Watch Recent Hungarian Films On Netflix To Understand More About Their Culture

Recent Hungarian films on Netflix – in the list below, I have compiled a selection of Hungarian movies of mixed genres, mostly from recent years. The order is subjective, and the ones I consider the best are at the top of the list. All but two of the films are currently available on Netflix.

Recent Hungarian films on Netflix to watch

#1 Liza The Fox-Fairy (Liza, a rókatündér) (2015)

A refreshing spot in the history of Hungarian cinema, highly recommended

Liza The Fox-Fairy is a film that is also a refreshing experience for Hungarians. It has a unique atmosphere and presents a Budapest universe that had never been (a capitalist city under socialism). It enchants the viewer with excellent humour, a charming leading actress and Japanese-Finnish rock ‘n roll-country music (I know!).

A nurse – whose imaginary friend is a Japanese singer – suspects that she may be the legendary fox-fairy. In any case, the men she likes are dropping like flies. All the suitors who come up are dying. Liza becomes convinced that she is cursed, so any man who falls in love with her dies. They die in the street and after the date.

Liza The Fox-Fairy can use almost anything as a source of humour. Pushing the boundaries of absurdity makes us laugh even when what we see is predictable. We know what’s coming, but we also expect it. The death scenes of the unfortunate men are varied, and the makers add a spade to the mix by brutalising Liza’s attempts to save them.

Currently on Netflix.

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#2 Son Of Saul (Saul fia) (2015)

A masterpiece that won an Oscar

The film doesn’t even give us a breather from the horrors; the viewer is just drifting helplessly deeper and deeper. Then, when you realise that you’ve misplaced your understanding of the protagonist, the film does hit you.

Amidst the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, a Jewish prisoner must choose between helping a rebellion or burying his son.

Géza Röhrig is practically not acting, every half-hearted accent, gesture, the look is his own, a terrifying truthfulness. Only the resolution is left out. You won’t shed tears of shock at some touching end credits; the ‘heavy film’ experience that critics have referred to tends to induce silence. 

Currently on Netflix.

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#3 The Wednesday Child (Szerdai Gyerek) (2015)

Mademoiselle my ass

How can one escape institutional childhood as an adult if the environment does not allow it? The film presents fates, dialogues and a largely abandoned Hungarian countryside that is new even to Hungarian viewers. The unusually crude language and the instinct-driven plot depict the authenticity of institutionalised childhood. 

Currently on Netflix.

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#4 Coyote (Kojot) (2017)

Land is everything

Coyote is one of the recent Hungarian films on Netflix, a contemporary western, kicking the door down with elemental force and never letting you go. The atmosphere, the setting and the natural violence choke you.

Perhaps the most honest film of recent decades, it is both a perfect period piece and a rural depiction, with a contemporary touch, imbued with typical Hungarian servilism. Meanwhile, the whole story depicts the explosive tensions building up in society – with an awful lot of blood and brutality.

Currently on Netflix.

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#5 The Whiskey Bandit (A Viszkis) (2017)

Tale of the Hungarian celebrity bank robber – based on True Events

He was reckless, fast and meticulous. He started robbing post offices, banks, travel offices. The more he stole, the hungrier he got. Nothing was enough for himself and his new love.

Everyone in Hungary has heard about The Whiskey Robber – this action movie tells the story of the most successful bank robber in Hungarian history.

Currently on HBO Go.

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#6 On Body And Soul (Testről és lélekről) (2017)

A romantic drama that won the Golden Bear

On Body and Soul is one of the recent Hungarian films on Netflix about two people avoiding each other, despite their desire to be together.

When a man and woman who meet at work begin to know each other, they discover that they have the same dreams at night. Then they decide to make them come true.

The film takes us through a whole range of emotions, which are uncomfortable to experience. These include suffering, desire, loneliness, despair.

Currently on Netflix.

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#7 The Exam (A Vizsga) (2011)

Spies exam in a secret apartment

1957, Budapest. A young defence officer’s loyalty gets tested by his mentor in a highly deceptive spy game.

The Exam is one of the recent Hungarian films on Netflix, showing from the inside how the secret police operated in Budapest in the 1950s. There were hundreds of secret-apartments throughout Hungary supporting the daily activities of the Kádár-era state security services. The officers got trained to give the impression that they were using a flat – by ordering newspapers, using household utensils, misleading the landlord or possibly recruiting him.

This film is about an exam that took place in such a cover apartment.

Currently on Netflix.

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#8 Strangled (A martfűi rém) (2016)

Psychothriller based on True Events

In the 1960s, in socialist Hungary, a small town is terrorised by a serial killer preying on young women.

In 1957, a young woman got murdered with brutal cruelty on the outskirts of Martfű. One of her colleagues is suspected and, after some police pressure, confesses. He avoids the rope only to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment in the second instance. Seven years later, there are more murders in the area under similar circumstances. 

The Terror of Martfű is a precedent-setting piece of domestic cinema. Those who want horrifying images will also find what they are looking for, as will those who prefer a multi-stranded, tabloid-like presentation with a strong focus on character drama. Its shortcomings may be distracting, but it is still a serious piece, offering a chilling insight into the darkness of a soul, with the frustrating realisation that there is much, much more complexity to the big picture. One that we could not fully understand even if we wanted to.

Currently on Netflix as a mini-series.

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#9 Mirage (Délibáb) (2014)

Isaach De Bankolé in the Hungarian flatland

A fugitive footballer finds refuge in a remote Hungarian farm where a criminal is a master. Soon he starts realising that the farm is a modern slave camp, where he gets forced to fight for his freedom and life.

The film is not a piece that will appeal to the general public; but rather to connoisseurs looking for something exotic. It’s like Jarmusch meets the Hungarian farm life. There are so many aspects of the film that you can’t help but love (the imagery is beautiful, the atmosphere is hypnotic), and virtues ultimately outweigh the negatives; however, the director could have done with a tiny bit more tweaking. The result was an uneven and imperfect, but above all, an unconventional genre film.

Currently on Netflix.

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#10 Víkend (Weekend) (2015)

Hunting thriller in beautiful locations

Set in Transylvania, the film’s visual world is beautiful, and the central plot is a hunt that ends in an accident.

While hunting, the protagonist accidentally shoots a man, but despite her husband’s sense of justice, her lawyer’s reflex kicks in; she must get rid of the body. Of course, nothing is ever that simple: everyone had a stake in the unknown man’s death. And that’s where the twists, the games, the lies, the excitement and the violence begin.

Currently on Netflix.

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#11 Loop (Hurok) (2016)

Time travel thriller

Adam, a smuggler of illegal pharmaceuticals, makes a poor decision in a tight situation that sets off an unforeseen chain of tragic events, and his pregnant girlfriend falls victim. But when all seems lost, he is suddenly given a new chance to put things right. And then another. And another.

The Loop is one of the recent Hungarian films on Netflix, a thriller with a gripping structure, where the director has cut up the linear plot and re-enacts the events with his characters. But always from a different timeline and point of view.

Currently on Netflix.

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#12 Lajko – Gypsy In Space (Lajkó – Cigány az űrben) (2018)

The gipsy astronaut who went into space before Gagarin

The film tells the alternate history of the first successful space mission, about a young gipsy man called Lajko who was the first to go into space, a few years ahead of Yuri Gagarin. It’s an openly adventurous, crazy story with lots of unexpected twists and turns and a few dead bodies.

It is a Wes-Anderson-like atmosphere, a fabulous presentation with retro sets and costumes, with the less symmetrical but more colourful image distribution.

Currently on Netflix.

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#13 Captives (Foglyok) (2019)

Secret police family drama based on True Events

In Budapest in 1951, secret police agents capture a family and their guests and hold them captive in the family’s own home. 

One morning two secret agents show up at the Gaál family home looking for someone no one knows whom. But after asking their questions, the agents are not going anywhere, not letting anyone out, not even to the windows, let alone the corridor. And to make matters worse, if anyone rings the front doorbell, they pull it in with them and won’t let them out again. The Gaál apartment becomes a trap, apparent only to those who enter. Be it a caretaker, an acquaintance, or a relative.

Currently on Netflix.

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+1 Kontroll (Control) (2003)

A cult movie shot in Budapest Underground

Kontroll is a dark and bleak comedy of the world of the ticket inspector, who, in the end, must keep the Metro system running. 

Ticket inspector Bulcsú lives in the dark, depressing subway tunnels below Budapest and never leaves them, having chosen his hell after a life above which he seems desperately to want to forget. Expect great characters, superb cinematography, a kick-ass soundtrack. It is a comedy, a mystery thriller, a drama and a romance.

Currently on Eastern European Movies.