Revanche

I saw Revanche last night at the Sydney film festival and aside from the out of focus image and at one point the movie reel stopping mid-film it was an amazing experience.

Eastern Europe is captured so beautifully. A seemingly quiet and simple countryside (reminiscent of 'blue velvets' suburbia) is contrasted amazingly to the usual city stereotype of brothels, human trafficking and crime.

The director (Gotz Spielman) lingers on certain images that at first, seem to be just for aesthetic purposes but as the film continues; the alleyways, the park benches etc are all extremely significant to the main character (Johannes Kirsch) journey.

The centerpiece in this film though, is definitely the characters. The main character Alex (Johannes Kirsch) is commanding in the lead. Although he is incredibly unlikeable, you cant look away and eventually begin to sympathize with him. By the end of the film you see an amazing evolution.

The wife, the prostitute and the grandfather all are amazing as well. The wife (andreas lust) has some brilliant dialogue in particular and she is just so interesting. I found her to be very real with flaws and temptations that we can all relate to (even if we wont admit it).

There was some action. There was some comedy. The ending was SENSATIONAL. I didn't know which direction it was being taken and became a little impatient but as the screen went black (intentionally, not reel fault) I was incredibly satisfied.

See this movie. It was great.

This Austrian drama starts as a love story between a scruffy ex-con and a Ukranian prostitute, but evolves into an interesting character study. It takes a while for the film to settle down and the central storyline to emerge, but it is quite absorbing. The acting is excellent, particularly Strauss and Thanheiser. Spielmann's direction is assured and marked by visual elegance. He doesn't use any flashy camera-work, but manages to infuse every frame with a sense of foreboding. The pacing is deliberate (about 10 minutes of screen time is devoted to watching Krisch cut wood), but it never drags. The Austrian countryside is beautifully shot in this low-key and rewarding film.

Is it an accident? Or is it fate, coincidences predestined? You don't really think about these reservations as you are watching Austrian director-producer-screenwriter Götz Spielmann's quietly fascinating film, "Revanche." The one-word title in French translates to 'revenge.' But this is hardly your usual action thriller, though there are anxious suspenseful moments and bank heist involved.

Love the film. The storyline and the characters, the occurrence of incidents all seem to follow natural development - their own course (by design 'divine'). So few dialog and no music score at all, just birds chirping, sound of raindrops, everything naturally delivered. Well, the only human music being the accordion played by grandfather Hausner. One man's revengeful thoughts or action just might turn out to be blossoming into another's hopeful, joyous beginning of future. Two men hung up on one woman dead, both men acquiesced by one woman alive, whose optimistic intuition and trustful understanding may bring full circle to the string of events, perhaps liken to how nature takes care of itself? The engaging 'fate' element is somehow unbeknown to all parties involved (while the audience might marvel at the clues, possibly unaware also).

As I was quietly watching the film following the story progression, I said to myself at one point: I hope this is where the film ends and go on no more. The next second the screen did fade to black and the end credits start rolling, without any music other than birds chirping can be heard, and later on, sound of raindrops falling for the rest of the credit roll.

What a script! So perfectly directed, and such steady subtle performances from the ensemble cast of characters. The four main roles are so solidly portrayed: Alex by Johannes Krisch and his girlfriend Tamara by Irina Potapenko; Robert the policeman by Andreas Lust and his wife Susanne by Ursula Strauss. A satisfying movie experience, it is. I actually appreciate this film more than the winning 2008 Oscar foreign film "Departures" - well, it's different in story layers and 'Departures' encompasses many aspects, while "Revanche" also has its layers of emotions, psychological human nature perspectives, is delivered 'clean' and focused, ever so naturally acceptable of human foibles, vulnerability and one woman's life force. A very humanistic film - a MUST SEE.

As seen at the AFI Film Festival, Revanche is a tight thriller that is at a the same time a mood piece and a human moral drama. Austrian's official submission for the foreign language category in the 2009 Academy Awards is likely to this reviewer to get the nomination. Following the lives of two couples, a prostitute and a thug, a cop and his wife; tragic circumstances converge their lives when a bank robbery goes awry. Featuring a stand out performance by Tommy Lee Jones look-alike Johannes Krisch as the thug Alex, the man creates tension when out of frame, in the nick of shadows and in front of the camera. His character of Alex is a tortured soul that the audience is never sure off; his intentions or actions are hidden behind a mask of serenity. Not satisfied with being a replica of Jones, he also gives a very Tommy Lee Jones no-frills turn that keeps the movie afloat. Director Gotz Spielman creates tension using sound and extremely detailed camera set-ups. Not show-offy in anyway but including two long one take shots, he also uses his DP to infuse the screen with pale and desaturated color tones for nights scenes and natural lighting for daylight scenes, all used to provide a flat élan on the screen. It effectively supports the vibe of these revenge melodrama. What could be hammy in another director's hands becomes poetry in his. The sound of the ax smashing a block of wood never seemed more intimate. When a director uses it in such a way that the viewer feels inside the innards of a man's soul, you know the director knows his stuff. Intricate and detailed, it is consummate from top to bottom. If there is any qualms with the movie, it is in the character of Robert the cop played by Andreas Lust. His character arc is supposed to mirror Alex but he never earns the audience's sympathy the way Alex does; yet his story is geared toward such a response. The character is slightly underwritten and the actor never engages the character the way Johannes does. Playing against our expectations to create an ending reminiscent of Greek tragedy, it is a worthy movie experience and the best movie I've seen in 2008 along with Mike Leigh's Happy go lucky.

A guy and his woman. They both work in a brothel and are both working on their plan to escape that place for good. So far none of their plans have worked out and a new plan is devised. When the plan starts rolling the woman is anxious and afraid it will fail, but the man presses on. It all starts out really well, but it quickly turns sour. The rest of the film then is the more or less logical follow up of these events - with the one red line thought through it all being - getting even.

Films like this work out rather well when the characters are believable - and they are in this one. All the things that happen happen in a more or less fitting way and as events turn darker and darker one cannot escape from both a grin and a grimace. It's fun and nasty at the same time and plays out as a somewhat predictable book, but in a good way. The main character plays out his role very well and most of the other characters play out very well too - there's only a few of them that fall out of style too much to be really fitting.

8 out of 10 choices backfiring