Tales of Franz stands out immediately for its extremely simple and linear narrative structure, almost completely devoid of subplots. And if, on the one hand, the story of Franz and his friends is exciting and amusing, on the other hand, one feels the need for a few more twists and turns, as well as necessary insights into some secondary characters.
The Hawk is a bizarre, irreverent feature film with an almost TV-like style, which, through a simple and at the same time complex story, questions certain family dynamics and precarious balances that risk breaking down forever when the past comes knocking at the door again. At the Diagonale’22.
Good feelings and stories with happy endings are always appreciated. Especially at Christmas time. And although Das Glück ist ein Vogerl does not stand out for special insights or directorial virtuosity, it works above all because of the excellent performances of the entire cast.
Although Aufschneider stands out immediately for its television-like writing and directorial approach, everything flows in an overall linear way. Every single event, every single story of the characters are somehow connected. Often, however, also in an excessively predictable manner.
This brilliant Caviar – Elena Tikhonova’s second feature – boasts rhythms that are well marked both by an expert and self-conscious direction – complete with short animation inserts and Tarantino-like titling – and by an appropriate, lively and distinctive, but never over the top, musical score.
If Tempo – Oscar-winning director Stefan Ruzowitzky’s first feature film – on the one hand treads the coming-of-age path already dealt with over and over again in Austria, on the other hand, shows a closer look than ever before at what is being realised at the same time in the rest of the world, resulting in a product with an international flavour with many typical features of 1990s mainstream cinema.
With a good touch of irony and just as a strong criticism of the National Health Service (and others), Wolfgang Murnberger’s Come Sweet Death sees its protagonist – played by comedian Josef Hader – as a sort of unintentional hero, an apparently bored man who does nothing but turn to alcohol and smoking to forget his loneliness. The director, on the other hand, does not hesitate to show us the worst of society without sparing us anything.
The smart comedy What have we done to deserve this?, the second feature by actress and screenwriter Eva Spreitzhofer, which had its Italian premiere during the festival Sotto le Stelle dell’Austria 2019, aims to break up every cliché by focusing on a world with which we are in close contact, but of which we in fact know far too little.
Fully following the canons of the mainstream television film that we all too often come across in German productions, North Face, co-produced by Germany, Austria and Switzerland and directed by German director Philipp Stölzl, doesn’t know how to exploit its opportunities (first and foremost, the climb undertaken by the four protagonists), making the whole thing excessively flat and rhythmless.