Tiere

Stylish above and beyond expectation this Polish oddity has no cheap hand held wobble cam to drag it down to the level of average psychological thriller & yet, average psychological thriller it ultimately is. Talented French born Cinematographer Piotr Jaxa has a long list of shorts and documentaries on his list of achievements & at times, this one looks as if he were working for the Swiss Tourist Bureau. Piotr fills the screen with delightful eye candy views of sweeping Swiss countryside - tending to steal the show completely. Polish director Greg Zglinski is following closely the slick style his fellow countryman Roman Polanski perfected with 'The Tennant' - along with several other movies about unhinged characters. With a bizarre script by Jorg Kalt (who curiously took his own life soon after he wrote this) the viewer is taken on a mind-bending trip into spot-the-crazy or did-it-happen-or-not territory.

Problem here is with little or no relief from the mystery it becomes a tad tiresome. A lack lustre music score adds almost nothing to the mixed up goings on and only those who enjoy a good looking - but basically going nowhere movie will be left fully awake. For a select audience only, and If you think you've worked it all out, take another look and ask yourself again. Oh, some may enjoy the strange looking talking cat that comes and goes to taunt people with some murderous suggestions.

I just saw this movie at the Berlinale 2017 and it literally blew my mind. It's been a long time since I saw such a complex and multi-layered story interwoven with strong and beautiful images and sound. The dialogues are crisp but meaningful, the acting of the two main characters highly convincing and beautiful. The story follows a married couple in a crisis. He is having an affair, which leaves her feeling unloved and full of doubts. With a trip to the mountains they want to try to find back their lost link and clear up uncertainties but, when they unexpectedly hit a sheep on the road, things turn into mysterious events which eventually, all are representing parts of perception and reality. Based on the script of passed-away German writer and director Jörg Kalt, Greg Zgilinsky created a masterpiece of visual beauty and intense emotions. His intuitive way to approach the profound script and to bring together all the scenes with an editing that totally makes sense and adds to the material, he found a way to visualize different layers of characters and realities. A must-see on all levels!

This is easily one of the best German movies you will see this season. It's so tightly plotted that I'm wondering how to praise it without giving away too much. What is the housesitter up to? Who is the mysterious upstairs neighbor? Is Nick cheating on Anna? Or is Anna losing her mind? Greg Zglinski leaves you guessing for a long time. Half-way through the movie, several characters, including a talking cat, start dropping hints that were too blunt for my taste, but that's a minor kink in a very sleek script (based on an unfinished draft by Joerg Kalt). Philip Hochmair and Birgit Minichmayr are fabulous as Nick and Anna. They are both seasoned character actors with years of stage experience, and it shows. The camerawork is superb. The movie's trademark visual is the frame - a window, a doorway, a peephole, an actual picture frame. I took this as the director's way of saying that everything we see is someone's version of what's going on, rather than an objective account. If you liked Existenz, Mulholland Drive, Identity, Shutter Island, or Upstream Color, my guess is you will enjoy Animals as well.