Screened as part of NZIFF 2011

Michael 2011

Directed by Markus Schleinzer

A superbly acted, creepily believable account of the subterfuges by which an apparently unremarkable middle-aged man keeps a kidnapped young boy locked in his house. “A triumph of uneasy cinema… a keen observational thriller.” — indieWIRE

Austria In German with English subtitles
96 minutes

Director, Screenplay

Producers

Nikolaus Geyrhalter
,
Markus Glaser
,
Michael Kitzberger
,
Wolfgang Widerhofer

Photography

Gerald Kerkletz

Editor

Wolfgang Widerhofer

Production designers

Katrin Huber
,
Gerhard Dohr

Costume designer

Hanya Barakat

With

Michael Fuith (Michael)
,
David Rauchenberger (Wolfgang)
,
Christine Kain (mother)
,
Ursula Strauss (sister)
,
Viktor Tremmel (brother-in-law)
,
Gisela Salcher (Christa)

Festivals

Cannes (In Competition) 2011

Awards

TeleScope Award, Melbourne International Film Festival 2011

Elsewhere

Cannes was not short of provocations this year. Markus Schleinzer, a long-time associate of Michael Haneke, offered this creepily believable account of the subterfuges by which an apparently unremarkable middle-aged man keeps a kidnapped young boy locked in his house. — SR

“Look beyond the subject matter to the film itself and you will discover a rigorously responsible, endlessly disquieting piece of work, acutely sensitive to issues of exploitation… Haneke is an obvious influence on a film that strips away emotion and sentimentality to focus on an almost forensic presentation of the evidence… David Rauchenberger is especially impressive at suggesting the vulnerability and steeliness of [the abused boy]… The restraint of his performance is in tune with a film that takes the sting from a white-hot topic and transforms it into a troubling, thought-provoking and quietly disturbing drama.” — Allan Hunter, Screendaily