Solvent (2024) by Johannes Grenzfurthner - Review

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by Johannes Grenzfurthner

grade: 7.5

In Solvent Johannes Grenzfurthner wasn’t afraid to dare, to show us reality through a courageous and innovative mise-en-scène, in which wide-angle shots further convey a strong sense of unease, together with splatter scenes, psychedelic lights and an increasingly frenetic editing. At the Diagonale 2025.

Don’t enter that basement!

We could definitely say that no one knows how to tell the story of our past and present like director Johannes Grenzfurthner. No one is so ruthless, but also so incredibly sincere, in confronting us with issues that directly concern us all, through deliberately over-the-top stories and unsettling images. And so, in Solvent, presented at the Diagonale 2025, we see how this unique approach has proved to be the winning solution for telling the story of a past that never died through images. A past that is still extremely alive and dangerous and could return at any moment.

Halfway between a documentary and a thriller (with a welcome touch of body horror), Solvent tells the story of the adventures of a small troupe – led by Ernst Bartholdi (played by Johannes Grenzfurthner himself) – in search of the latter’s grandfather, who disappeared ten years ago and whose past is somewhat dark. An essential member of the group is Gunner S. Holbrook (Jon Gries), a former US soldier specialised in the search for lost objects. Through his point of view (and thanks to a camera mounted on him), we’ll gradually make increasingly disconcerting discoveries. What will we find out?

Set entirely in a small town in Lower Austria, Solvent is a surprising and adrenaline-fuelled journey into a sick world, literally contaminated (as we see from the mould in Ernst’s grandfather’s house, which forces the protagonists to wear protective suits). In a world where Austria and the United States meet to shed light on a disturbing past, but where there are still many who want to forget (or even hide) what once was. The grandfather of the main character (whose photographs are actually those of the grandfather of Johannes Grenzfurthner, who for the occasion asked his grandson to give him the role of a real villain) was a member of the National Socialist party. He used to keep his urine for unspecified experiments. And while his house is practically hell on earth, a pipe that comes up from the floor of an old cellar could reveal many things.

As usual, therefore, also in Solvent Johannes Grenzfurthner wasn’t afraid to dare, to show us reality through a courageous and innovative mise-en-scène, in which wide-angle shots further convey a strong sense of unease, together with splatter scenes, psychedelic lights and an increasingly frenetic editing. And while the director’s usual irony (and black humour) undoubtedly add value to the whole work, another important essay on our past, our society and the present day has been released. In Lower Austria, meanwhile, there are always those ready to deny everything. What will become of us?