The District! refers to the section of Budapest where this 2004 film takes place. As producer Erik Novak's metal-rap intro sequence informs us, it's a place of pimps, prostitutes, hustlers, crooked cops and their kids. But the subtleties of Budapest 's ethnic melting pot are lost in translation. Is it supposed to be funny when Hungarian hookers rap about turning tricks? Or is it supposed to be cool? The plot revolves around a Montague-Capulet style romance between teenage Richie Lakatos and Julika Csorba, whose parents are the heads of the District's criminal element. To gain their parents' blessing, Richie leads his friends on a time-traveling expedition to become rich by creating an oil field beneath the district. The movie is charmingly casual about this loopy plot, but the plot's pacing is too irregular for it to carry the whole two-hour runtime. The District! is also partially a musical; it's peppered with Roma-flavored hip-hop sequences. These might be the epitome of style in Budapest, but to American eyes, they come off as plain silly.
That's the problem with The District! as a whole. The box tells us the film is "like an Eastern-European South Park." It very well might be. When the movie edges into political commentary, the corollary makes sense. But South Park is a continuing success because it lampoons contemporary American minutia. The District!'s animation might be unique, and the plot might be novel, but to an outsider it's impregnable. — John Constantine
DVD EXTRAS: The only extras on the set are a making of documentary and some clips of the original shorts the movie is based on. The doc is YouTube quality, and the clips are even more idiosyncratic than the movie, but if you enjoy the picture these make decent icing on the cake. Or on the czukrazda as it were.