Moscow Square

Ferenc Torok's 2001 Hungarian film is set in 1989. Petya and his friends are preparing for their final exams; while the regime changes around them their concerns are parties, girls and leaked exam questions. The idea is indifference to a historical moment. What is happening in the streets is constantly visible in the background but the characters do not notice, and the narrative does not judge them for it either. Youth here is not outside history but turned away from it. It is Torok's first feature and was made on a low budget. The cast is largely unknown; the speech and the locations give the Budapest of the period in everyday terms. Who it's for: those who like Eastern European cinema of the transition and coming-of-age narratives. Who it's not for: viewers expecting the political events to be told; the film deliberately leaves 1989 in the background.