Today's surprise film (sneak preview) went to Vienna. Three Muslim students wearing headscarves perform "Losing my Religion" by R. E. M. The video becomes a hit in the Kurdish community in Vienna on YOUTUBE. Soon a lot will change for the three friends...

In the Ulrich Seidl style, it gets very close to the excellent amateur actresses. Sometimes people throw up in the wastebasket. But you also learn a lot about a foreign world that lives next door, but which is only given limited attention by the majority of society. A film like this is certainly not for everyone, but the debut work by the young director Kurdwin AYUB is definitely worth seeing.

EUROPEAN FILM AWARD nominee Margarethe TIESEL, who is also known from DER GOLDENE HANDSCHUH / THE GOLDEN GLOVE (2019) and PARADIES: LIEBE (2012), is also there as the mother of one of the friends.

A Short Review:

This is the most uncomfortable film I have ever seen at a Cinema, but before it goes all down the negative some positive aspects.

The main actors where pretty good, it all felt natural and the chemistry between the leads was believable and pretty good.

The whole idea and themes that are dealt with is something refreshing and should be explored more in Movies.

The problems: This is a really ugly movie, and the story seems to go nowhere. Was it supposed to be Documentary style? Because the whole story just ends, open endings aren't always a good idea.

The was too much going on to understand where it goes, but it seems as this is a symptom of our times.

Cram as much stuff into a film as possible, so it can mask as complicated, but that doesn't make a good story.

It was the first time in my lifetime, that I wanted to leave after 15 mins, constantly did I think about leaving the room (there where many people leaving the film, some group started drinking alcohol and started to talk about other stuff because they where bored).

If anyone thinks that I am simply not into experimental cinema, I've seen quite a few films I enjoyed the most recent one was Memoria from 2022, which I loved every second).

I believe the problem lies in the script not being rewritten a couple of times, and not enough experience, which is a shame.

A big shame, because you can see that there are some really talented actors in this film, and the core of the story screams that it must be screamed from the roof... Felt like a first draft though.

The while movie felt like 5 Hours, and at the same time as if it was the first act of a film that just ends.

As you can see my review is as scattered as the film itself, and I dont know how to describe it propperly.