The District! Screens This Week

We heard a lot of good things about Áron Gauder's one-of-a-kind animated gem The District! during Fantastic Fest last year, but we hadn't had a chance to see it until recently. It's a Hungarian Hip-Hop / time travel / gangster odyssey set in Budapest's notorious 8th district, where rival crime families feud like Montagues and Capulets. That is, until their kids fall in love and pull off the most bizarre get-rich-quick scheme ever.

To be sure, this is one of the strangest animated features we've ever seen, both visually and conceptually. The animation is somewhere between "Angela Anaconda", "South Park" and this year's AFF commercials, and the story swings wildly from gangster drama to Hip-Hop musical to sci-fi political satire without apology. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, you should definitely go check it out.

The District!'s only real weakness is that the dialog moves so quickly that it's sometimes hard to keep up with the subtitles (unless you speak Hungarian, in which case you're all set). We should also mention that this one isn't for the kids--it contains cartoon nudity, strong language and an animated George W. Bush.

The District! will screen through November 22nd at the Alamo South Lamar.