Slidin' - Alles bunt und wunderbar

Slidin' is really 'Kids' in Austria, a cliched portrait of young Austrian teenagers who do drugs, have sex, dance in discos and walk around looking beautiful. Divided into three parts, each is really less original than the next.

It is not that it is painful to watch, by no means. It is at times quite entertaining, especially the third part which focuses on a bunch of students getting stuck on their way to the disco. But the film offers the viewer little, somehow I had a hard time believing that the teenagers had had such rough lives, considering that they all looked like they came from a perfectly good family. The struggles which they face are minor and outbursts come from nowhere.

More glamorous than 'Kids' which seemed somewhat more raw than this piece. Uninspired filmmaking which seemed to hope controversy would erupt in making it, but it has all been done before, and it is not shocking to watch the kids do what they are doing.

This is not a picture you would expect from Austria; no waltzes and schmalz here. The idea of 3 episodes portraying different people about 15 to 18 years is a nice one and the transition from one episode to the other is cleverly done. However the 3 episodes vary in quality, from good to rather bad.

The first episode, concentrating on the relationship between two girl-friends, is the best: well conceived and acted. The last episode does not try to escape any cliche, while the second episode probably tells more about the writer/director than about young people.

I saw this at The International Filmfestival in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). Audiences appreciated this picture as below average.