Mirage

“One of us isn’t normal,” says Francis (his real name?), an African soccer player on the wrong end of a Hungarian’s semi-automatic. After the conductor of his train drops dead, Francis ends up in the barren Hungarian countryside near an outpost that echoes a Spaghetti Western villa. Although never stated, the outpost appears to be some sort of work camp, and attempts to leave have grave consequences. The tension rises as bodies inexplicably appear, potholes the size of trucks lacerate the landscape, and a soccer ball becomes a serious object of desire. Director Szabolcs Hajdu, often cited as the heir apparent to Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr, crafts a surreal homage to the American West in a swirling watercolor of reality and fantasy, offset by upended Hollywood tropes and edge-of-your-seat tension. With a mesmeric lead performance by Isaach de Bankolé as the shadowy Francis, MIRAGE is a dream that will be very difficult to wake from. (In English, Hungarian, Romanian, French, and German with subtitles) – C.P.