District, The

The District is perhaps an extreme example of a film in which form is everything and content is nothing. While watching it, the title of one of the works by the famous Polish author Stanisław Lem - "The Perfect Emptiness" - came to mind. The District has an interesting and original visual design combined with uncomfortable, yet again original, animation, and it is provoking with its theme of the quarter to which a Budapest gallery withdraws. But that's about it because it practically doesn't take advantage of that theme. Some reviews mention flat characters and a boring story, but I would have to emphasize that about ten times to express the feeling of desperation that arose within me after a few minutes. I had to intensely pinch my leg to stay awake, but even then I had several micro-naps. It is far from provocative, and thanks to the actual absence of a story, it is dull and helpless - unless you consider it sufficiently significant that the characters speak in slang and that vulgar insults are flying left and right. That doesn't bother me, but I don't think you can base a film on it either. When I think back to the by-no-means groundbreaking American film Lil' Pimp, which had no ambitions and had a downright conventional visual design, it worked as a thorough mockery of American sexual repression and glorification of family values in American films. With this film, I don't know what the authors wanted to convey. The jokes are either absent or have that touch of novice sitcoms. The police officers are also naturally stupid and corrupt and the members of the child gangs rap decently, but that's about it. It's unbelievable how such potential as this can be wasted. Overall impression: 25%. If the film had a short runtime, it would probably have turned out much better despite the mentioned flaws, thanks to its fresh visual style. However, 90 minutes cannot be sustained solely by the animation. (10/12/2011)