:
Kathrin Resetarits,
Kathrin Resetarits,
Ursula Strauss,
more...
:
Barbara Albert,
Barbara Albert
see all cast/crew...
: Kino
: Drama, Foreign, Germany, Dysfunctional Families
: 120 min.
: German
: English
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The seemingly random interactions between a group of people touched by a tragedy go under the microscope in this drama from Austrian filmmaker Barbara Albert. Manu (Kathrin Resetarits) is a woman who miraculously survives an airline crash caused by a freak storm that claims the life of every other passenger on board. Six years later, she's happily married to Andreas (Georg Friedrich), has a teenaged daughter named Yvonne (Deborah Ten Brink), and works at a supermarket -- only to die suddenly in an auto accident. Among the mourners at Manu's funeral are her brother Reini (Martin Brambach) and sister Gerlinde (Marion Mitterhammer). Schoolteacher Reini is infatuated with a troubled woman named Sandra (Bellinda Akwa-Asare), and is trying to reach out to one of his students, Kai (Dominik Hartel), who is haunted by the death of his mother. Andreas becomes involved with another teacher, Andrea (Ursula Strauss), who also has an unhappy student, Patricia (Désirée Ourada), an outcast with an interest in spirituality. Patricia strikes up a friendship with Kai as he drifts away from his girlfriend, Gabi (Nicole Skala). Meanwhile, Yvonne becomes ill and ponders her mother's fate in the hereafter, and Gerlinde becomes involved in an emotionally destructive sexual relationship with a handicapped man. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Why?
by talltale
March 14, 2005 - 7:50 AM PST
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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Barbara Albert's Austrian film FREE RADICALS has been around the festival circuit and drawn some praise for its ensemble of ideas (and excellent cast). It's a depressing piece of work, not as filmmaking but as a look at life in present-day Austria--where human connections of any helpful variety seem to have pretty much disappeared. And when people do try to connect (the teacher/brother and the young girl who works in the perfume department and takes part in an interesting sort of role-playing therapy group), their contact is so halting and uninformed--in terms of how people who want to connect might actually manage this--that almost nothing comes of it.
The All-Movie-Guide description of "Free Radicals" on this site simply details a bunch of "relationships." After reading it, members might well ask, "Yeah--but what's the connection?" And that, I think, is one of the major points the director is addressing. Why do things happen? Is it chance or coincidence (as Claude Lelouche might ask)? If it IS "happenstance," French directors certainly have a more benign/romantic view of this phemonenon than do their Austrian/German counterparts. (Given those countries' varied histories, why not?) Look at movies such as "Amelie," "Happenstance" or even the Lelouch oeuvre--most of which are at least somewhat bright and cheery. This one's equally glum and bleak: the only happy character dies early on.
I don't think happenstance is the key in any case; on the director's interview track, she seems to indicate that it has more to do with the road that a particular society follows in terms of its politics/goals than any over-arching plan for the universe--divine or scientific. As you might begin to tell at this point, "Free Radicals" is the kind of movie that will have you mulling over ideas like these--and more--as you try to figure it all out. While you can't call this movie "entertaining," it will probably hook you and make you think. Not a bad trade-off, either. Come on: must we ALWAYS be entertained? That, too, may be part of this canny writer/director's point. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.00)
2 Votes
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