Revanche

Greetings again from the darkness. Is it revenge or a second chance? The double meaning of the title fits perfectly with this terrific, believable story. Nominated for Best Foreign Film last year, it is just now making its way to Dallas - one of the few downsides to not living in NYC.

What I love is the subtle approach of the filmmaker, director Gotz Spielmann, who obviously is a keen observer of people - moreso, I would guess, than a film buff. As a viewer, we thoroughly believe this story would play out this way because these people are reacting to real situations.

Johannes Krisch is captivating and powerful as Alex, one of the brutes working at a brothel. This is where he meets and falls for Tamara, played touchingly by Irina Potapenko. Alex hatches a plan that will allow the two to escape and start over. The plan goes well right up until the end. That's when things get really interesting.

Alex is thrown unexpectedly into the real life of police officer Robert (Andreas Lust) and his wife Susanne (fascinating acting from Ursula Strauss). Alex drops out of society on his grandfather's (Johannes Thanheiser) farm. The coincidences lead to a touch of comedy and also some real soul searching from Robert, Susanne and Alex.

The film could have ended about three different ways and I couldn't have been more happy with what we get. This is a rare film that should be seen by many more than will have the opportunity. That's a shame.

As seen at the AFI Film Festival, Revanche is a tight thriller that is at a the same time a mood piece and a human moral drama. Austrian's official submission for the foreign language category in the 2009 Academy Awards is likely to this reviewer to get the nomination. Following the lives of two couples, a prostitute and a thug, a cop and his wife; tragic circumstances converge their lives when a bank robbery goes awry. Featuring a stand out performance by Tommy Lee Jones look-alike Johannes Krisch as the thug Alex, the man creates tension when out of frame, in the nick of shadows and in front of the camera. His character of Alex is a tortured soul that the audience is never sure off; his intentions or actions are hidden behind a mask of serenity. Not satisfied with being a replica of Jones, he also gives a very Tommy Lee Jones no-frills turn that keeps the movie afloat. Director Gotz Spielman creates tension using sound and extremely detailed camera set-ups. Not show-offy in anyway but including two long one take shots, he also uses his DP to infuse the screen with pale and desaturated color tones for nights scenes and natural lighting for daylight scenes, all used to provide a flat élan on the screen. It effectively supports the vibe of these revenge melodrama. What could be hammy in another director's hands becomes poetry in his. The sound of the ax smashing a block of wood never seemed more intimate. When a director uses it in such a way that the viewer feels inside the innards of a man's soul, you know the director knows his stuff. Intricate and detailed, it is consummate from top to bottom. If there is any qualms with the movie, it is in the character of Robert the cop played by Andreas Lust. His character arc is supposed to mirror Alex but he never earns the audience's sympathy the way Alex does; yet his story is geared toward such a response. The character is slightly underwritten and the actor never engages the character the way Johannes does. Playing against our expectations to create an ending reminiscent of Greek tragedy, it is a worthy movie experience and the best movie I've seen in 2008 along with Mike Leigh's Happy go lucky.

Revanche is a deliciously gritty neo-noir full of surprises, so many important ones that it is better not to go into too much detail about the plot. But as important as its clever narrative to the success of the film is its atmosphere, which has a contemporary and positively ethnographic precision, but builds on the traditional contrast between city and country. And there is another contrast: between two couples, an ex-con and a whore, and a cop and his wife who works in a shop. The first couple is on the edge of Vienna and the other lives in the country, but circumstances bring them together.

The action begins with Alex (Johannes Krisch) and his Ukrainian prostitute girlfriend Tamara (Irina Potapenko) in Vienna. Spielmann rubs our noses in the scummy world of a whorehouse on the outskirts of town, with its Eastern European sex workers and its slimy fat cat boss Konecny (Hanno Poeschl), for whom Alex works. Tamara speaks pidgin German, but she's not dumb, and when the boss offers her an upgrade to call girl in a flat, she knows it's trouble and resolves to run away with Alex. She owes a big debt, and he cooks up the robbery scheme so she can pay it off. He says it's going to work because he has a plan. He says that so many times we become certain it won't. But despite Rothkopf's tidy summary, the outcome isn't so simple. The bank robbery isn't botched, but it goes badly for Alex, and also for a cop named Robert "When people go to the city they become either arrogant or scoundrels. He's a scoundrel." So says Hauser (Johannes Thanheiser), Alex's grandfather, an old man failing in health who lives on a small farm. He exists outside the modern world almost completely, though he does drive a little old VW Bug. People don't think it's safe for him to still be on the road. When Alex goes to stay with Hauser, it seems almost that he's fallen off the map that includes the prostitutes and the scummy underside of Viennese life.

Alongside Alex's story is that of the policeman, Robert, who seems unable to give his wife Susanne (Ursula Strauss) a baby; too bad, because they both want one. They live in a nice modern house they've built, with help from friends, somewhere not too far from Alex's grandfather. In fact Susanne knows him.

"I'll give you one thing: you really are a hell of a worker," Hauser tells Alex. Alex hides out after the robbery by staying with his grandfather and cutting up a mountain of firewood. The work instinct unites the two men in spite of everything, and Hauser's declining health gives Alex another reason for staying around. He also has revenge in his heart for what's happened to Tamara. But things get complicated, people talk,and that changes.

Revanche builds on coincidence but in ways so rooted in gritty milieu and so gnarly and unexpected they really seem to emerge not from a writer's brainstorm but the downright mind boggling absurdity of real life. The word "revanche" can mean in German not only revenge, but also rematch--in short, a second chance. If Alex reaches a point where he can work out his salvation with diligence, it's much more quirky circumstance that gets him there than any pat change of heart. The satisfaction this film provides is delayed. It comes in the way it simmers and ripens after a viewing.

Martin Gschlacht did the excellent cinematography. The acting is strong and convincing, including that of the 83-year-old Thanheiser. With close to a dozen films under his belt, Spielmann, who also wrote the screenplay, is clearly at the top of his game. It will be a real shame if US theatrical audiences don't get to see Revanche on the big screen.

Revanche won the Europa Cinemas Label for best European film at the Berlinale, and has other awards, including two FIPRESCIs. It was a nominee for the Best Foreign Oscar. Shown as part of the Film Comment Selects series at Lincoln Center, New York, February 2009. "Revanche . . .has just been picked up for North American theatrical and home video distribution by art film distributor Janus and the Criterion Collection.

This Austrian drama starts as a love story between a scruffy ex-con and a Ukranian prostitute, but evolves into an interesting character study. It takes a while for the film to settle down and the central storyline to emerge, but it is quite absorbing. The acting is excellent, particularly Strauss and Thanheiser. Spielmann's direction is assured and marked by visual elegance. He doesn't use any flashy camera-work, but manages to infuse every frame with a sense of foreboding. The pacing is deliberate (about 10 minutes of screen time is devoted to watching Krisch cut wood), but it never drags. The Austrian countryside is beautifully shot in this low-key and rewarding film.

Is it an accident? Or is it fate, coincidences predestined? You don't really think about these reservations as you are watching Austrian director-producer-screenwriter Götz Spielmann's quietly fascinating film, "Revanche." The one-word title in French translates to 'revenge.' But this is hardly your usual action thriller, though there are anxious suspenseful moments and bank heist involved.

Love the film. The storyline and the characters, the occurrence of incidents all seem to follow natural development - their own course (by design 'divine'). So few dialog and no music score at all, just birds chirping, sound of raindrops, everything naturally delivered. Well, the only human music being the accordion played by grandfather Hausner. One man's revengeful thoughts or action just might turn out to be blossoming into another's hopeful, joyous beginning of future. Two men hung up on one woman dead, both men acquiesced by one woman alive, whose optimistic intuition and trustful understanding may bring full circle to the string of events, perhaps liken to how nature takes care of itself? The engaging 'fate' element is somehow unbeknown to all parties involved (while the audience might marvel at the clues, possibly unaware also).

As I was quietly watching the film following the story progression, I said to myself at one point: I hope this is where the film ends and go on no more. The next second the screen did fade to black and the end credits start rolling, without any music other than birds chirping can be heard, and later on, sound of raindrops falling for the rest of the credit roll.

What a script! So perfectly directed, and such steady subtle performances from the ensemble cast of characters. The four main roles are so solidly portrayed: Alex by Johannes Krisch and his girlfriend Tamara by Irina Potapenko; Robert the policeman by Andreas Lust and his wife Susanne by Ursula Strauss. A satisfying movie experience, it is. I actually appreciate this film more than the winning 2008 Oscar foreign film "Departures" - well, it's different in story layers and 'Departures' encompasses many aspects, while "Revanche" also has its layers of emotions, psychological human nature perspectives, is delivered 'clean' and focused, ever so naturally acceptable of human foibles, vulnerability and one woman's life force. A very humanistic film - a MUST SEE.