FILMS/
SLUMMING
World Cinema
Austria/Switzerland, 2006, 96 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 27 / 09:30 / Kabuki / SLUM27K
Sat, Apr 28 / 01:30 / Kabuki / SLUM28K
Sat, May 5 / 08:30 / SFMOMA / SLUM05S
Mon, May 7 / 06:30 / Aquarius / SLUM07A
CREDITS
- prod
-
Erich Lackner
- scr
-
Michael Glawogger
- cam
-
Martin Gschlacht
- editor
-
Christof Schertenleib
- mus
-
Peter von Siebenthal, Daniel Jakob
- cast
-
Paulus Manker, August Diehl, Michael Ostrowski, Pia Hierzegger, Maria Bill
- source
-
Bavaria Film International, Gisela Wiltschek, Bavariafilmplatz 8, 82031 Geiselgasteig, Germany FAX: 49-89-6499-3720 EMAIL: gisela.wiltschek@bavaria-film.de
Snug in a cocoon of high-tech gadgets, disposable income and caddish entitlement, Sebastian trolls the nether regions of Vienna for the low-rent kicks of video arcades, dive bars and pranking unsuspecting dates and down-and-outers. Directed by little more than the cooing voice of his car’s GPS device as it tells him, "you have reached your destination," and his own idle boredom, Sebastian is a charming monster who feels no regret in preying on his hapless targets, who to him are good for nothing more than a few laughs. But then two people slip into his life of idleness and turn it upside down: Pia, one of Sebastian’s many casual Internet dates, becomes something of an obsession for him, and Kallman, a shabby, muttering drunk who inspires him to pull one of his cruelest pranks. Driving around town one night, Sebastian loads the sleeping hobo into the trunk of his car and dumps him in a town miles away across the Czech border in the dead of winter. Writer/director Michael Glawogger is best known for his dark documentaries Megacities (SFIFF 1999) and Workingman’s Death (SFIFF 2006). His familiarity with the underside of life serves him well here, as he tells this three-pronged story of Sebastian, Pia and Kallman, who each find their lives uprooted and strangely intertwined with the others. It’s a gutsy move, focusing on such an appalling character, but Glawogger uses equal helpings of humor and tenderness to leaven the atrocious behavior—not to mention the go-for-broke performances of the wonderful cast—to make this odd, queasily funny film enormously appealing.
—Tod Booth
In German, Czech and Indonesian with English subtitles. Sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Presented in association with Goethe-Institut San Francisco with support from the Austrian Consulate General, Los Angeles.