L'imposteur

"Armin" (Constantin von Jascherhoff) is a teenage lad, the third of three brothers, who is living a rudderless existence at home. His mother dotes on him, his father tries to help him rehearse for job interviews and his elder brother "Stefan" (Florian Panzner) is about to be a father. "Armin" just feels left out. Unfulfilled. He is sort of keen on "Katia" (Nora Waldstätten) but she has eyes for his friend. He's also keen on a leather clad biker whose gang frequent the local public toilet. He even takes him home for some fairly perfunctory sex. He is in a rut and there doesn't look like that is going to change anytime soon. So what can he do? Well, I'm afraid that auteur Christoph Hochhäusler has few ideas to enliven this otherwise rather ploddingly paced and increasingly introspective glimpse at the life of his decent looking, intelligent enough, young man who is just the same as most of us at that age. Self-obsessed, confused and hormonal. The acting is just as perfunctory as the sex, the scenarios repetitively down beat and I just didn't really engage at all with this, sorry.

I watched this last night at the Houston International Film Festival, also know as World Fest. I thought it was a bit strange, though I liked it. The German title, literally translated into English means False Confessor, and I find it upsetting that the title was changed for American audiences. The story line seemed flat and I had trouble distinguishing reality from dreams. I speak a tiny bit of German, not very much, but I could tell that the subtitles were a bit off. For example, in English we say things a certain way, and people know what we mean. In German, they say things and everyone knows what they mean, but when translated into English, it confuses us, because their common phrases differ from ours in their word choice. I think that it might have been better if the subtitles were translated literally, with the verbs put in the order of an English sentence, of course. Sometimes they would say one word, and the subtitles read the societal equivalent instead of the actually literal definition, which might have helped improve the story a little. I have to admit though, I found myself very confused during parts. I expected this to be an average foreign film, but it turned out to be an artsy, abstract foreign film. It was a good movie though. I have no problem with abstract movies, except for the fact that I have trouble telling what they really mean. I did actually get something out of this movie though and I could tell what, at least part of it's, underlying meaning was. It's about how dull things are, we leave school, we apply for jobs, they're all the same, everyone does the same thing, and we live out our existence in a dull, tired world of repetition. I could also interpret it as a young person, dulled with life, not wanting to conform to the dull existence that society forces us to fit. It is as if Armin is bored, he's tired of his dull life in the suburbs and is forced to pretend he committed crimes, and eventually more, to fill the void he has, the need for excitement and thrills. Interesting movie. I will say this though, I did see some symbolism in the mask scene.

This film is disturbing because you are not clear what actually happened and what was imagined. If some of the events did occur, then the film is a disturbing commentary about some young people in today's society. This film is not a typical Hollywood style film because the film moves at a slower pace, the plot is not clearly defined and the ending does not resolve the film. But there are some darkly comic moments and there is good acting.

Armin Steeb comes from a nice middle class family and lives in a nice middle class neighborhood. Armin is fresh out of college and applying for jobs, but he appears bored and aimless. His parents have high hopes and expectations for him but maybe that is part of his problem?? His parents and society have these expectations of Armin, but maybe he is unsure how to be what is expected of him. Perhaps he does not want the life that his parents or society believes he should want. The usual routine is get into a good college, get a good job, find a life partner, have a family of your own, and the cycle repeats. His older brother has fulfilled the expectations of his parents; therefore, they are worried about Armin's lack of direction. Armin appears to want excitement and notoriety, perhaps this is why he confesses to a crime that he did not commit.

Haven't you met people or heard about people who supposedly came from nice middle class families, who went to college but later were a disappointment to their families? In every family, there are the usual success stories but there is always that one in the family who everybody wonders what happened with them? This is why I did like the film in spite of it's weak points because it shows a period in a young person's life that we have all experienced at some point. At some point you have to leave college and your parents home to decide who you are and what you want. Perhaps Armin feels ill prepared to face his life.

I saw this film at the 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival. I don't understand how they take titles of films from foreign countries and change the title for American audiences. The distributors took Falshe Bekenner which I guess would translate into False Confessions and changed it to Low Profile. This is a disturbing story about a bright but bored and troubled teen named Armin who comes from a loving family. There is a lot happening in this movie that may have different meanings and you are left wondering about several things. What is real and what is imagined. What did Armin do and what didn't he do. I couldn't figure out why he is so troubled or why he is rebelling when his parents seem like very caring and loving people. This is a very interesting story and is very stylized with a great sound. I would give this a 7.0 out of 10 and would like to see it again.

I saw this movie at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. I did end up being somewhat disappointed because this movie sounded somewhat like last year's "Quiet as a Mouse" (which has yet to be released in the US, or anywhere with subtitles!) but it turned out to be a lot more confusing. It seemed to be very drifting and vague, with no central plot, and the 'startling ending' wasn't so startling at all. As the final scene ended and the credits came up, the audience cried out collectively. No one had expected it to end with such a little whimper, no bang at all.

However, the fantasy sequences were entertaining and the acting was great, so I would still give this movie a 6 out of 10, and see it again in hopes to understand it better...