DEALER

A man in the hospital, wrapped head to foot in bandages: while on drugs, he burned himself in a sunbed. Now he can barely stand the pain – the fact that he is about to receive a pigskin-transplant does not do much for his will to survive. So he asks a friend to release him with an overdose. The friend complies. Such begins the day of the dealer – by killing one of his own customers. Young hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf has made a highly individual film about the darker aspects of existence: with dark, gray-green pictures, a slowed down sound that gives the film’s soundtrack a surreal quality, and with extremely slow pacing. The film was shot on HD, but electronically converted to a format that is reminiscent of 70mm. The camera follows the protagonist as he goes through a typical day “on the job” – but it’s not a damning portrayal: the dealer even cares for the daughter of a junkie when she tells him that the child is his. He runs his business with the sober attitude of a businessman who treats the junkies as his customers, even though it means risking his own life, being verbally abused, humiliated or beaten up. His drive from client to client on his white bicycle could – with a nod to Eugene O’Neill – be called “A Long Day’s Journey into Night”. Finally, the dealer has to realize that the hopelessness of his clients mirrors the situation of the man who helped them get there: himself.