‘Explanation for Everything’ Review: A Witty, Multi-Faceted Study of a Manufactured Controversy

variety.com:

Guy Lodge Film Critic If we’ve learned anything from the last few years of polarized political discourse surrounding everything from gun control to gender identity, it’s that when somebody pulls out the “won’t somebody please think of the children” card, the children are rarely the first thing on their mind.

Even as it plays out on a specifically Hungarian social landscape, the satire of Gábor Reisz’s astute, drily funny third feature “Explanation for Everything” — in which an underachieving high-schooler becomes a right-wing cause célèbre on the strength of some dicey tabloid reporting — resonates more widely.

Escalatingly absurd but underpinned by a mordant plausibility throughout, this confidently imposing work is among the high points of this year’s Orizzonti sidebar at Venice.

Reisz scored a domestic hit, and made a strong impression on the international festival circuit, with his 2014 debut, the endearingly scruffy quarter-life crisis comedy “For Some Inexplicable Reason.” His 2018 follow-up “Bad Poems” maintained that off-kilter charm, but “Explanation for Everything” is a more polished, ambitious step up from its predecessors — even if, at over 150 minutes, it feels a little baggy.