Ivan Lalic Being artistic doesn't always mean you have made the decent flick. Sometimes, the artistic can be so arrogant that it suffocates decent story. This is just the case with Austrian "Revanche", an incredibly dull and slow movie coming from nowhere and leading nowhere.Nothing is right here. The naive and empty script, empty long cuts and pretentious acting tend to irritate rather than to suck the viewer inside the revenge story in rural Austria."Revanche" is one over prized and vanity-filled flick. Nomination for Best foreign language film shouldn't have even been taken into consideration let alone be read in Kodak theater.

dromasca By the end of the opening scene of Revanche something falls (maybe it was thrown) in the quite water of a lake. Then we can see the idyllic landscape of a lawn with warm colors like from a Renoir painting being molded. We can guess that all this quietness is apparent, and that it will be troubled soon by violent events. This is what eventually happens, but it happens at its own pace and is told in a clear and distinct voice in this film by Austrian director Gotz Spielmann. An unexpected suspense drama coming from a school of cinema that proves that Michael Haneke is not the only remarkable Austrian director. There is actually something from the Haneke style in this film, with a story where chance may lead to tragedy and with the world of dark secrets hidden under the appearances of quite and banal lives.Two distinct worlds are presented in Revanche. One is the world of the brothels in Vienna where most of the working girls come from Eastern Europe, a world of sin and violence. The best characters who can populate this world are a couple of lovers (he's some kind of bodyguard and driver, she is a hooker) who try the coup which would arrange their lives - more like in an American movie with roles like Nicolas Cage used once to play. This world is the back door of the other world, the 'normal' Austrian society, with pastoral country-side, devoted policemen who jog and have wives who go to church. When the two worlds meet the collision can be tragic, even if tragedy is caused only by human mistake. The ensuing drama one of these eternal stories of love, death and revenge, but a revenge which is obtained in a very unexpected manner. Eventually the balance is re-established but at a huge price.There are a lot of surprising turns in this film and I will avoid telling anything about the story in order to leave the pleasure of following it to those who are interested. I will just recommend it for the quality of acting, of cinematography and story telling. It also fits several categories of viewers - people who like dramas and thrillers as well. The film got a nomination for the Academy Awards for the Foreign Language Film, but did not win. Its place among the nominees seems to have been however well deserved.

museumofdave A quietly compelling, suspenseful film about the ability of the human being to redeem themselves through understanding, Revanche would probably be frustrating to those accustomed to the Multiplex thriller full of quick cuts, revved-up music and one explosion after another. Like the author Dickens, director Spielman contrasts the gritty, downbeat lowlife in the big city with the honest toil and rich rewards of the country, and although the film starts to be about a simple bank heist, it becomes something else entirely; chopping wood becomes punctuation to the internal road the main character takes to self-understanding--while realizing that this is quite a heap of philosophy to lay on what becomes a cat-and-mouse thriller, there are plenty of surprises in store for the patient viewer who wants a film of some maturity and depth

lastliberal There are a lot of "second chances" in this Oscar nominated film.Alex (Johannes Krisch) wants to give Tamara (Irina Potapenko) a second chance to escape her life of prostitution. He wants a second chance after being released from jail and robs a bank to get it. He also wants a second chance with his father (Johannes Thanheiser).Unfortunately, life is what happens when you are making other plans, and the encounter with the policeman Robert (Andreas Lust) ruins Alex's plans.Revanche also means "revenge." You can see the slow burning of Alex as he broods over the loss of Tamara. Circumstance has it that his father lives right next door to the policemen. Even when the policeman's wife Susanne (Ursula Strauss) tries to get intimate with him, he has sex, but treats her like dirt.What Alex doesn't realize until he and Robert meet is that Robert is grieving as much as he is. He shot Tamara by accident and is aching over her death.There was some outstanding acting by all the characters in this film. It really was worthy of the Academy Award. Too bad it had to go up against Okuribito.