Exklusiv

In "Exklusiv" a reckless journalist is blackmailed and threatened by a murderer. What's really great about the movie is that it got made. It's the only Swiss feature film I know, that didn't rely on governement funding.

But what you see is what you get and in "Exklusiv" that isn't really much. Even though the style is rather well copied from Hollywood thrillers, the story presented is rather thin. The movie lacks depth and relies to much on good cinematography. All the same, it's nice to see a Swiss movie.

Swiss movies always have a BAD reputation - and usually they deserve so! EXKLUSIV however was made by a bunch of young movie lovers who put their sweat, spare time and money in a project they believed in. The result is a fast going low budget media-thriller which is surprisingly entertaining. It's the story of two tabloid reporters that get too involved in a mystery murder series. The usual Swiss movies storyline "father-hits-child-on-a-mountain-top-and-gets-it-after-for-good" is completely missing here. And it's about time! For years Swiss films where produced for a small audience with special interests. EXKLUSIV on the other hand may very well have some potential on the international independent market. It was produced without any financial help from the government, which is absolutely new for Switzerland. So, here we have a movie which is made for a younger American-oriented audience, but is still undeniably Swiss.

Let's hope that other young filmmakers will follow Florian Froschmayers brave example and finally produce some movies which keep you awake for two hours. EXKLUSIV is the proof: It can be done - even in Switzerland!

Well I was looking forward to seeing this movie after all the hype. But then they forgot to switch the Dolby Digital button for the first twenty minutes and I almost couldn't hear what they were talking about. It's a pity because there is hardly ever a movie made in Dolby Digital in Switzerland.

A part from that I was surprised how well done the film is made technically. It really looks and sounds good. I extremely liked some of the the one liners like Thurheer's Curling Joke and the one that some "Sendegefässe quer hineinkommen" at TV. But I didn't get the motive of the killer or even who that woman was. Am I the only one who is so stupid or does the film really never explain. Maybe Froschmaier will read this line and can help me out. An other one at the minus side is that you don't care much about Bertschy. His private problems with the VJ are too less shown. And of course is single life hard but why did Froschmayer had to show it so boringly long (coffee and cigarettes in the mornings). The title sequence is also too long. Lots of people at the showing I attended began laughing. But the movie as a whole is good start and I'm looking forward to the next one these guys are going to make.

After homicide of a politician's daughter, a mysterious voice informes a yellow press reporter by phone about time and place of the next assassination attempt. Remarkable debut of Swiss director Florian Froschmeyer with excellent camera-work, stylish pictures but a too fragmentary story. Copies the style of his examples (as Se7en) but never their complexity.

The first half of the movie is rather a funny experience, though, I'm afraid, only residents will appreciate it (let's face it, there isn't a lot of american-type action movies made in Switzerland...) As a matter of fact, the movie isn't able to surprise the audience more than once, though the cast is giving a reasonable acting. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't work neither as a media thriller as it was conceived to be by the film makers nor as an action movie because of the lack of story (i.e. the story's looking all the time for itself...). The portray of the murderer is by ways too thin.