‘Growing Down’ review: Father lies to protect his son in tense Hungarian debut

Dir. Balint Daniel Sos. Hungary. 2025. 85mins

Widower Sandor (Szabolcs Hajdu) grapples with a difficult moral dilemma when he’s the only witness to a severe, doubtlessly life-threatening accident involving his 12-year-old son Denes (Agoston Safrany) and Sari (Zonga Jakab-Aponyi), the daughter of his fiancee. Ought to he lie about what he noticed, and shield his weak youngster? Or inform the reality and threat a stint in a juvenile detention facility for the boy? This spectacular, tautly-plotted function debut from Balint Daniel Sos makes efficient use of its lean operating time; deftly constructing rigidity and showcasing terrific performances throughout the board, with teenager Safrany a stand out.

Placing sufficient to make its mark 

Sos lower his tooth as an promoting director and is among the founding members of the directing collective Kinopravda. He has additionally directed a number of quick movies. His debut, which was shot largely in Budapest in atmospherically muted black and white, makes its premiere in Berlin’s new Views aggressive strand. It’s an auspicious first function which is hanging sufficient to make its mark in additional festivals and will catch the attention of adventurous arthouse distributors or curated streaming platforms.

Sandor (or Sanyi to his shut pals) has rather a lot driving on the primary assembly between his girlfriend Klara (Anna Hay), Klara’s daughter Sari and his personal two youngsters, Denes and his older brother Zsiga (Milan Zikkert). Sos favours an understated, allusive strategy to storytelling, however we grasp sufficient to know that Sanyi was hit onerous by his spouse’s dying however is now daring to hope for a happier future. That future includes, ideally, the harmonious mixing of two households. So the complete punch up enjoying out within the automotive between his boys is a sub-optimal begin to this significant first step. “Wouldn’t it’s nice if we may simply look regular in the present day,” Sanyi mutters by way of his beard.

However Denes, who’s clearly fighting the concept of changing his mom, will not be the form of youngster who can hold a lid on his ache and anger. After a rocky begin, nonetheless, the day pans out unexpectedly nicely. Denes, plugged into his headphones and pretending to not hear, is gratified to listen to Sari sticking up for him towards his dismissive older brother. Giddy with aid and peppered with spots of sunshine from a desultory, dust-covered mirror ball, Sanyi and Klara get jubilantly drunk collectively within the abandoned bar owned by Sanyi’s oldest buddy, Zoci (Zoltan Friedenthal).

The tone of the movie shifts abruptly when, throughout a joint twelfth party for Denes and Sari, held at Klara’s home, Sari falls backwards into the empty swimming pool and suffers a extreme head harm. Sanyi sees sufficient to know that his son was concerned within the accident. And the rating, wonderful all through, is especially chilling and efficient at this second: an inexorable rising tone captures the tightening knot of choking panic because the gravity of the state of affairs turns into horribly, unavoidably clear.

Sanyi is aware of sufficient about his son’s impulse management to suspect the worst. Tellingly, he doesn’t take into account the likelihood that Denes’s position within the incident may need been inadvertent. In a snap judgment made within the warmth of the second, Sanyi decides to withhold the reality about what he noticed, realizing that the implications for his relationship and future happiness are grave, and coaches Denes on the lies he wants to inform when he’s questioned concerning the accident. However lies are onerous to maintain, and Denes, wrestling with guilt on high of different complicated feelings, lashes out at his father. 

One of many issues which is most attention-grabbing about Sos’s strategy is that he’s as involved with the space between the characters as he’s within the moments of closeness. One of many movie’s strongest moments unfolds in a ski raise, with Sanyi watching helplessly as his son and his lover discuss within the chair dangling 15 toes in entrance of him. It’s a sublime dealing with of a pivotal scene – a second wherein every little thing adjustments for all concerned.