Nouveau souffle

Karl Markovics had to work hard to escape his signature role as Stockinger, the funny sidekick in the popular TV show "Kommissar Rex". It took a lot of "serious" theater work and the leading role in Stefan Ruzowitzky's Academy Award winning "Die Fälscher" until he finally got the respect he deserved as an actor. Now Markovics goes on to prove his talents extend beyond just acting: "Atmen" is his debut as a writer and director - and he hits the bull's eye on the first try.

Apparently, Markovics has worked on a lot of script ideas over the years, but never deemed any of them good enough to be developed into a movie. Finally his wife convinced him to go through with one of those ideas, and rightfully so. "Atmen" is an artistic triumph. Not only is the script brilliantly written, but it is also flawlessly executed. The direction seems almost effortless, as if Markovics was already an old master. He seems to know intentionally what to show when, he's got a great eye for frames and unagitated pictures, and, an actor himself, he naturally knows how to direct other actors. That's not to take away from the great cast. Veteran stars like Georg Friedrich and Karl Rott don't disappoint, but the focus lies on Thomas Schubert who says a lot with just facial expressions. Obviousl,y the movie's success depended on Schubert's performance and the first time actor lives up to the task. He's a great talent. Hopefully we'll see more of him in the future.

"Atmen" is a touching and believable movie about life and death, tight-lipped, but never boring, bleak, but in the end optimistic. It's very authentic in its depiction of Vienna, its depiction of a boy who hasn't been dealt the best cards in life. And, most of all, it's got its heart in the right place. This really deserves an Oscar win - much more than "Die Fälscher" did, actually.

Minds that have become sick from watching so much violent and mindless cinema ask for violence in their film diet. For them «Breathing» is a 'movie' in which there is no drama, nothing happens, and it is slow. But this drama is so dramatic (deliberately redundant) that to make it explicit would be cacophonic.

Roman Kogler (Thomas Schubert) was abandoned by his mother, he is 19 years old and has always lived in a reformatory, where he murdered another boy. He does not understand himself, he is lapidary, others do not like him, and I think he himself does not either; he spends long sessions in the prison pool, forcing apnea time at the bottom of the pool, putting his life in danger, but something, a hunch or perhaps the insistence of his probation counselor impels him to grow, to reach 20 and get out of the prison and his shell.

Roman is so closed to the exterior that, among all the job offers, he opts for a position in the city morgue. And day by day, he goes from one place to another with his work group, discovering what life means to others and the pain of loss, while a girl shows him that he is attractive enough and worthy of trust, a smile and a beer, sharing a pleasant trip from the morgue to the prison; a hard co-worker reveals himself as an alternate father and friend, and above all, one unexpected day something happens to him that will change his life forever, when he discovers that his biological mother has not died.

This multi-level emotional action-reaction plot of situations that reveal dark corners of the human essence was written and directed by Karl Markovics, the celebrated actor in the Oscar-winning film "The Counterfeiter." An outstanding theater, film, and TV actor, in this, his debut feature, Markovics reveals himself as a magnificent delineator of characters with notable psychological strength and richness. He had the valuable contribution of actor Thomas Schubert (who was only 17 years old when filming), in a measured, calculated and therefore surprising performance in the role of Roman; actress Karin Lischka in a composition cared for in detail, as Roman's mother, and Herbert Tucmandl's beautiful music used with measure and precision.

I recommend opening our visors to world cinemas and let the American industry with its Netflix, TV series and superheroes cool down for a while, to see if it generates good films again, as in the 1970-80s. The benefit of enjoying different cinemas is immediately felt as we start a good diet with these productions. Thus, we do not miss works like this and others that emerge in Austria, such as Michael Haneke's films, just to mention its most recognized filmmaker.

«Breathing» won the awards for best film, director, screenwriter, actor (Schubert), film editing and music from the Austrian Film and TV Industry, the prize for best European film at the Cannes film festival, the awards for best film and actor at the Sarajevo film festival, and the Best International Film award at the São Paulo festival, among many other recognitions.

Atmen is set in Austria and features a young man who has spent four years in juvenile detention and is breaking into the real world of work. The story is sad but also offers hope. The ending is a big surprise. Why did the young man end up where he was? You won't know unless you watch the whole film, which is beautifully shot and well acted.

Karl Markovics's "Atmen" ("Breathing" in English) focuses on a youth's emotional awakening and the issue of morality in our lives. The movie both gives the viewer a glimpse into the youth's life as he gets a job as a mortuary attendant while still in a juvenile detention center, but also how he has to confront the crime that put him juvie. There are also several shots of the environs of Vienna. I thought that the most effective scenes were the train, showing him going to and from the juvenile detention center, and how the advertisement comes into view, or vanishes.

I'd say that this was the right movie for Austria to submit for its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Addressing matters of incarceration, ethics, and relationships, it hits the right notes.

The actor Karl Markovics has made a beautifully low-key directorial debut with this rumination on freedom, mortality and coming-of-age and the parallels between these things. He has a gift for imbuing a 'slice of life' story with a narrative engine that supplies tension and interest despite "not much happening" on screen, and his visual style is very well developed for a debut.

His greatest gift is directing actors - the ensemble here is magnificent. But he shouldn't take all the credit for the performing here - Thomas Schubert in the lead gives one of the best debut performances I've ever seen, completely lucid, emotionally immediate and "there", creating a tangible character that, over the course of the film, we get to know as closely as a good friend. He's a total natural, but that's not to say that he lends his characterisation a calculation and rigorous emotionality on par with the best professionals. Here's hoping for a long career ahead of him.