This is one of the movies which will be loved by those wannabe intellectuals, because it appears profound, alternative and provoking. It offers a lot of opportunity e.g. for a class to discuss the problems and personal backgrounds of each character and their histories, but after all it's just very average and way too pretentious.
About the plot: It starts off very good and interesting. Our protagonist talks about life in general, people, expectations and how to deal with that in life. His monologue pisses off his one-night-stand so badly that she gets dressed immediately and leaves.
The movie switches inbetween three timelines: Childhood: He and his neurotic brother grew up with a mentally deranged mother and a father who couldn't keep her from snapping. That's the first of the timelines. You'll see the mother snap, scream and shout, destroy their kids' room for some bogus reason. Scenes appear very depressing (and annoying).
Concentration Camp: The mother survived a German concentration camp by sleeping up with her angel of death, some German concentration camp doctor who apparently lets her live because she has her body to offer as a reward for that. In this time snipplet, you'll most likely see them have sex, have dinner, dance or do other couply stuff that doesn't seem very romantic, but also very depressing and pretentious. The last scene of this time period shows the mother cry over her doctor leaving, because the russians were coming. She gets a hold of herself again. But it appears that she never really got over that separation.
The here and now: Most of the movie is set in the present. The mother still snaps every once in a while and destroys inventory, her husband still doesn't have the guts to do something about it, her first son (the main character) gets conned by his new business partner and sleeps around with a lot of women while the second one has a weird eating disorder. The mother meets her concentration camp entertainment again, just for the masochistic sex, which her son likes too, by the way. The neurotic son doesn't seem to ever have had sex, so he stays at home and plays the piano.
All this may seem very depressing and annoying, and it is. The question I have been asking myself the entire movie, is 'What is the writer trying to tell us?' - And honestly, I have no idea. The movie ends very sudden, while the plot doesn't really thicken. There are just those three stories told, and of course their history: Protagonist gets stabbed by his masochistic Asian lover, although it might have been just regular sex, judging from previous scenes. Mother meets her doc again in a hotel and has sex with him. Brother breaks most of his fingers smashing the flap for the piano keys shut with his hand inside.
There are still some weird scenes showing human body parts being cut, a human brain being BBQ'd, some more of this weird stuff without any connection to the already very weird plot. I don't even know how to comment on these scenes, so I just chose to ignore them.
On the whole: Personally, that was a waste of my time. I was waiting for the movie to resolve some of the plot parts that seemed intriguing. That is by the way the only reason why I gave it 4/10 instead of just 1/10.
If you like dark and wannabe meaningful movies, go ahead and waste your time. If you want to be entertained, don't watch this movie with any of your friends, that you'd like to have a fun night with later on.
About the plot: It starts off very good and interesting. Our protagonist talks about life in general, people, expectations and how to deal with that in life. His monologue pisses off his one-night-stand so badly that she gets dressed immediately and leaves.
The movie switches inbetween three timelines: Childhood: He and his neurotic brother grew up with a mentally deranged mother and a father who couldn't keep her from snapping. That's the first of the timelines. You'll see the mother snap, scream and shout, destroy their kids' room for some bogus reason. Scenes appear very depressing (and annoying).
Concentration Camp: The mother survived a German concentration camp by sleeping up with her angel of death, some German concentration camp doctor who apparently lets her live because she has her body to offer as a reward for that. In this time snipplet, you'll most likely see them have sex, have dinner, dance or do other couply stuff that doesn't seem very romantic, but also very depressing and pretentious. The last scene of this time period shows the mother cry over her doctor leaving, because the russians were coming. She gets a hold of herself again. But it appears that she never really got over that separation.
The here and now: Most of the movie is set in the present. The mother still snaps every once in a while and destroys inventory, her husband still doesn't have the guts to do something about it, her first son (the main character) gets conned by his new business partner and sleeps around with a lot of women while the second one has a weird eating disorder. The mother meets her concentration camp entertainment again, just for the masochistic sex, which her son likes too, by the way. The neurotic son doesn't seem to ever have had sex, so he stays at home and plays the piano.
All this may seem very depressing and annoying, and it is. The question I have been asking myself the entire movie, is 'What is the writer trying to tell us?' - And honestly, I have no idea. The movie ends very sudden, while the plot doesn't really thicken. There are just those three stories told, and of course their history: Protagonist gets stabbed by his masochistic Asian lover, although it might have been just regular sex, judging from previous scenes. Mother meets her doc again in a hotel and has sex with him. Brother breaks most of his fingers smashing the flap for the piano keys shut with his hand inside.
There are still some weird scenes showing human body parts being cut, a human brain being BBQ'd, some more of this weird stuff without any connection to the already very weird plot. I don't even know how to comment on these scenes, so I just chose to ignore them.
On the whole: Personally, that was a waste of my time. I was waiting for the movie to resolve some of the plot parts that seemed intriguing. That is by the way the only reason why I gave it 4/10 instead of just 1/10.
If you like dark and wannabe meaningful movies, go ahead and waste your time. If you want to be entertained, don't watch this movie with any of your friends, that you'd like to have a fun night with later on.