Four years after The Robber, which profited a lot from Andreas Lust's magnificent performance, writer and director Benjamin Heisenberg is back with his newest movie "Über-Ich und Du", probably an even more ambitious character study as his last project. Not as successful though. This film also centers around a criminal character with more depth than there is to the surface.
The first half of the film succeeds as a pretty dark comedy, but when things get too psychological for its own good afterward, the film loses a bit of its focus. The two lead actors are all in all decent, but sometimes the writing just gets too ridiculous for this film to be taken seriously. The whole kitchen phobia plot idea was just unnecessary and hurt the overall perception. And of course, one character has to become unconscious the moment the other is in a hole where he can't get out on his own. I was actually a bit surprised to see him alive later on. He was on the ground for so long without consciousness I believed he was dead. There had to be a thunderstorm coming up just now? And all of a sudden the other manages to get out of the hole, after being in there for so long? Well yes, there were a few strange developments in this movie, but all in all it is still not too bad. All the supporting characters walk the fine line between funny and absurd, sometimes cross it, like the criminal lady. The funny clumsy American guy in the old man's family was one of the highlights though. All the family members were written and displayed nicely I have to say, with all their mannerisms and quirks. Thanks to the lead actor, it felt very Austrian to me. The final scene with the interview and everything that happened there and afterward certainly needs a very particular brand of humor to enjoy it. Only few will have it I guess and I can't include myself here. I was a bit disappointed by the ending. Still, if you liked Heisenberg's earlier movies or films like "Revanche", you could certainly give this one a shot.
The first half of the film succeeds as a pretty dark comedy, but when things get too psychological for its own good afterward, the film loses a bit of its focus. The two lead actors are all in all decent, but sometimes the writing just gets too ridiculous for this film to be taken seriously. The whole kitchen phobia plot idea was just unnecessary and hurt the overall perception. And of course, one character has to become unconscious the moment the other is in a hole where he can't get out on his own. I was actually a bit surprised to see him alive later on. He was on the ground for so long without consciousness I believed he was dead. There had to be a thunderstorm coming up just now? And all of a sudden the other manages to get out of the hole, after being in there for so long? Well yes, there were a few strange developments in this movie, but all in all it is still not too bad. All the supporting characters walk the fine line between funny and absurd, sometimes cross it, like the criminal lady. The funny clumsy American guy in the old man's family was one of the highlights though. All the family members were written and displayed nicely I have to say, with all their mannerisms and quirks. Thanks to the lead actor, it felt very Austrian to me. The final scene with the interview and everything that happened there and afterward certainly needs a very particular brand of humor to enjoy it. Only few will have it I guess and I can't include myself here. I was a bit disappointed by the ending. Still, if you liked Heisenberg's earlier movies or films like "Revanche", you could certainly give this one a shot.
