Rosebud

UK Premiere

Benjamin Heisenberg/Austria, Germany/2010/97 min

It’s a highly uncomfortable experience spending two hours in the swift shoes of marathon-man and perpetual bank-robber Johann Rettenberger (Andreas Lust), based on and partially named after his real-life counterpart Johan Kastenberger. In 80s Austria, Kastenberger filled time between marathon victories with audacious bank robberies, and director Benjamin Heisenberg, adapting from the novel by Martin Prinz, focuses on the character at the peak of his crimewave. Heisenberg eschews any attempt to explore what drove Kastenberger and instead lets the events speak for themselves. Though this approach will leave you wondering all by yourself whether there’s any connection between the compulsion to run and the compulsion to rob, it does grant the film a strong feeling of authenticity, with its honourable discipline to avoid sensationalism; Kastenberger’s story is incredible enough.

Lust delivers an unsettlingly immersed performance, expertly capturing Rettenberger’s cold compulsion; it may not be warm company, but come the finale’s extended chase scene, you’ll be riveted by his every move. With no convenient character arcs tacked on, what’s most admirable is that Heisenberg lets the real-life character dictate the shape of this film, not the other way around.

Showing @ Cameo 22 Jun 20:10 &  26 Jun 18:00