Liza, the Fox-Fairy 2015

In a fictionalized 1970s Hungary known as Csudapest, a city with a capitalist edge, Liza Mónika Balsai is a 30-year-old nurse who feels naive, lonely, and quietly adrift. For twelve years she has cared for Márta Piroska Molnár, the widow of the former Japanese ambassador, weaving a life that centers on small comforts and a longing for love. The backdrop is a city that blends nostalgia with a curious sense of possibility, where everyday routines coexist with strange, almost fable-like turns.

On her 30th birthday, in the spirit of a cheap Japanese romance novel, Liza heads to a Mekk Burger restaurant in hopes of stumbling into romance and a brighter future. The plan, though simple, collides with a much darker reality when Márta is murdered by Liza’s only friend, Tomy Tani David Sakurai, a ghostly figure who is the remembered persona of a 1950s Japanese pop singer. This shocking act leaves Liza as the unexpected heir to Márta’s apartment, a turn of fate that unsettles the already fragile balance of her life.

Relatives promptly alert the police to Márta’s death, and Sergeant Zoltan Zoltán Schmied is assigned to the case. The investigation is fraught with danger, and Zoltan is nearly killed in the process before he moves into Liza’s apartment as a flatmate, blurring the lines between professional duty and personal entanglement. As the case drags on, Liza begins to gain confidence and a renewed sense of self, yet every attempt at dating ends in fatal accidents, casting a long shadow over any chance for happiness.

Amid mounting tension, Liza becomes convinced that she has transformed into a fox-fairy, a demon from Japanese mythology. The legend suggests that men who fall in love with a fox-fairy meet an untimely end, and that the fox-fairy herself is cursed to endure eternal loneliness. The intertwining of romance, guilt, and myth pushes Liza to confront the consequences of desire and the price of affection, all while the line between the living and the dead grows increasingly blurred. Throughout, the film maintains a cautious, reflective tone that invites viewers to ponder how loneliness can morph into something both alluring and dangerous, and how legends—especially those born from heartbreak and fear—can shape our reality in unexpected ways.