Antibodies
This slick German thriller released by Tartan has a lot to recommend it. Apart from its technical and visual competence, it also has a great performance at its core, as provided by Andre Hennicke who plays the captured serial killer Gabriel Engel.
Movie:
This slick German thriller released by Tartan has a lot to recommend it. Apart from its technical and visual competence, it also has a great performance at its core, as provided by Andre Hennicke who plays the captured serial killer Gabriel Engel. Although the similarities, despite what the director says, with SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, or more specifically the more superior MANHUNTER are clear, the film still has its own path and single minded focus.
It starts with the arrest of Gabriel Engel who has been at large raping and murdering 12 young boys. After his capture, the film splits into two merging stories. One of the strands concerns a young village police officer investigating the murder of a young girl, the other being Engel’s interrogation by the police. The police office, Michael Martin, is trying to find out whether Engel is responsible for the crime committed on his home territory. After requesting an interview with Engel, who at this point has refused to talk to his capturers anymore, he enters Engel’s cell and is surprised to find that he actually talks to him. Martin then gets drawn into Engel’s world and is alarmed to find that Engel’s darker thoughts have begun to invade his own mind. What is considered good and bad begin to merge, with one plot point after another combining to lead to a conclusion that is very much on Martin’s front door…i.e. his own family.
Review:
One of the main problems that the film does have is that we are being editorially guided to think one thing, even though neither the main character or even the resolution pays off and delivers what the film is suggesting. Without going into specific detail but talking generally (to avoid spoiling the film), it is very disconcerting as a viewer to be led to think one thing by the director, even though it is a false path. If the main character actually started to suspect this and it was inextricably linked to his psychology then it is fully plausible and a necessary inclusion. But when the red herring is only suspected by the viewer, you can’t help but think that it is pretty pointless.
That aside and speaking more tangibly, the film looks great and it is always involving. It keeps its intrigue and provides a variety of characters and situations to keep the brain ticking over. Whenever Engel is on screen we are always treated to some dark plot point, and with a clever use of sound design manages to suggest nastiness without having it spelled out. One such scene involves Engel describing how he used a scalpel to cut one of his victims open before peeling back the skin to insert his pulsating…(cue the use of clever sound design). The music remains sparse and allows the atmosphere to build on its own and although this reviewer didn’t go for the plot, it does speed along at pace. Visually, the cell scenes with Engel strongly resembles what Hannibal Lecter’s cell looks like in MANHUNTER, the Michael Mann version, but the film departs from getting darker and darker as it progresses, and strangely the darker the film gets in tone, the lighter and brighter the images get.
The acting is also strong, with a strong cast assembled. Hennicke is excellent as Engel. His voice is very powerful and hides an air of menace and the control over how is eyes are filmed is very strong visually. He is a more intense version of Brian Cox’s Hannibal Lector and has an air about him where he actually looks like a complete lunatic. This is reinforced by the way he acts certain scenes, such as when he pulls lumps of his own hair out or when he is talking behind his oxygen mask in the final scenes. Other periphery characters, including Heinz Hoelig who plays detective Seiler are also impressive. He has a small character arc that is key to the film but is played with dark humour and keeps the film ticking along.
Sound and Vision:
The picture quality is crystal clear and the sound is excellent. The sound is further enhanced by the sound design, which on this occasion isn’t an overload of every nasty sound you can imagine layered on top of each other until you feel you can’t take it anymore and cut your own throat. It has quiet moments as well as noisy sequences but as the main action takes place in a sterile prison cell and the countryside, it doesn’t feel claustrophobic and makes full use of the two contrasting environments auditorily and visually. As usual, as with most Tartan releases, the sound comes in the magic trilogy, Dolby 2.0, 5.1 Surround, and for those lucky enough to have DTS in Surround 5.1. I listened to the 5.1 track and had no problems at all.
Extras
B-ROLL (4 mins)
For those who like looking at naked men in the privacy of their own homes, this extra is a must. It shows actor Andre Hennicke doing all his opening stunts, which as you may have guessed are all in the nude. For those uninterested in this, you get to see the main actor doing his stunts, and coincidentally he is nude.
INTERVIEWS
1. EXCLUSIVE DIRECTOR INTERVIEW (18 mins)
This is a specially recoded interview for this Tartan DVD release where young director Christian Alvart discusses various things about the film and who he is. He tells us that when he was in his teens he and a group of friends would get together every summer and try to make a film. Even though they never finished any of them, they would keep trying. After giving up hope he decided to go and work in the film industry in Berlin and became a runner and then an Assistant Director. Along the way he started working in TV and had the opportunity to finish his first feature film called CURIOSITY AND THE CAT, which got him accepted in the industry as a writer. One thing led to another and here we are, with ANTIBODIES.
He discusses SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SEVEN and explains how this film differs from those. He also discusses his interest in serial killers and his own religious background. Considering the scene where a character is drawing penises all over the bible, it is surprising to find that three members of his family are priests and that he had a strong religious upbringing, but it is then less surprising to find that he now question his own childhood and rejects what he was led to believe. This is a nice little extra and worth 20 minutes of time as it illuminates on the film and ways of interpreting it.
2. ANDRE HENNICKE INTERVIEW (4mins)
Back to Electronic Press Kit material for the last two interviews on this DVD. Hennicke mentions how he liked the script and how acting helps him shed his violent streak. But as with all EPK stuff, it is tame and produced for a wide audience, so there is nothing of any worth here.
3. WOTAN WILKE MOHRING INTERVIEW (2 mins)
More EPK stuff with the actor playing the village detective. He mentions his previous history with the director, theories of God and his own take on the film…all within a pointless two minutes.
Overall:
Although I had a problem with being led down a false path, especially considering the main character wasn’t, the film was still very watchable. It is dark for sure in its content and grizzly viewing in places but it is highly watchable. There was enough ‘life’ contained in the film to represent some semblance of real life and the technical qualities of the film are very evident. The DVD has one solid extra, the special director interview, but the other extras are all hit and miss…in fact they are pointless. Germany doesn’t make many films that hit the international market but when they do they usually have commendable points, even if they rarely are classics, excluding WINGS OF DESIRE and most Herzog films. I personally think that most try to hard but I can also see that they are usually twice as good as their Hollywood counterparts, HOSTEL and well virtually any dark thriller that it pours out these days for example. Check it out, it is an involving film with a great performance by Hennicke and the DVD is well presented.
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