IN THE BASEMENT, Ulrich Seidl goes downstairs and finds creepy dolls, Nazi man caves, cock and ball torture and gives viewers a tour of the private hobbies practiced. Seidl continues his studies on taboos, social boundaries, the human soul's darkness and his beloved Austria. It benefits from a truly intelligent scenario which uses the form of the fable to give the spectator a complex social discourse. Between taboo and philosophy, the story follows the different things people do in there basement. Under the basement, Im Keller is a documentary film eyeing on different experiences, but also symbolizes here in a threatening way. I enjoyed the film's extremely mannered style. When characters are being "good," the acting is melodramatic, but when they're in the basement it's weird, they're often incoherent and loud, or the film heightens the viscerality.
Review of In the Basement
