A Tatfilm production, in association with Lotus Film, Polaris Film, Arte, WDR. (International sales: Celluloid Dreams, Paris.) Produced by Christine Ruppert. Executive producer, Helga Binder. Co-producers, Erich Lackner, Thierry Potok, Christoph Mazodier. Directed, written by Michael Glawogger, based on the novel by Josef Haslinger.
With: Helmut Koepping, Sabine Timoteo, Ulrich Tukur, Christian Tramitz, Itzhak Finzi, Samuel Finzi, Michou Friesz, Franziska Weisz, Otto Tausig.
The dramatically incoherent "Kill Daddy Good Night" tries to meld the stories of a father-hating computer nerd and the search for a Lithuanian WWII criminal, to no apparent point. Aside from indulgent fests, it looks like "game over" for this spectacular belly-flop by Austrian writer-helmer Michael Glawogger after his flawed but interesting 2006 drama, "Slumming."
As a way of working out his dislike of Daddy, an establishment pol, Ratz (Helmut Koepping), has invented a parricidal computer game he hopes to market in the U.S. A childhood friend, Mimi (Sabine Timoteo), invites Ratz to New York to renovate her cellar, where there lives a taciturn old man, Lukas (Itzhak Finzi). Parallel to all this, along with scenes from Ratz's confused youth, are flashbacks to the ongoing story of Jonas Shtrom (Ulrich Tukur), a Jew whose family was massacred by the Nazis and local collaborators during WWII. Now a U.S. citizen, he's still hunting for one of the killers. Pro thesps (Tukur, Finzi, Timoteo) fail to make much sense of either their characters or the picture. Tech credits are OK, led by Atilla Boa's crisp cinematography.
Camera (color), Atilla Boa; editor, Vessela Martschewski; music, Olga Neiwirth; art director, Bertram Strauss; costume designer, Martina List. Reviewed at CinemaxX Potsdamer Platz 2, Berlin, Jan. 24, 2009. (In Berlin Film Festival -- Panorama.) Original title: Das Vaterspiel. German, English dialogue. Running time: 112 MIN.
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