BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

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

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Smallclone100 I enjoyed Peter Strickland's 'Berberian Sound Studio' from 2012, and this film made by him 3 years earlier is just as good, if not better. It has a strange tone - almost like a 1970s Agnes Varda film, but it's set in Romania in present day. It's extremely erie in places and very beautifully shot in the Carpathian mountains about a woman with nothing left to lose out for vengeance. It also features a superb (but disturbing) monologue midway through the film from lead actress Hilda Peter.

Sindre Kaspersen English screenwriter, producer and director Peter Strickland's feature film debut which he wrote and co-produced, premiered In competition at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009, was shot on location in East Transylvania, Romania and is a Romania-UK-Hungary co- production which was produced by Hungarian producers Tudor Giurgiu and Oana Giurgiu. It tells the story about a Catholic woman named Katalin Varga who lives with her husband named Zsigmond and their 11-year-old son named Orbán in a rustic village called Visrek in Romania. Katalin has been keeping a secret from Zsigmond and Orbán for many years, but one day she learns that the secret has been revealed by the only person she told it to. Katalin is almost immediately banished by her spouse who feels betrayed, and with no one else to turn to Katalin sets out on a horse wagon with her son towards a place she left eleven years ago to locate Orbán's real father. Distinctly and commandingly directed by European filmmaker Peter Strickland, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the protagonist's point of view, draws a foreboding and increasingly dramatic portrayal of a Hungarian gypsy's voyage towards realizing her bloodlust which she has been dreaming of for the last decade with her child whom she has lied to by telling him that the reason why they have left his father is because his grandmother is severely ill. While notable for it's distinctly atmospheric and naturalistic milieu depictions, distinct cinematography by cinematographer Márk Györi, costume design and versatile and brilliant use of sound, this character-driven and narrative-driven story about redemption, vengeance, consequences and judgment where the animating landscapes and harmonic use of colors contrasts the apocalyptic aura and a mother whom has been scorned for life by an horrific incident only she suffered and still is suffering from prays to her saints for the strength to carry out an unforgivable act, a husband does not forgive, a Romanian criminal named Antal Borlán asks to be forgiven and a child is getting closer to the truth regarding his origins, depicts two internal and merging studies of character and contains a timely score by composers Steven Stapleton and Geoff Cox.This ethereal, wickedly humorous and mythical road-movie and psychological drama from the late 2000s which is set in villages in Transylvania, Romania and where a man who lives with his wife named Etelka one day meets two strangers, is impelled and reinforced by it's fragmented narrative structure, substantial character development, rhythmic continuity, apparently joyful characters, austere and synoptic dialog, incisive religious undertones, incorporation of genres, comment by Katalin Varga : "I asked the fawn, whose sins have I just died for? He didn't answer and just shed a tear for me." and the poignant acting performances by Hungarian actress Hilda Péter in her debut feature film role and Romanian actor Tibor Pàlffy. A masterfully atmospheric, cinematographic and expressionistic directorial debut which gained, among other awards, the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 59th Berlin Film Festival in 2009.

paul2001sw-1 The beautiful Transylvanian countryside, where a thin veil of modernity covers a continuing peasant lifestyle for many, is the setting for Peter Strickland's short, unsentimental film 'Katalin Varga' about the aftermath of a rape. It's a quiet movie, strikingly shot, that offers no pretence of life easier than it actually is. To me, it seemed that the reaction of the perpetrator's wife seemed simultaneously slightly overdone (in terms of motivation) and underplayed; one might also suggest that the ending is not especially satisfying, probably because the film never lets us know exactly what it is that Katalin is hoping for. This can be justified, however, because it's completely plausible that the character doesn't know herself. In a nutshell, this is a revenge movie; but so much more interesting that most of what we see in this genre.

bato0909 I saw the movie at the Vancouver International Film Festival and was disappointed. The plot or story about a raped woman looking for vengeance has had much potential. It is shown in one very good scene when she tells her story on a boat with one of her former tormentors and his new wife without revealing who she really is. But overall, the scenes were attached to each other without a flow, sometimes with music coming from a horror movie which didn't suit the reflections she had while travelling with her son through the beautiful mountains. It is an opportunity wasted. Though, I am generally interested to see what is coming from those former communist East European countries. They might have many stories to tell based on the things which have been swept under the carpet.