduced to Eszther’s adult sister, Ernella. Ernella arrives hastily with her husband, Albert, and their teenage daughter, Laura. At the time we don’t know why they have come or why they are acting so hurried, but in the morning we find that Ernella’s family is a trio as equally interesting as Farkas, Eszthera and Bruno.

With an 80-minute running time, it is quite extraordinary how director Szbolcs Hajdu never allows us to leave the confines of the apartment. There is, however, so much drama and storyline that it’s difficult to notice that you’re virtually trapped, much like Farkas.

This is a well put-together film that made me reflect on this final thought, “Who am I to judge these people?” Every family has its own problems, unique to its situation, and this is perhaps something that the characters learn throughout our encounter with them. I highly recommend this movie that is playing at the 2017 Indy Film Festival.