disgusting, overrated, pointless

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Wolgang Becker's award-winning debut feature presents a stark, introspective portrait of suburban decay, as reflected through the impassive gaze of a taciturn adolescent loner named Andi, sole witness to the drowning of a young girl in an overgrown, abandoned local canal. The film (less than an hour long) is constructed along the simple but elegant lines of a classic short story, combining successive flashbacks to gradually reveal what exactly happened to Andi and the girl on the banks of the remote and derelict canal. Becker is able to throw quite a punch with a remarkable economy of effort, employing his minimal style to sometimes chilling effect. There's an uncomfortable feeling of open-air claustrophobia behind the bright black and white photography, and Becker's discriminating use of environmental sound in place of music helps create an unsettling mood of psycho-sexual tension.