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Michael

Austria

2011

96 Min
Color
1.66:1
German
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
  • 1
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DIR Markus Schleinzer

PROD Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Markus Glaser, Michael Kitzberger, Wolfgang Widerhofer

SCR Markus Schleinzer

DP Gerald Kerkletz

CAST Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Gisela Sacher, Ursula Strauss, Christine Kain, Nora von Waldstätten

ED Wolfgang Widerhofer

PROD DES Katrin Huber, Gerhard Dohr

SOUND Klaus Kellermann

Cannes (In Competition), Karlovy Vary (Another View), Melbourne (TeleScope), Toronto (Contemporary World Cinema), Vancouver (Cinema of Our Time), London (Film on the Square), Chicago (World Cinema), AFI FEST (New Auteurs), Berlinale (Perspektive Deutsches Kino), Istanbul, CPH PIX (European Voices), BAFICI (Panorama)

Synopsis

Michael describes the last five months of 10-year-old Wolfgang and the 35-year-old Michael’s involuntary life together. –Austrian Film Institute

Director

Original

Markus Schleinzer

Born in Vienna in 1971, Markus Schleinzer worked as a casting director from 1994 to 2001.

During this time he participated in over 60 feature-film projects, including Jessica Hausner’s Lovely Rita, Hotel and Lourdes, Ulrich Seidl’s Dog Days, Benjamin Heisenberg’s Sleeper and The Robber, Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men, and Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf and The White Ribbon, for which he also cast the children, coached them and worked out their scenes with them.

Michael is his first feature film. –Michael Press Kit 

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OLIVER-J

12May13

very well made film, great visual style. difficult subject and main character to pull off but Markus Schleinzer succeeds.

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prestidigitator

27Feb13

i watched it in angst and it managed to get me real angry, to get me to hate michael, to hate pickles, to hate insurance workers, blinds, garage doors, bunk beds, basements, bald guys who go skying, not nosy enough austrians, etc. that's the explanation to why i only gave it 3 stars. which, in turns, makes it magnificent.

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liviapuppa

27Jan13

.

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Mathias Palmberg

3Jan13

Despite the subject matter this movie is not as hard to stomach as I had feared. The director manages to make the horrific seem like everyday life and fills the commonplace with dread. Sure, some parts of the movie feel very stylized which almost overpowers the story. However, the austere performances and the glacial pacing works in favour of the movie, making it an uneasy watch.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Daily Briefing. New Bright Lights, Alphaville, More

By David Hudson on February 15, 2012

Also: SXSW completes its lineup. Capitalism on the high seas. Gondry’s next film is selling nicely. And more.

read article
W184

Daily Briefing. Max Ophüls @TCM

By David Hudson on January 23, 2012

Also: Free Korean films in New York, first reviews of Geoff Dyer’s Zona and more.

read article
W184

Vancouver International Film Festival 2011

By David Hudson on October 3, 2011

Drawing attention to notable reviews as they come in from the festival.

read article
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: The posters of the 2011 Cannes Competition

By Adrian Curry on May 20, 2011

The end of the world will be beautiful, or so says the Polish poster for Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, quite fittingly on the eve of

read article
W184

Cannes 2011. Markus Schleinzer's "Michael"

By David Hudson on May 16, 2011

Updated through 5/23. "Illustrating the banality of evil in an impressively controlled and sometimes darkly humorous fashion, Michael takes

read article

TIFF 2011: MICHAEL

By Twitchfilm.com on December 16, 2011
Michael (Markus Schleinzer, 2011). Markus Schleinzer’s truly disturbing directorial debut Michael—not to be confused with Ribhu Dasgupta’s Hindi feature of the same name—exerts a morbid fascination on
→ read on Twitchfilm.com

FANTASTIC FEST 2011: MICHAEL Review

By Twitchfilm.com on September 24, 2011
There are precious few members of society more loathsome than the pedophile. Serial killers, rapists, politicians and TV evangelists have all earned their place on the common man’s shit list but most will
→ read on Twitchfilm.com

FANTASTIC FEST: Michael

By Twitchfilm.com on September 23, 2011
Do the sensibilities of Michael Haneke offend? If your answer is yes then stay far away from the directorial debut of Haneke casting director Markus Schleinzer. The first feature, Michael offers an exceedingly
→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Lists

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Reviews

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on the banality of evil

By Artemis on January 2, 2013

The opening scenes of Michael are deceivingly unremarkable. The title character returns home from a day at work where he is an insurance salesman. He proceeds through the exercises of home life…  read review

Michael (2012, director Markus Schleinzer)

By Loverof​LeCinem​a on May 22, 2012

Michael review

You can feel your heart sink right as it starts. The steel blinds slowly come down, the sound proof doors are opened, and dinner is prepared for two. Average looking Michael…  read review

WELL MADE BUT KINDA POINTLESS AT THE SAME TIME

By Marcus WP on February 18, 2012

The only reason I saw this was off the strength that the person responsible for it (first time director Michael Schleinzer) was the casting director for two of the greatest films made in the last decade…  read review

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A Clinician's Apprentice

3 posts by 2 people about 1 year ago