FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Theo is placed in a psychiatric institution after violently raping three young women. Upon his release he gets a job working at a printing plant, a place he hopes will keep him far away from temptation and potential relapse. Instead, what he finds is the boss’ daughter, Nettie. Desperate to start a new life, Theo secludes himself and backs away from any contact with the opposite sex. Nettie has other ideas and sees a nearly perfect match for her in Theo. Was he released too soon? Is he able to conduct any sort of actual relationship? Does he deserve to if he can?

You know what? I didn’t see one damned whale in this whole freakin’ picture. And good thing I don’t have kids, because I’m not sure I’d want to explain why the bloody lady was crying during mommy/daddy time in the beginning. What a brutal scene that was. Not the most graphic I’ve seen on film, but the violence really helps to set a tone that will be completely flipped around on you a couple times over. The movie does a great job of taking your expectations and preconceptions and throwing them out the window.

The script [by Judith Angerbauer, director Matthias Glasner, and Jürgen Vogel (who also plays Theo)] is excellent as is the rest of the film’s execution. They’re able to take such minimalist elements (there’s little to no score and the video work isn’t afraid to obscure large parts of the picture) and piece them together to create an extremely complex story that forces you to think and rethink your feelings and beliefs on a variety of subjects. Some of the stuff they do probably shouldn’t work, but it does. The movie starts off quickly, and then it’s a slow simmer back up to any real tension again – although sometimes it moves a little too slow that it could be pretty easy to lose interest for a while. Nettie is introduced in a small scene with her father and Theo, which somehow sprouts a side story that probably shouldn’t work so naturally into the framework, but does (partly because it’s good to get away from the potentially draining Theo scenes).

I think what’s more amazing, though, is that they’re actually able to make you feel some sort of strange sympathy for him. A couple times during the interactions between Theo and Nettie, I found myself feeling bad more for him and not her. A lot of credit is due to Vogel who gives an amazing performance, even though he’s not such a good on-screen crier. There’s one shot in particular where he’s grocery shopping and he encounters Nettie for what we know is only the second time ever. In the same reaction shot you can sense the dismay, fear, hopelessness, boredom, tension and paranoia. There are never really any explosions of emotion, which is something you could easily expect from such a tense storyline as this. However, the internal struggles the characters face certainly come across.

Despite all of this, some of the same characteristics of the film that make it stand out in a positive way, also hurt the overall impact. The lack of music is noticeable and it helps to build the tension at times, but there are just as many instances when the silence just seems to add to the length of what is already an overly long movie (163 min). The video work, as well hurts the tone it’s trying to create. The cinematography and shot composition is slightly basic, although there are some moments of decent subtle distortion, but the problem is the lack of light. They aren’t afraid of darkness, but we still need to be able to see what’s going on to some degree. Nettie and Theo form a very strange relationship that really seems to work somehow. But you can’t help but wonder if its naïve to think that.

With all this glowing praise, you’d think I would have enjoyed the movie a little bit more than I actually did. What it all boils down to is that it’s certainly a worthwhile film – the concept is strong, down to the various implications of the title; the acting is very strong; the script is strong and they mess with your mind several times and really get you thinking which is great – but the execution of it misses the mark a little bit too much. The movie certainly may have its faults, but it’s the faults and flaws of the main characters that make the film really worth watching.

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