Keller (Basement) -- Teenage Wasteland
The mind of a teenaged boy is a scary place at the best of times but if it's as frightening as writer/director Eva Urthaler imagines it to be in Keller (Basement) -- Teenage Wasteland, then we're in deep trouble.
A fierce story about two boys who almost absent-mindedly kidnap and violate an attractive woman, it is unlikely to escape the festival circuit but it is a tremendous showcase for Urthaler's skills.
The Austrian filmmaker's use of an abandoned factory as the setting for most of the action is a simple device expertly utilized to convey the way the boys have lost their way.
Paul (Ludwig Trepte) is a shy poor boy with a sick mother and an absent father. Sebastian (Sergej Moya) says his father is a rich businessman and he appears spoiled and keen to befriend and dominate Paul.
Petty theft, vandalism and idle chatter fill their after school hours until a shop assistant (Elisabetta Rocchetti) catches Sebastian stealing a bottle of vodka. The boys follow her from the store and end up assaulting her in the laundry room of her apartment building.
With brutal carelessness, they wheel her unconscious body to the disused factory and tie her to a chair. But their hostage is completely alien to them as if they have no idea she's human. They have no clue what to do next but it's bound to be not good.
It's a pessimistic picture, but Urthaler explores her theme of how society can breed callous and empty minds with compelling authority.
A fierce story about two boys who almost absent-mindedly kidnap and violate an attractive woman, it is unlikely to escape the festival circuit but it is a tremendous showcase for Urthaler's skills.
The Austrian filmmaker's use of an abandoned factory as the setting for most of the action is a simple device expertly utilized to convey the way the boys have lost their way.
Paul (Ludwig Trepte) is a shy poor boy with a sick mother and an absent father. Sebastian (Sergej Moya) says his father is a rich businessman and he appears spoiled and keen to befriend and dominate Paul.
Petty theft, vandalism and idle chatter fill their after school hours until a shop assistant (Elisabetta Rocchetti) catches Sebastian stealing a bottle of vodka. The boys follow her from the store and end up assaulting her in the laundry room of her apartment building.
With brutal carelessness, they wheel her unconscious body to the disused factory and tie her to a chair. But their hostage is completely alien to them as if they have no idea she's human. They have no clue what to do next but it's bound to be not good.
It's a pessimistic picture, but Urthaler explores her theme of how society can breed callous and empty minds with compelling authority.
- 8/4/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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