Slumming

Sebastian and Alex are two non-working rich and bored guys who mostly hang around bars in Vienna, meeting women they met on the internet and taking photos of them underneath the table. Once they meet a totally drunk bum, put him in a car and leave him in the middle of nowhere...

In my opinion it is a quite mediocrity movie, the idea itself is good - about guys who make pranks and practical jokes just for fun but personally I got bored few times while watching. What lifts the movie above total mediocrity is the acting of Paulus Manker (Kallman) whose role of an alcoholic was so convincing, without exaggerating, very realistic. As the actor said himself, he really was drunk sometimes while making the movie.

And for the end a quote from a poem, Kallman wrote: "MEIN NAME IST ANGST!"

Two guys with too much time and too much money on their hands pass their time by pulling pranks on people. It all starts fairly innocent, but eventually it goes worse and then from worse to evil. And of course, at that point everything comes down on them at once.

Slumming is a slow film that grows on you. At first it is hard not to chuckle at the pranks they play, but eventually it is hard not to dislike the two. It is also a film with more than one story line and one that plays those out rather well. The stories do have a clear common ground and where and when they connect they do it right.

As the film rolls on the characters all go through their changes - some small, some life changing. And all changes are understandable and believable.

The scenery is partly Vienna/Austria, partly some small city in the Tjech republic. The mixture of the two is nice - because of the great differences between the two.

So, all in all, it works out pretty well. It reminded me a lot of films like Funny Games (1997, Michael Haneke), and it really wasn't half bad. Still misses out on a few things, although I've got trouble putting a clear finger on what exactly is missing.

7 out of 10 young adults with rotten attitudes.

Sebastian is a snotty-rich thirty-something in Vienna. He, with the help of an enlisted comrade and roommate, Alex, wanders around the city in his Lexus, stirring up trouble. Most evenings are meetings with ladies from the Internet dating sites, with Sebastian setting them up like ducks at an arcade, only to shoot them down. One night, he and Alex come upon a passed-out drunken poet, sleeping on a bench in front of the train station. Always out for a lark, where there are no rules, Sebastian decides to put the man in his car's trunk and drive him across the border into the Czech Republic. There, he and Alex leave the unfortunate gentleman on a bench in front of the much smaller train station. What fun it is, to imagine the startled man when he awakes from his boozed-up state, in a country not his own! Sebastian has also met Pia, a pretty young teacher, and seems somewhat smitten and vice versa. That is, until he spills the beans about his little "joke" on the poor poet. Suddenly, everything is in turmoil. What lessons will be learned by each player in this little drama? This is a sharp look at the modern existence, in the richest societies, between the haves and the have-nots. Sebastian is so rich and yet so despicable in his misuse of his wealthy circumstances, a la Paris Hilton and clones. Pia is the model of the working middle class and the poet is down on life's bottom shelf. All of the actors do an amazingly nice job in their respective roles. The scenery is to die for, as most of us will never hop-skip to Austria or the Czech border. The costumes, production and direction are very fine, also, resulting in little scenes that make big impacts. Just watch Pia and her class twirl around the room in bird beaks and wings or see the poet come face to face with a little fawn and you will be enchanted. By no means will you be slumming, if you select this foreign film for an evening of diversion. It has a diverting story and some powerful messages to ponder upon, long after one pushes the rewind button.

The movie is excellent because it has a great direction, a genius screenplay and Paulus Manker as the homeless "Kallmann".

The other actors are good as well - and, what is very important, very natural and credible (some street scenes were filmed with real pedestrians) - but without Paulus Manker, who could be believed as a real homeless, because he liked his role that much (as i just mentioned, in some street scenes he is the only actor beside unsuspecting pedestrians who he shouts at), what we can see and enjoy when watching the movie - the film would miss its heart.

The direction and the screenplay work optimal. The film is not boring at any moment, but it is also not overloaded. The film scores also with spontaneous jokes and punchlines. Very funny scenes happen at the farm in the Czech Republic (and not only at the farm - the whole part of the movie in Czech Republic is very funny, because "Kollmann" speaks no czech, and the czechs don't speak German), where the farmer and his family wonder why austrians suddenly emigrate to the czech republic (in history it has always been the other direction).

One of the best and ambitious austrian movies of the last years - at least of this year.

Its a movie for the critics and the audience as well - thats what it makes a very special work.

Sebastian is bored. He gets his kicks playing real life "games" with unsuspecting people; openly speculating on the lives of strangers in front of them, scheduling multiple chat dates a day. His life changes when he crosses paths with a quick-witted school teacher and a schizophrenic street poet.

The act of slumming, didn't seem to have much to do with the main character of Sebastian. He is just bored with his life and is searching for some meaning within it. Unfortunately, their is ZERO back story provided to explain why he feels/acts the way he does to total strangers or why he makes certain choices. Which left me feeling no connection to him during or after the film.

Good first act, good acting, and amazing locales help this film, everything else...?