HAB / CREAM is screening as part of the Paris International Film Festival 2021.
For tickets, please go to: https://www.parisintlfest.com/
It’s a BIG BROTHER BAKE-OFF of sorts in Nora Lakos’ new Hungarian rom-com HAB / CREAM.
Dora (Vica Kerekes) is as desperate and desperately romantic as can be. She’s not exactly hitting the right note – or spot – with bad choices in love, which is subsequently reflected in her personal love – a pastry shop called ‘Cream’, where she bakes cakes reflecting the desperate mis-matches of the classic silver screen (or so she thinks!) – be it Redford and Streisand in THE WAY WE WERE or Kate and Leo in TITANIC.
It appears that an infatuation with Kevin Costner – bad English accent et al – as he battled the late Alan Rickman’s charismatic Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 update of ROBIN HOOD – PRINCE OF THIEVES – at the age of eight disillusioned her from the git-go.
However, ‘Cream’ is under threat, with bad financial choices – and desperate times call for desperate measures. So, when an opportunity to win a major bout of funding of several thousand welcoming Euros to support a family-oriented business arises, Dora seizes the chance, but she lacks the family part of the opportunity. So, recruiting a dentist-cum-DJ wannabe, Adam and the neighbour’s son, Lacika, she poses as a happily married wife-of-one with Lacika mature beyond his childhood and Adam determined to win the prize – and perhaps Dora’s heart in the process.
The retreat to win the prize brings up three other couples, each of whom are clearly hiding their own secrets, including an old flame of Dora’s with his new wife of a year and a half. Of course, everybody seems to be keen to avoid exposure – and this retreat might just have the opposite effect….
However, there is only one effect that HAB / CREAM is going to have on present and future audiences – and that is one of delight and warmth in one of the best films of 2021 which, thanks to a script written by Furzsina Fekete based on her own life with director Lakos, keeps the staples of the films it homages whilst delivering a fresh perspective on the joys and pains of old-fashioned romance – as well as acknowledging the influence of the French New Wave personified by the likes of Alain Delon amongst others
Much of the joy is in the interaction and chemistry of not only Dora and Adam, but also the supporting characters during the main segment of the film and there is a heart-warming glow even in the darker moments as we watch Dora deal with her personal issues in a character not unlike Kristen Wiig in BRIDESMAIDS.
However, HAB / CREAM maintains its’ Hungarian roots – and don’t be surprised if Hollywood attempts a remake of this at some point, given its’ affection for those classic old-time celluloid romances.
A winner.
