"Oktober November" or "October November" is an Austrian German-language movie from 2013. It runs for pretty much exactly 110 minutes and is (right now) the most recent work by Götz Spielmann, one of Austria's most successful filmmakers these days, the man behind "Revanche" for example. For his work here, he got some of Austria's most known actors right now, such as von Waldstätten, Strauss, Simonischek and Zeiler. These are joined by Sebastian Koch who most audiences will know from "The Lives of Others". But back to this one here. It is about a talented actress and how she returns to her family when her father is getting pretty sick. The latter is played by the previously mentioned Peter Simonischek and I can't deny that I quite like him, which is maybe also why he gives my favorite performance in here. The film's photo/poster may not be the right choice as it puts too much emphasis on NvW and her character. Yes she is probably the central figure here, but the film also evaluates a whole lot on the other characters and their inner feelings. It is a journey for the protagonist that ends eventually with her hugging her sister. This is probably the complicated relationship that gets the most emphasis during these almost two hours. I think all the actors do a pretty solid job and I am also a bit impressed by von Waldstätten, because I remember not liking her that much in everything I have seen from her so far. But Spielmann sure knows how to get the best of his cast. With him, I do not have a film that really impressed me and that I'd consider among the year's ten finest, but all his works are well-crafted works that tell a pretty convincing story overall. This is also how I would describe this movie here. Yes I do believe it is not a feast to watch during its relatively long runtime and it could have been reduced to 95 minutes perhaps if they had gotten rid of the less significant scenes and moments, but it is not a negative deal-breaker at all. Also at 110 minutes it is a pretty good movie that lives through the relationships between the characters and also through its very convincing outcome in terms of the atmosphere. At times, it is fairly difficult to watch somewhere else, for example during the scene when we see the main character walking away from these church people, which was one of the strongest moments of the film. It's occasionally touching even. There is not really anything bad I could say about this film. It's executed with precision and talent by everybody involved with this project. I think you should see it.
Review of Oktober November
