"Atmen" or "Breathing" is an Austrian movie in the German language from 2011, so it had its 5th anniversary last year. It is the first filmmaking work for Karl Markovics, one of Austria's finest actors. You may know him from playing the main character in the Oscar-winning "Die Fälscher". So yeah, it is his rookie effort, but by now he has made another film already. But back to this one here. It received a great deal of awards recognition, for example at the Austrian Film Awards, but it got also picked to represent Austria at the Oscars where it was, however, not nominated. Young lead actor Thomas Schubert, who also won an Austrian Film Award for his performance, is probably not yet known to many, but German(language) film buffs will recognize at least Georg Friedrich, who plays one of the major supporting players, namely the protagonist's boss. And Markovics of course.
This is the story of a young man who commits a terrible crime that gets him to jail and the movie is about how he comes to terms with what he did. A lot of it has to do with his work at a morgue where he gets an entirely new perspective about life and death. Obviously, this one plot reference would not be enough for a 90-minute movie, so they did nicely in including a reference to his mother who abandoned him at a very young age and she says at one point that it was the best she has ever done and when she elaborated on this statement later on, it is an interesting reference to what the protagonist did because surrendering to the situation is always a viable option. I also liked the scene at the train with the English/American girl. Some may see it as irrelevant, but to me it offered a lot. First of all, it is the one occasion where the central character is just a teenage boy like everybody else and he experiences what life could be like if he had not done what he did and how just even the most simple things like having a beer were prohibited and on the other hand it shows that love is not (yet) in the books for him as the only woman he was looking for at that particular time was his mother.
Overall, the movie needed a while to get going and really catch my attention, but the longer it went, the more it did. It is obvious that Markovics had lots of experience with all kinds of filmmakers and he successful transformed this experience in his own craft as a writer and director, the man in charge behind the camera. So quite a revelation for a rookie filmmaker at the age of almost 50 back then. I maybe would not share the universal acclaim for Schubert as the main character, but not because he was bad or any thing, but because he just did what he had to and was pretty solid, especially for an actor his age. This film to me feels much more about the story as a whole than about individual performance and I don't think it may be right to put one above the others, only because he had more screen time. But this is not a negative point either, or at least not one that leaves a really weak note in terms of the viewing experience. Like I said earlier, what maybe bothers me the most about the film is that it takes quite a while to get going and could have worked better with a superior first half. The ending was nicely again as it shows that the film is not about who he was (we never see the attack), but about who he became. A well-rounded effort and I applaud Markovics and the rest for it. Certainly worth checking out.
This is the story of a young man who commits a terrible crime that gets him to jail and the movie is about how he comes to terms with what he did. A lot of it has to do with his work at a morgue where he gets an entirely new perspective about life and death. Obviously, this one plot reference would not be enough for a 90-minute movie, so they did nicely in including a reference to his mother who abandoned him at a very young age and she says at one point that it was the best she has ever done and when she elaborated on this statement later on, it is an interesting reference to what the protagonist did because surrendering to the situation is always a viable option. I also liked the scene at the train with the English/American girl. Some may see it as irrelevant, but to me it offered a lot. First of all, it is the one occasion where the central character is just a teenage boy like everybody else and he experiences what life could be like if he had not done what he did and how just even the most simple things like having a beer were prohibited and on the other hand it shows that love is not (yet) in the books for him as the only woman he was looking for at that particular time was his mother.
Overall, the movie needed a while to get going and really catch my attention, but the longer it went, the more it did. It is obvious that Markovics had lots of experience with all kinds of filmmakers and he successful transformed this experience in his own craft as a writer and director, the man in charge behind the camera. So quite a revelation for a rookie filmmaker at the age of almost 50 back then. I maybe would not share the universal acclaim for Schubert as the main character, but not because he was bad or any thing, but because he just did what he had to and was pretty solid, especially for an actor his age. This film to me feels much more about the story as a whole than about individual performance and I don't think it may be right to put one above the others, only because he had more screen time. But this is not a negative point either, or at least not one that leaves a really weak note in terms of the viewing experience. Like I said earlier, what maybe bothers me the most about the film is that it takes quite a while to get going and could have worked better with a superior first half. The ending was nicely again as it shows that the film is not about who he was (we never see the attack), but about who he became. A well-rounded effort and I applaud Markovics and the rest for it. Certainly worth checking out.