Szaffi is a full-length animated feature based on Mór Jókai’s short books The Gypsy Baron (A cigánybáró) and Szaffi. It has adventure, and treasure, and love, and a little black cat, and a war, and picturesque villains - a governor with a pressure release valve in his skull and a fat pig-loving baron, and of course, the good gypsies.
Attila Dargay
Director
András Kern
Jónás Botsinkay (voice)
Judit Pogány
Szaffi (voice)
Hilda Gobbi
Old Witch (voice)
György Bárdy
Feuerstein lovag (voice)
Gábor Maros
Puzzola (voice)
Ferenc Zenthe
Gáspár Botsinkay (voice)
József Képessy
Ahmed Pasha (voice)
Judit Hernádi
Arzéna (voice)
László Csákányi
Loncsár (voice)
János Gálvölgyi
Menyus / Gazsi bácsi / Strázsa / Papagáj (voice)
Sándor Suka
Prince Eugene of Savoy (voice)
The plot could’ve really been interesting if the elements of lycanthropy was integrated with perhaps the struggle of identity of being LGBTQ+. It's an experience for so many that as they’re starting to realizing their true selves, they feel like a monster, especially if they come from unsupportive homes or communities. Instead, the horror and transformation elements seem thrown in without contemplation of how this could deepen the narrative.
The film's storylines read as allegories for the queer experience and that's a source of solace for LGBTQIA+ fans!
The movie opens with an empty house, cameras pan around from the perspective of what viewers are confused about at first, but turns out to be a spirit living in the home.
Mai yells what every parent dreads hearing from their child: “tao ghét mày” (“I hate you”) and runs from the scene, where Hai discovers that Mai was telling the truth about the wallet.
April, a professional dancer, reluctantly trains a group of girls at a dance school for the dance competition.