Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

An Exercise In Nonsense

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

If you've never seen a Katrin Gebbe movie before, this is the one you should start with. Strong performances by Julius Feldmeier and Torben Lohmann drive a powerful 'coming of age' story that expertly blends the themes of faith, love, and hope. Fans of Sascha Alexander Gersak will also be well rewarded, despite an unflattering colour palette.I rate Tore Tanzt at 26.64 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a very respectable 8/10 on IMDB.

The slowly unwinding pace of this film can seduce one into a believing not much is happening, but from the outset there's a sinister feel to this film that becomes far more visceral, and disturbing. At times the violence was so calculating and casual it made me physically ill, and wanted to walk away from it. That said, the behavior of the parents, who fed into each others 'evil', reflected for me the explicit desire to dehumanize that which they hate. A feature so evident in the early 21st century. It's not from a genuine failure to reach and understand another's vulnerability, and Tore's is achingly portrayed in this film, painfully so, and the adults ever so casually seek to obliterate it. A day before I'd seen Reggie Yates doco on the experience of the LGBTI community in St Petersberg, and was truly frightened by the casual nature of the brutality, intimidation and violence of 'ordinary' Russians to gay people. The banality of evil indeed.

Tore is akin,not only to the pitiful heroine of the remarkable "Kreuzweg" but also to Luis Bunuel's characters of late fifties/early sixties ,Nazarin and Viridiana,in the eponymous works.Both tried to live just as Jesus told in the gospels ,to return good for evil,to turn the other cheek ,and possibly to become a martyr ,because they know that even in the valley of death He will be by their side.Unlike the Spanish genius ,who thought that religion was a nuisance to live with at home,the end of "Tore Tanzt" is ambiguous:perhaps some sunlight does break through on this one;and ,in any event ,the last chapter is called "Hoffnung" (hope);like "Kreuzweg" ,the movie is divided into chapters ,three (faith,love and hope).And as the opening sequence depicts a christening at sea ,Tore's martyrdom ends in a brook .Water epitomizes purity ,the "born again" man,but it is also sin:Tore discovers love while bathing with Benno's ("my trial" says Tore)daughter.When he appears ,Benno is a genial family man as he welcomes Tore in his nice family .Little by little ,he will use his protégé as a punching bag ,not only because the poor lad is in love with his daughter,but because he is a sadistic perverse man ;he epitomizes Satan for a young man with a cherubic face .The movie is not for the squeamish ,by some respect ,it is almost an (intelligent) horror movie: Tore forced to swallow rotten food, raped,beaten to death ,many scenes many viewers will find unbearable .And all this brings us back to Luis Bunuel: Tore's martyrdom amounts to nothing,he converts no one,helps no one :Nazarin ends his unfortunate career between two soldiers ,carrying a pineapple (sexual symbol) and Viridiana is raped by the poor people she tried to help before accepting a menage à trois with her cousin .I urge users interested in Tore's story to watch these two Bunuel classics ;and if it were not enough,the ending recalls another one of the master, "Los Olvidados",in which little boy Pedro 's dead body is thrown on a garbage heapTo write that Frau Gebbe' s work is a must is to state the obvious.in the years to come ,she will be a name to reckon with.Julius Feldmeier and S.A. Gersak give outstanding performances as the angel and the demon ;I recommend it to all my French compatriots, with a strong heart that is.

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN (aka TORE TANZT) could have slipped into the annals of torture porn but first time director Katrin Gebbe has such a sure hand and grasp of her subject that the film never crosses the line into degenerate entertainment (not that I'm against that). But it's refreshing to see a film that has so much on its mind and plays with our expectations while depicting a world in which beauty, truth and innocence are not only resented but demeaned and destroyed. This is a tough film which one could see as a statement on the masochism behind religious zealotry but is ultimately about human pettiness and capacity for destruction. The film seriously calls to mind the work of Lars von Trier and Gebbe deserves positive comparisons to von Trier but NOTHING has a genuineness that makes if feel poignant rather than an intellectual exercise. NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN is not an easy film but well worth the pain.