Horst_In_Translation Review of Müllers Büro

Müllers Büro (1986)

An interesting idea, but ultimately tries to be too much

[4/10 · 30 December 2016]

"Müllers Büro" or "Müller's Office" is an Austrian German-language movie from 1986, which means it has its 30th anniversary this year. The writer and one of the directors is the late Niki List, who also plays a supporting role in this one. There is no denying that this film is a pretty creative work. But I must still say that the longer the film goes the less I liked it. The suspense and music and story as a whole only works for so long. and everything over an hour, especially 105 minutes, may have been far too long for this one to be a success. List was at the age of 30 here (approximately) and it was still early in his career, but he wasn't a rookie either. The cast includes actors Schmidt and Vitasek who are still known today, in Austria in particular, and the central female character (still only supporting) is played by the late Barbara Rudnik. Her presence adds a nice touch of film noir to the film and this is definitely one of many genres and areas that this film is about and even sometimes pays tribute too. So yeah, there is a whole lot in this film and you will probably recognize something new every time you check it out, but this doesn't mean it is a good movies. Laack of focus has destroyed many films and this is one of them. It's perfectly fine how absurd and surreal the movie is on many occasions, even if it goes so strongly against realism more and more the longer it goes.But the characters and eventually also the story become pretty stupid eventually and all the good premise from early on is sacrificed for this over-the-top approach. I also think the music gets a lot worse during the film. Early on, it is pretty great. The acting is mediocre maybe, but this film never was about performances anyway. I myself wish I could give this one a thumbs-up, but there is just no way. However, I can see why it is still famous because it is such a different film and nothing you'd expect in an Austrian film from the mid-1980s. Different is not good though in this very case. Watch something else instead.