Hinterland

Grim and scary film with intrigue, plot twists , chills , thrills , sleaziness , ugly scenes and lots of blood and gore . Peculiar thriller showing the European situation just after First Wold War , it remains as a special piece on surprises , showcasing the unique visual , special color and ordinary stylistic tricks that mark Stefan Ruzowitzky 's work . Austrian production dealing with a serial killer -Jack the Ripper lookalike- in Vienna executing some grisly killings . It is set in Vienna, 1920. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has collapsed , there an ex-prisoner of the Great War called Peter Perg (Murathan Muslu) goes back home from the Great War, after years of captivity. But the Vienna he comes home to is nothing like the place he once knew. After the Treaty of St. Germain, the Austrian empire had disappeared and the emperor had been overthrown and a new Austrian Republic was born . The new Austrian Republic thrives on social and artistic freedom but the streets are really dangerous and citizens are suffering extreme poverty , starvation , misfortunes, shortages and strikes . A stranger in his hometown, life's Perg takes a turn for the worse when one of his previous comrades is murdered. Suddenly the mysterious killings of veterans are mounting. Personally connected to the victims, Perg finds an ally in the intelligent forensic doctor Theresa Korner (Lisa Fries) , with whom he has a deeper, shared history. Their investigation leads them into the darkest corners of the city, as they face off a cruel and systematic killer and intrigues from within the police force. But when the murderer's net closes around Perg himself, he takes on the moral dilemma of his existence.

A crime thriller with historical remarks , including thrills, chills, suspense as well as gore and blood. This shows the European situation just after the First World War and particularly in Vienna with unemployment loom overhead , hungry people , anti-democratic movements and others participating in strikes and attempting the communist revolution that had already triumphed in Russia. This is a moving and horrific story about astonishing oddly murders in Vienna committed by an elusive killer . Stars Murathan Muslu who gives a nice acting as the ex-veteran WWI soldier returning home and finds his comrades brutally murdered deciding to bring the serial-killer to justice , as well as Liv Lisa Fries is nice as the cool-headed forensic doctor who finds out the main keys . This is one of the rate movies in which everything pulls together to create a weirdly compulsive atmosphere with plenty of fog , darkness , lights and shades , well shown on the expressionist photography by Benedict Neuenfels in 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' style including misconfigured buildings, strange and vertical shots and other abstract images, adding an excessive use of frames made by means of 3D computer generator , filmed in Studio 1 Rosenhügel, Vienna, Austria and Filmland Studios Kehlen, Luxembourg. The production design is brilliant and acceptable interpretations , but the film is neither for squeamish people , nor for the easily queazy.

This gory motion picture was competently directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky. This craftsman director usually lives in Vienna where he's shot some films . In the early years of his career, he directed documentaries and commercials, but also music videos of noted artists such as N'Sync, Scorpions or Die Prinzen. He is a famed filmmaker and writer, specially known for Lilly the Witch: The inheritors (1998) , The counterfeiters (2007), The Dragon and the Magic Book (2009) , Deadfall (2012) Patient Zero (2018) and Hinterland (2021). The lattr featured at the Locarno film festival in August 2021 Locarno , being Winner International Film Festival 2021 , Audience Award Best Film Stefan Ruzowitzky (director) , Sabine Moser (producer) ,Oliver Neumann (producer) . And Austrian Film Award, Winner Austrian Film Award Best Production Design (Oleg Prodeus , Andreas Sobotka , Martin Reiter, and Best Supporting Actress (Margarete Tiesel) , Best Cinematography (Beste Kamera) , Best Costume Design (Uli Simon). Rating : 6.5/10 . Acceptable and decent suspense thriller .

Hinterland is a great movie. You feel like you are watching a comic book.. The dialogues are great and the ambiance is awesome. Perg is an antihero that is why it is quite exciting to watch his life after his return from the prison camp. Murathan Muslu is a great actor. Liv Lisa Fries has been a favorite ever since I watched Babylon Berlin and she was awesome in this movie as well. Stefan Ruzowitzky must make TV series based on Perg and crimes in Vienna. Perhaps adding some flashbacks from the great war. I believe that a TV series based on Perg can be a great series like Babylon Berlin. There is a lot story to tell about him. In short, watch this movie !

I have seen this movie in a Sneak Preview.

What I really liked was the mask and the sound. Well done! Also Murathan Muslu was convincing in his role.

Although there are a couple of reason why I'm giving it only 6 stars.

The very special Art Style with a lot of tilted shots and all the inclined houses was just too much and sometimes distracting. Some people may like that, but I don't.

Another reason is story related. I won't spoil anything, but there are at least 3 annoyingly unrealistic scenes (in terms of reactions in specific situations).

A POW and his comrades return home to defeated and depraved Vienna immediately at the end of World War I. Everything has changed, and for the worse, in his eyes.

Since Expressionism was still big by 1918, the movie's skylines and buildings are deliberately distorted to reflect the feelings of the protagonist. It's ugly and a bit distracting, but for me, it worked. It was one of the more original and interesting things about the movie.

The main plot line revolves around the hunt for a sadistic serial killer, but this was neither particularly interesting nor credible. It was no worse than in many movies, but no better.

The main actor is big and very charismatic, dominating every scene. I hope we see more of him.

Questions remain. If they were POWs on the Russian front, wouldn't they have been home sooner, after the Bolsheviks made a separate peace with Germany? And why is a movie set entirely in Vienna called 'Hinterland'?

Hinterland is a typical European-made drama. I didn't see much Aavstrian film at all, but Hinterland left a positive emotion. An interesting era of the "lost generation," about which so few films are made and so many beautiful literary works. The film has an interesting artistic style of espressionism, which conveys the entire curvature of the state of society and the main character of those years. In Hinterland, human psychology and human relationships are brought to the first place, there is no Hollywood gloss. The film will appeal to all lovers of detective stories and European cinema.