"Pungent" Hungarian movie eyes Oscar gold

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - "Taxidermia," a controversial Hungarian film that both shocked and delighted audiences, has been chosen as the central European country's contender for a foreign-language Oscar nomination.

Gyorgy Palfi's second feature is a strange and disturbing parable about post-World War II Hungarian history featuring graphic representations of masturbation, overeating in the name of competitive Olympic "speed eating" and a shocking conclusion in which a man performs machine-assisted taxidermy on himself.

It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and went on to pick up an award at the Chicago Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter described it as a "pungently graphic assault on the viewing senses" that would appeal to thoracic surgeons, maniacs and "those with a cinematic stomach for huge bowls of vomit and innards."

A U.S. release is planned soon, Hungarian film body Filmunio said Thursday.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter