The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This German movie tells a story that takes place in Budapest restaurant in the mid-30s and is centered around a song that is composed there, making the restaurant famous. In fact, some might say that the movie is the story about the song, 'Gloomy Sunday' itself.As the movie opens, the restaurant's owner, László (Joachim Król) and his girlfriend, Ilona (Erika Marozsán) are in the process of installing a piano in the restaurant and hiring a pianist to entertain the guests during dinnertime. After several auditions, Ilona convinces László to hire a struggling young composer-pianist, András (Stefano Dionisi) with whom she falls in love.On Ilona's birthday, the restaurant employees give her a party; András' gift to her is a song he has written, 'Gloomy Sunday,' a melody which is an instant hit with the customers. During the party, one of the regular customers, a young German, Hans Wieck (Rolf Becker), relates that he and Ilona share the same birthday. He takes a picture of her with his new camera and then, unexpectedly proclaims his love for her and asks her to marry him before he returns to Germany. She says no, and due to her rejection, he tries to commit suicide by throwing himself into the Danube. László saves Hans from drowning and bolsters his spirits by reminding him of all the good things to live for, such as the restaurant's delicious beef rolls that Hans loves so much. The next day as László sees Hans off at the train station, Hans proclaims that he will never forget László's kindness or the wonderful times he has enjoyed in the restaurant. László also agrees never to tell Ilona about Hans' attempted suicide.Soon, a love triangle develops as László and András both fall in love with Ilona while all three work in the restaurant: Ilona's loves them both and they both love her openly. László finally proclaims that it is better for both he and András to love Ilona than for either of them to lose her, and they proceed as a loving threesome. One day, a recording artist from Vienna comes to the restaurant and hears 'Gloomy Sunday.' He invites András to record it. László helps negotiate the song deal with a higher royalty going to András than originally offered. When András offers László a percentage of the royalties, as an agent, László shrugs off the offer saying that the song will make the restaurant famous and that that, itself, will be his payment. When András is asked to come to Vienna to record the song, Ilona suggests that the threesome close the restaurant and go to Vienna on holiday. But, with the Nazi's Final Solution on the rise in Austria, László—acutely feeling his Jewishness--stays behind in frustration.When the song is played on the radio, it becomes world famous, bringing in both royalties and fame for the restaurant. But, it also has a strange melancholy quality which, during the Final Solution of the Holocaust, causes many to commit suicide rather than lose their human dignity. The reports of the suicides disturb András and he, too, attempts suicide. Since he has no way of knowing what the song is 'saying' to people, he attempts to write lyrics for it without much success.As time passes and Nazism spreads into Hungary, Hans Wieck reappears in the restaurant, this time as a Nazi SS officer in charge of the Final Solution in Budapest (the Hungarian sector). He still values his friendships from the old days and the delicious beef rolls of the restaurant. He, also, clearly reminders that László had once saved his life. As he starts to entertain his fellow Nazis at the restaurant while protecting László and his Jewish friends from being deported to concentration camps, his actions become duplicitous. Hans now has the power to protect Jews from concentration camps and personally profit from their plight. Of course, extorting money from Jews while saving them from certain death gives him a duel quality that he plays to his public advantage to the very end of the movie. I've read that this movie has a bit of Casablanca (the café, the romance, and the song) and a bit of Schindler's List (a Nazi tirelessly working to save as many Jews as possible) and a bit of Jules and Jim (the understood love triangle). While it's is not nearly as great as either of the first two movies, I find its love triangle is far more believable than the sick one presented in Jules and Jim. In the end, this movie has its OWN story to tell and does it very well!

The late 90s through the early 00s were a breeding ground for urban legends, as we saw in Magnolia (1999), Darwin Awards (2006) and of course the Urban Legends film & TV franchise spanning the decade. Maybe it's due to the fact that the internet, with its viral sensationalism, had just become popular while fact-checking resources had not yet caught up. This made for some very creative storytelling at the expense of truth. But heck, isn't that what storytelling is all about.Here we have "Gloomy Sunday" (1999) an intriguing story woven around the titular song which, as urban legend has it, caused or accompanied some 20 suicides (exaggerated to "hundreds" in the film). In reality, the song has never been credibly linked to any suicides except that a lot of people in Hungary killed themselves in the 30s when the song was recorded. But I dunno, maybe Hungary's Great Depression had a little more of a role in that statistic?Enough history. The rest of my review approaches this film as a pure work of fiction, and it's a pretty good one. It's not simply a 2-dimensional message like "sad songs kill people" but it cuts more to the root of what suicide is, the complexity of what motivates it (not just having a sucky life, otherwise a lot more of us would be at the bottom of San Francisco Bay), and how music, art, love and war resonate with the concept of killing oneself.The story revolves around a love rectangle between the song's composer (a piano player in a restaurant), a waitress, the restaurant owner and a regular diner in the resaurant. But it's no ordinary "jealous lover" type of cliché. Rather, the theme of love, just like the theme of death, is that it is a personal choice that cannot be subjected to society's morals or rules. In other words, the lovers place no conventional expectations on each other (though fury & resentment does play into it). Immediately it strikes you as a love story worth paying attention to.Next comes the theme of war, particularly World War II and the Nazi persecution of Jewish people. This adds tremendous spice, depth and peril to the situation. It's handled in a subtle yet chilling way that reminds me of the excellent Benigni film around the same time "Life Is Beautiful".Last but certainly not least is the story's climax and resolution which, itself is worth the price of admission. Let's just say I did not see it coming. And when a film can do that (without being ridiculous) I'm always impressed. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be.The music itself is nice, if you like the song "Gloomy Sunday", but if I were to nitpick, I have to say I didn't like the Heather Nova cover of the song at the closing credits because it featured the "updated" lyrics that were added to the English version in 1936 to make it less depressing (I'm talking about the "dreaming, I was only dreaming" part). I know Billie Holiday popularized that amendment in her famous version, but Billie is allowed to do whatever she damn wants!Bottom line: great story, great production, great acting & cinematography. But, as with the excellent film "Amadeus", don't expect to study for your musical history exam by watching it. This is creative storytelling at its best.

GLOOMY Sunday (dir. Rolf Schubel) A haunting and award winning German film that offers an imagined account of the making of the Hungarian pop song, 'Gloomy Sunday', and some of the mysterious history surrounding the tune. This song is tied to a recurring urban legend that claims that many people committed suicide with this song playing, however when you check the facts, there seems to be no real evidence to support this allegation. This lugubrious pop tune happened to be written at the outbreak of WWII, and to make the claim that this song caused more people to end their lives than the immediate prospect of a world war seems almost too silly to imagine. However, the film becomes more successful when it shuns the metaphysical aspects of the song's legend to develop a (fictional?) love triangle between the composer of the song and his employer and girlfriend who run the restaurant where the pianist entertains the patrons. The film slips into melodrama as the Germans occupy Hungary, and another possible lover of the restaurant's hostess is introduced who happens to become a colonel in the Nazi SS. Although the film veers dangerously close to mawkishness, the 'doomed romance' described in the film does allow for somewhat of an entertaining experience.

We have seen hundreds of portrayals of the horrors of the Holocaust. This bittersweet romantic piece however, does not revolve around it, but keeps a balance between a sensitively depicted threesome of one beautiful woman, a restaurateur and a pianist-composer and the historical background which influenced it and eventually sealed its fate. The film also creates a rather fictitious legend around how the infamously harrowing hit song Gloomy Sunday conceived and left its mark not only on music history but also on demography.Gloomy Sunday is a very intelligent piece, co-production of Germany and Hungary with the best assets of the two diverse cinematic visionaries combined. It is realistic yet playful, bitter but hope-inducing. A good cast and nicely composed pictures are an extra value. Very well done. Get your handkerchiefs ready. It surely will move you.