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Director: Gábor Holtai
Writer: Attila Veres
Cast: Rozi Lovas, Áron Molnár, Tibor Szervét, Bettina Józsa, István Znamenák, Kornél Simon, Dorka Gryllus, Soma Simon
Part of: SLASH 1/2 Filmfestival
Seen on: 9.5.2026

Plot:
Rita (Rozi Lovas) works in a shoe store that is about to close. It is unclear where her life will go from here, but what she certainly didn’t expect was to be kidnapped. When she wakes up, she is in an almost empty room and Marci (Áron Molnár) greets her as Szilvi. Marci tries to convince her that she is his long-lost sister – and that the family is waiting for her to remember her identity to take her back into the fold.
 
Feels Like Home comes with a lot of praise as a surprise success in and from Hungary. An allegory on the rise of fascism, it is both a tense thriller and astute social commentary – and well deserves the praise its gotten.

That this film was made at the tail end of Viktor Orban’s reign in Hungary seems natural. It definitely and clearly knows what it is talking about when it comes to despots, even though it transfers the power dynamics into a family setting instead of the great political landscape. This makes things just more immediate, less distanced and thus makes the violence inherent in oppressive regimes that much more noticable, less sanitized. It definitely explains to me why the film was so successful in Hungary.

To be fair, the dynamics it shows are not exclusive to Hungary though. Oppressive regimes are on the rise, at least in the Western world, and what Feels Like Home shows us could just as well take place elsewhere.

The movie very much lives off the political stance it takes and the analysis it provides. But that is not all that it offers. When you take it at face value, it is still a pretty tense film with a good „what the actual fuck“ factor that is bound to engage. Plus, the cast is really excellent. Lovas has to carry a lot of the film, but she does with a natural ease. And Molnár and Szervét are great counterparts that give her more than enough to play off from.

I am not a huge fan of the kind of brown-beige aesthetics that the film uses, but even if it isn’t to my taste, it fits the story, so I can’t really complain about it. Astonishingly, the film even gets in a couple of jokes that also fit which was surprising but welcome. In short, Feels Like Home gives you a lot of good stuff in an engaging package. I am glad I caught it.

Summarizing: very good.