White Palms (Feher Tenyer) (2006)

89% of critics liked it
(9 reviews)
57% of users liked it
(1,464 ratings)

An athlete recalls his troubled youth while helping to coach a talented but headstrong youngster in this drama from Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu. Miklos Dongo (Miklos Zoltan Hajdu) is a world class gymnast who competed in the Olympics before taking on his current career as a performer with… More An athlete recalls his troubled youth while helping to coach a talented but headstrong youngster in this drama from Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu. Miklos Dongo (Miklos Zoltan Hajdu) is a world class gymnast who competed in the Olympics before taking on his current career as a performer with Cirque du Soleil. Miklos has been hired to help coach some contenders for the Canadian Olympic team, and finds himself working with Kyle Manjak (Kyle Shewfelt), an unusually talented young man whose mood swings make him difficult to work with. As Miklos tries to help Kyle focus his talents and come to terms with his demons, he finds himself frequently looking back on his own early career as a gymnast in Hungary -- his brutal coach Puma (Gheorghe Dinica), his domineering parents (Andor Lukats and Oana Pellea), and the grim regimen that led him to run away from home to join an acrobatics troupe. Coaching brings some of Miklos's personal issues back to the surface and he is confronted by the violent side of his nature while training Kyle. Miklos Zoltan Hajdu, who plays Miklos Dongo, is the brother of director Szabolcs Hajdu as well as an Olympic-class gymnast; he's played as a younger man by Orion Radies and Silas Radies. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 43 min.
Directed By: Szabolcs Hajdu
Written By: Szabolcs Hajdu
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Jun 20, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Sep 11, 2007
Studio: Strand Releasing

Critic Reviews

Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
The term 'sports film' doesn't do justice to White Palms, a punishing, beautiful drama about a troubled 30-something Hungarian gymnast.
Aaron Hillis, Village Voice
The more riveting, grim storyline ... is seen in flashback to the early 1980s, as tween Miklos lives like his parents' show pony in an anxiety nightmare of nonstop humiliation, heightened here through haunting soundscapes.
Eddie Cockrell, Variety
An uncommonly resonant sports drama in which a talented yet troubled gymnast comes to terms with a turbulent past, White Palms proves a distinctive and absorbing third feature by Szabolcs Hajdu.
Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
Striking, deeply felt drama.
, Globe and Mail
Delivers all the familiar pleasures of a based-on-a-true-story sports drama.
Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York
Far from the uplifting sports pictures churned out by Disney, White Palms wallows instead in humiliation rituals, psychic scars and too much time-shifting.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A sneaky delight that glides effortlessly between the past and present without a single detour into either the uplifting clichés of American sports movies or the creepy voyeurism that sometimes attends films about young, well-built athletes.
S. James Wegg, JWR
Szabolcs Hajdu's White Palms gives more pleasure than ... a three-ring circus ...
Boyd van Hoeij, european-films.net
An exhilarating, formally exciting sports drama as well as a telling look at North American society as experienced by someone who grew up behind the iron curtain.