A scientist (Gert Voss) increasingly alarmed at the violence, death and suicide in the world, begins to lose his mind, turning his apartment into self sufficient quarters with rabbits, chickens and vegetables grown under artificial light. Written by Michael Haneke this ultimately worthwhile film tests the patience in the first two thirds and comes across as an art-house version of Falling Down (1993). The direction is assured and cleverly conceals matters through deliberate framing. This causes the viewer to wonder whether the events we are seeing are chronological and indeed to question what is actually happening. The final third where Voss' wife (Angela Winkler) and children return to find Voss' obsessive behaviour overwhelming everything illuminate on prior events and make for a tragic and sad end.
2 Reviews
Not everyone can be a winner, not even for Haneke
Horst_In_Translation12 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Der Kopf des Mohren" or "The Moor's Head" is an Austrian German-language movie from 1995, so this one is already over 20 years old. The director is Paulus Manker and he is a prolific actor as well, actually still in 2017, and here we have one of his occasional trips behind the camera. It is a 110-minute movie and the cast includes a couple people that German(-language) film buffs may have come across in other projects, such as Gert Voss playing the main character and Angela Winkler of course. You can check out the rest in the cast list yourself. But the real star is probably Michael Haneke and this is one of the rare occasions where he writes a film, but does not direct. His inclusion here is probably also the main reason why this film has not turned into complete oblivion, especially with Haneke's success in America in recent years too.
The genre description here on IMDb says drama/horror and this already tells you where this is heading. A lot of it has to do with sanity vs. insanity, especially when it comes to the protagonist's state of mind. Sometimes it feels a bit like Fassbinder's Amok movie, at other times more like "The Shining" without ever becoming too much like either of the two. I think Voss is a talented actor and I like his recent German-Film-Award-nominated performance, but here with this one he did not really win me over. A bit of a pity, but I don#t think the plot/action is just really good enough for being closer to two hours than to 90 minutes. What else is there to say. I don#t mind this being a bleak movie as Haneke has written many films that fit the description, but most of them are clearly superior to this one here. It is what it is and none of the performances stand out when the script actually gives them room to become memorable. And at other times, the script hurts the overall thingey and the actors are not good enough to step up the material. I suggest you watch something else instead.
The genre description here on IMDb says drama/horror and this already tells you where this is heading. A lot of it has to do with sanity vs. insanity, especially when it comes to the protagonist's state of mind. Sometimes it feels a bit like Fassbinder's Amok movie, at other times more like "The Shining" without ever becoming too much like either of the two. I think Voss is a talented actor and I like his recent German-Film-Award-nominated performance, but here with this one he did not really win me over. A bit of a pity, but I don#t think the plot/action is just really good enough for being closer to two hours than to 90 minutes. What else is there to say. I don#t mind this being a bleak movie as Haneke has written many films that fit the description, but most of them are clearly superior to this one here. It is what it is and none of the performances stand out when the script actually gives them room to become memorable. And at other times, the script hurts the overall thingey and the actors are not good enough to step up the material. I suggest you watch something else instead.
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