Scenes from a movie etched onto the brain: a man pokes away at a pig carcass (and he’s not using his finger…); another slobbers down gruel in a speed-eating contest; a cockerel pecks at an erect penis after it’s shoved into the chicken coop. Gross and grotesque, Taxidermia goes straight for your gag reflex with a bizarre story that follows three generations of Hungarian manhood: a horny soldier, a champion speed eater and a death-obsessed taxidermist. It’s ostensibly based on the work of Hungarian writer Lajos Parti Nagy, but it’s really an excuse for director György Pálfi(Hukkle) to try and make us lose our lunch while stirring up some notoriety for himself. Imagine John Waters crossed with David Cronenberg and exiled to Soviet-era Hungary. Curiosity seekers won’t be disappointed… just sickened.
