Magic Boys (2012)

It's amazing the things you run into on the various streaming services.  Last night, for instance, after bumping into a couple of Japanese monster movies, (Death Kappa and Destroy All Monsters), I stumbled into a film that, allegedly, wasn't made.  Now, clearly Magic Boys (2012) was made as I sat through the whole thing although, from the off, it seemed somewhat odd.  Despite starring Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones and, er, Jamelia and being mainly set in London, as the opening titles unfold, the names on the technical credits make it clear that the movie is, in fact, a Hungarian production.  The stars, the setting and the fact that much of it is in English, might have contributed to the suspicions of the Hungarian authorities that this was a film which, although claiming Hungarian tax breaks and other assistance, didn't really exist as a Hungarian film.  Indeed, the producer was arrested on the grounds that this and a number of other unreleased (in 2011) films he had been involved with didn't actually exist and were a huge financial scam.  As it was, all of the films in question, including Magic Boys, were released during 2012-13.  Nevertheless, the producer seems to have been prevented from producing or financing any other films since.  

Watching Magic Boys, if you didn't pay attention to those opening titles, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was one of those lottery funded low-budget British gangster movies - it has the token down on their luck US star, a UK pop star trying to act, a plot involving diamond smuggling, sleazy London strip joints and, of course, Vinnie Jones.  It's the sort of thing you'd expect to see in the direct-to-DVD racks at Tesco, (in fact, it was released direct-to-DVD in the UK, under the generic title of Diamond Heist).  But as you watch the film, the Hungarian connection becomes ever more obvious - not only is Jones' villain based in Hungary, but the main part of the plot involves a pair of hapless Hungarian guys who witness a murder committed by Jones and go on the run.  In a series of unlikely twists, they end up on a private plane piloted by Jamelia, mistaken for a pair of male strippers that Jones was sending to his former partner Madsen in London, as replacements for two vanished strippers he had  previously been managing.  The replacement strippers, however, were also unknowingly smuggling a package of diamonds to Madsen.  Jamelia, though, is herself acting to try and find which of Madsen and Jones killed her diamond broker father in a heist.  The two original replacement strippers make their own way to London and have various misadventures in fetish clubs and the like.

It's a strange mixing of genres, with the crime elements often rubbing shoulders uneasily with the comedic antics of the two guys mistaken for strippers (who, in truth, are the stars of the film as far Hungarian audiences are concerned - the actors are, apparently, pretty well known in Hungary) and the trials and tribulations of the real strippers.  It is all complicated by the fact that the Hungarian actors spend most of the film speaking Hungarian, without subtitles, leaving English-speaking audiences mystified as to what is going on, (not to mention missing what I assume is the humour of their exchanges).  It really is a very strange concoction.  That said, I have to say that it is very professionally made.  The cinematography is excellent, with the London night time scenes catching a lot of the fell of the city after dark.  The production values are slick, while some of the performances are actually OK.  Madsen's performance doesn't feel as phoned in as it might have been, while Jones plays, well, that Vinnie Jones character, but he does it very well.  Jamelia, sadly, proves that she should stick to singing.  The language barrier makes the Hungarian cast's performances difficult to judge but, it has too be said that Robert Koltai, (who also co-directs, co-wrote the film and is the producer's father) is very good as Madsen's agent associate, performing his entire role in English.  (again, he is apparently a very well known actor and director in Hungary).

So there you are: Magic Boys - the film that the Hungarian authorities claimed never existed.  A somewhat unsatisfactory film which, to English speaking audiences at  least, seems to fall between two genres, being neither violent nor suspenseful enough to be a crime thriller, nor funny enough to be a comedy thriller.  Nevertheless, it has its entertaining moments and is, at least, better made than most direct-to-DVD movies, particularly indigenous lottery funded gangster pictures.  If nothing else, it has introduced me to modern Hungarian cinema which, apparently, is thriving, with quite a few films, like this one, shot on overseas locations.  Sadly, they seem to be largely unknown outside of the Hungarian-speaking world, (which, basically, consists of Hungary), with even international co-productions like Magic Boys being unceremoniously dumped on the direct-to-DVD market overseas.