"JACK" shows the last few years in the life of Jack Unterweger, an Austrian murderer and poet who committed suicide in 1994. Of course, i did a little bit of research before watching it and from what i saw and what i've read i found out that this is not an exact depiction of his life during the time the film takes place in, but more a fictional story with it's roots in reality.
Before i start, i want to say that i don't know much about the real Jack Unterweger and that all my opinions are ONLY about the character that is depicted in this movie, NOT the actual person.
The aspect that stands out the most in this movie is the performance of the main actor Johannes Krisch. To be honest, i didn't even know his name before watching "JACK" but now i want to see as much as possible from him because this is one of the best performances in an Austrian film that i've seen in a long time. The movie makes the audience understand very soon what kind of character this version of Jack Unterweger is and Johannes Krisch just owns the whole movie with his performance. Through his body language and pitch of voice you can always tell exactly what the character is thinking. And even tough he is a murderer he his actually pretty likable. I even felt a bit sorry for him near the end. All the other performances are fine as well. There are only a few silly parts but 99% of the time it is very good.
I also like how the soundtrack sometimes repeats itself to underline certain situations that our main character experienced similarly earlier in the movie.
There are a few really good shots throughout the film and the cinematography is also well done.
Another thing that's worth mentioning is the fact that the film never actually tells you how much time has passed. If you know the real story than that won't be the case for you but seeing that i only knew that the film takes place somewhere between 1990 and 1994 i really enjoyed that the movie never tries to tell the audience how much time has passed between scenes.
I honestly wanted to give this movie an 8 out of 10 and not a 7 but i can't do that because there are some really bad mistakes in it that only completely unexperienced newcomers would make. The film failed to convince me that it takes place between 1990 and 1994 because during my view, i noticed a lot of things in the background that didn't even exist until the 21st century. I saw a flat screen with windows 7, a train from "Westbahn", a billboard that i could swear had an advertisement on it that i just saw a few months ago near my house and a few other little things that you would actually miss if you don't pay enough attention. But for me they where very apparent. I don't know much about interior design and fashion in Vienna in the early nineties and i won't bother looking it up but a few sets and costumes don't really look outdated to me. I won't describe this, in particular, as a flaw because it only comes from my non existing knowledge about the time period but the other things are almost unforgivable.
The movie also felt way longer than it actually is. When it was over, it felt like a bit over two hours had passed when it was actually only one and a half. It doesn't bother me personally because i actually never got bored but it's still a bad sign if a movie feels like it's 30% longer than it's actual runtime. I also think that the music during the end credits is way too loud. This wouldn't bother me normally but the very last scene right before the credits is one of the slowest and most quiet in the whole film and the music starts so abruptly, that it really felt like i got hit in the face.
This also isn't a real flaw but i personally hate it when a movie that is based on real life events ends with a text that says how the character died or how his life went on after the event of the film instead of just showing it.
Overall, i still think this is a movie worth checking out because it's an interesting story, it's a bit funny sometimes and it has one of the best performances of 2015.
