Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 7pm
György Kovásznai's Bubble Bath
155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn
Introduced by Dash Shaw
Bubble Bath, György Kovásznai, 1980, digital projection, 79 mins
Cartoonist and filmmaker Dash Shaw will be on hand to introduce a work that, for him, is one of the major rediscoveries of the past year: a meticulous new restoration of György Kovásznai’s Bubble Bath, which makes its New York debut at Light Industry. A pioneering figure in Hungary, Kovásznai began his career at the Pannonia Film Studio in the early 60s, where he experimented with a wide variety of animation techniques, and though he completed numerous shorter projects, Bubble Bath would be his only feature.
The movie concerns a neurotic interior decorator, Zsolt, who finds himself getting cold feet on the day of his nuptials. He takes refuge in the apartment of Anni, an aspiring doctor and acquaintance of Klári, his bride-to-be. Serpentine and sybaritic, Klári is meanwhile enjoying the wedding party too much to care about her absent groom. The barrage of screwball antics precipitated by this scenario are rendered as a psychedelic musical. Drawn in a style as freaky as anything cooked up by the Chicago Imagists, characters glide through a series of liquid visual environments, their carryings-on punctuated by songs that veer from funk to opera to jazz. Indeed, one of the great pleasures of Bubble Bath is how suddenly, unexpectedly it takes on a new shape, through its composition as well as its score. The movie captures the moods of 70s Budapest through a notable documentary element, weaving audio interviews, photomontage, and other scraps of social reality into its wild, distorted design. This screening presents a rare opportunity to luxuriate in Kovásznai’s lysergic vision—let’s get wet.
Tickets - Pay what you can ($8 suggested donation), available at door, cash and cards accepted.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 6:30pm.