Even if we can't pronounce his name, we'll never miss another Szabolcs Hajdu movie again.
While we're not generally drawn to sports dramas, White Palms, out on DVD this week, transcends that often-cheesy genre. Based loosely on the life of Hajdu's brother, it's the story of a rising Hungarian gymnast whose career, developed during painful, brutal coaching, was derailed. Years later, the gymnast, now training Olympic hopefuls in Canada, tries to reconcile his promising past with his unsatisfying present.
How that happens is the riveting climax of the movie, a story about far more absorbing matters than parallel bars and balance beams.
written on Monday Sep 10, 2007
form,
past,
dvd.
