A drama focused on five months in the life of pedophile who keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement.
This chilly, matter-of-fact approach to pedophilia is as hard hitting as any tabloid hysteria. No solutions or explanations are offered, but sometimes nightmares are beyond comprehension.
Explicit scenes are brief but the film fails to make a distinction between dispassionate filmmaking and lack of concern.
As horrifying and hard to watch as you'd expect a paedophile's-eye view of life to be. It's neither sensationalist nor trite, and the questions it asks are intelligent and thoughtful. Recommended.
It’s an aesthetically austere film, with controlled camerawork and a muted colour scheme, portraying the true horror of the situation without a hint of sensationalism.
The performances from Fuith and Rauchenberger are superb, and Schleinzer's direction and Gerald Kerkletz's cinematography have the touch and sheen of cold steel.
This is heart-stopping, mind-frazzling cinema; hard to recommend but even harder not to.
The repetitive, diurnal narrative grinds on like Groundhog Day without the laughs.
Though Schleinzer approaches the subject in as sensitive and intelligent manner as possible, one is left wondering why anyone would want to sit through this.
The experience of it will be too gruelling for most, though Schleinzer's direction and Fuith's performance have worked out the material with undeniable skill.
Cool surface, unspeakable depths.
Michael is extremely uncomfortable viewing, the fact that it's never pitched for either pathos or horror makes the film all the more challenging – because it so directly tests our understanding of normality and aberration, humanity and inhumanity.
There are inevitably elements of suspense, a couple of shocks, and a sustained sweaty-palmed climax that could justify the film being advertised as a thriller.
Michael’s calm matter-of-fact approach, his success at keeping Wolfgang hidden and attempts to humanise his behaviour, commenting on his absence of compassion and countless possible counterparts, push this film past barbaric and into sinister.
Haneke fans will be impressed by this rigorous, finely acted study of a suburban paedophile. Skillfully avoiding sensationalism, it nonetheless compels the viewer to contemplate the banality of evil.
Markus Schleinzer
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday March 16, 2012, until Thursday March 22, 2012. Check with cinema for film times.. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
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