István Szabó's first feature announced the direction that the New Hungarian Cinema would take: it is a stylish, spirited portrait of his own young generation, reminiscent of the early films of Godard and Truffaut (with at least one homage to the latter). For Szabó's hero, János (András Bálint), born in 1938, the struggle is not to reconcile oneself with history but with the emotions of the present moment, to "break through the wall of mediocrity"-to inevitable dissillusionment. János is one of an inseparable gang of four electrical engineering students who receive their diplomas at the same time. The professional world loses no time in dividing and conquering their communal spirit; the pursuit of love further separates them, and a confrontation with death atomizes them completely. Thus is János cast into adulthood alone. With great warmth and humor (the narrative proceeds with jump-cuts and jazz), Szabó portrays János' pursuit of the ideal woman-a bright lawyer, Éva (Ilona Béres) he has seen interviewed on TV. (Along the way he nuzzles the necks of any number of lesser types and, when all else fails, calls on his passion for electricity to keep him warm.) In 1956, János and his friends were 18, their "age of daydreaming" already cruelly interrupted by compromise. They retaliated by casting aside history-and history threatens to cast them out in turn. Twenty-odd years before Spike Lee, this film ends with a resounding call to "wake up!"