American Rhapsody, An (2001)

humanly beautiful
A great film dealing with love and commitement to family and achieving the american dream..but at what cost. Excellent script with great performances by natassia kinksi. A moving film that should be watched by the whole family. A touching story about immigration and what familys dealt with.

Has the potential to be a great film, but falls far from its destination...
`An American Rhapsody' follows the struggles of the Sander family as they flee from Hungary in the 1950's for America and then fight, first to bring their young daughter home and then to keep her safe. Because of the War the Sanders are fleeing their country in pursuit of a better life in the America's. Peter and Margit Sander have two young daughters, Maria and Zsuzsi, but because Zsuzsi is but an infant and a danger to the fleeing couple they must leave her behind to have her transported to them later. Peter and Margit escape with their daughter Maria, but Zsuzsi never arrives. Her grandmother couldn't bare the idea of something bad happening to her granddaughter and so she arranged for her to be raised by a foster family until it was safe for Zsuzsi to travel back to her parents.

Margit and Peter are understandably concerned, upset and desperate to have their daughter, but they aren't reunited with her for over five years. By this time Zsuzsi has become attached to her foster parents viewing that as her real family and thus shunning her mother and father. As she grows into adolescence she becomes rebellious and distant and then finally comes to the realization that she won't be able to accept her new life until she can officially say goodbye to her old life. Thus, she travels back to Budapest to reconnect with her foster parents.

The film, while not a total letdown, fails to live up the material. The performances by most of the cast are either too laidback and forgettable or so outlandish and overacted that they come across annoying. Scarlett Johansson, who plays the teenage Zsuzsi, does a decent job, but you can tell that her acting level has matured quite a bit since this film. Her character really isn't given enough meat to grow with the audience. She comes off a bit one dimensional and a little unsympathetic. You never see layers of emotion from her. You see her hating her parents and that's about all. When she finally does change it's not a gradual change as you would expect but an almost immediate change that comes off phony. You'd think that the director/writer would have paid a little more attention to detail when retelling her own story. Tony Goldwyn, who plays Peter, never really delves into his character. He becomes almost a prop for Natassja Kinski's overacting. Kinski actually does really well for the first half of the film and then, after Scarlett comes into frame Kinski's character goes a little insane and her performance gets a little over zealous.

The young girls in the film are actually the best actors here. They come across natural and sympathetic. Although I will say that to have young Zsuzsi learn English in what appears to be a week, and to know it so well, it's very unrealistic. The material is grade A, and it could have been turned into a grand epic masterpiece, but the directing was sloppy and the script could have used a revamp. It becomes B grade entertainment that, while worth a watch through, will never really validate multiple viewings. If you're a fan of Johansson's more recent award worthy work then I encourage you to see this movie, if not for the very reason of seeing her humble beginnings, but watching this and knowing that it was released the same year as `Ghost World' where she puts in a stellar performance is almost sad. With the right budget, a better director and a script revamp this could and should have been a great film, but it falls under the category of `popcorn flick', nothing more, nothing less.

I love this movie
A family escapes from Hungray in the early 1960s. They move to America but they have to leave their baby girl Susannah behind. Susannah grows up in Hungray with another family, thinking they are her real parents. When she turns six years old, her grandparents come and take her away to America where her real family is waiting for her. Susannah meets her family, her parents and older sister. She likes American culture, like TV and gum and pretty dresses bought from stores and she likes learning English from her older sister Maria (who also teaches a word that's a swear word.) It's funny when Susannah says though that the food tastes like, well, see for yourself. But Susannah gets homesick and wants to return to Hungray. Her father makes a promise to her that she might be able to when she's older if she gives America a chance. She does, but then nine years later when she's a teenager she gets into a fight with her mother and begs to return to her native country. Her father agrees since he did promise her long ago she could. So Susannah returns to her home and meets the old family that raised her as a little girl. She greets them and loves being back in her old home. She thinks going back might help find herself, but after discovering a secret about her mother from her grandmother, she slowly starts to realize why her parents left the country and about the real meaning of family and home. I love the music in the movie, it's so beautiful and I like that it was set in the 1960s. An interesting time period. Scarlett Johansson is an amazing young actress and is so talented and beautiful and mature for her age. The people who play her parents are just as good. I like Nastassja Kinski because she's so such a loving mother to Scarlett, who doesn't always appreciate her because Nastassja's character tries to protect her from the world. It's the best movie ever made.