The Lord's Lantern in Budapest

The most generous comment one can make about this Hungarian import is that something must have been lost in the translation. What else to make of this series of sketches laden with constant crudities, nonsensical dialogue, and characters who frequently seem to change into other actors a la Lost Highway? The two principals, Kapa and Pepe, played by Zoltan Mucsi and Peter Scherer, are probably well-known comedians in their native land, which might explain how audiences could enjoy seeing them basically play the same people as a variety of different characters, all of whom ultimately end up yelling and swearing at one another, and talking about death and the apocalypse. It all leads up to a "grand finale" in which a group of people wearing homemade angel wings is blasted with a fire hose. Why? Who knows? Director Miklos Jancso and writer Gyula Hernadi periodically show up as characters who seem to be older versions of the leads, generally sitting on a park bench watching someone suddenly snap and go on a killing spree ("These things happen"). Last fall, Cabaret Balkan proved that eastern Europe could turn out films with all the tension and skill of a Quentin Tarantino movie. The Lord's Lantern in Budapest proves that they also have their share of meandering, episodic films about gratuitous profanity and inexplicable violence that are every bit as annoying as the many inferior Tarantino knock-offs we've had to put up with.