DVD OF THE WEEK & PODCAST: Revanche (Gotz Spielmann)

Just released on DVD and Blu-ray this week, courtesy of the Criterion Collection, is Götz Spielmann's riveting neo-noir Revanche, which was Oscar-nominated last year for Best Foreign Language Film:

A gripping thriller and a tragic drama of nearly Greek proportions, Revanche is the stunning, Oscar-nominated international breakthrough of Austrian filmmaker Götz Spielmann. In a ragged section of Vienna, hardened ex-con Alex (the mesmerizing Johannes Krisch) works in a brothel, where he falls for Ukrainian hooker Tamara. Their desperate plans for escape unexpectedly intersect with the lives of a rural cop and his seemingly content wife. With meticulous, elegant direction, Spielmann creates a tense, existential, and surprising portrait of vengeance and redemption, and a journey into the darkest forest of human nature, in which violence and beauty exist side by side.

Sometime last May, I sat down with Spielmann to talk about "the first Buddhist thriller" (as he recalls an L.A. critic describing it), the role nature plays in his life, why he doesn't believe in loneliness, and who he deems the most underrated filmmaker in history. Because natural sound is so important to the artistry of Revanche, we conducted our podcast outside on the crowded Manhattan streets, for better or worse.

To listen to the podcast, click here. (16:05)

Podcast Music
INTRO: Revanche: "Music Man"
OUTRO: Billy Joel: "Vienna Waits For You"

Posted by ahillis at February 18, 2010 10:47 PM