Import Export

I'm not sure why it took "Import / Export" three years to show up in North America, but at least it's here now. Seidl is probably most widely known for his film "Dog Days," which won him international acclaim, but also stirred some controversy due to its unflinching look at utter misery. Although he has done a couple of films since, they are more similar to his "documentary" style, as with his first film, "Models." "Import / Export" is something like a follow up to Dog Days - a purely narrative-based film examining, in gut-wrenching detail, the miserable lives of a collection of individuals.

Where Dog Days took place during the hottest days of summer, Import / Export is set in the frigid winter of the Ukraine and Austria. The story follows two main characters: a woman who leaves the Ukraine to find a better life in Austria, and a man who leaves Austria to escape debt and his failure to find a place in society. I don't want to say too much more because you really need to experience the film for yourself. You can be sure that Seidl is going to challenge your expectations, but I think we learn something about ourselves by how we experience this film. Some will become jade from the beginning (nothing can help these poor, sorry people), some will hold out hope for improvement longer than they would expect - when you understand that a director doesn't necessarily care about providing a happy viewing experience, anything is possible.

One issue came up during the viewing: since a significant portion of the film's dialogue deals with the language barrier between German and Ukrainian, it puts the English-speaking viewer at a disadvantage. In a manner of speaking, it's all Greek to me. It's not Seidl's fault and it doesn't hinder your ability to understand the film; however, I imagine there is a whole level of meaning that I missed not being able to differentiate between German and Ukrainian.

Seidl has a gift for showing us humanity and making us feel something more than pity. Yes, his characters are met with all forms of trial and tribulation, and although they will experience more sorrow than a middle-class American like myself will ever know, their pain is not so removed that I can't feel a connection. There is a lot here that will touch many people.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Dog Days and most people who consider themselves adventurous art cinema viewers. If you're just getting into foreign film, this is not the place to start, and likewise, if you're not used to this sort of film, it probably won't be a very rewarding experience. It's not going to appeal to everyone, and I think that's totally fine. For those who know what they're getting into, Import / Export will give you a wonderful cinematic experience.

One of the most depressing, unsettling and bleakest movies I have seen in a long time, 135 minutes long Import/Export 2007, written/directed by Ulrich Seidl is gloomy, dark, and disturbing film. It feels like a documentary, and the winter landscapes in both parts of Europe, Eastern (Ukraine) and Western (Vienna, Austria) look and feel equally un- inviting and mean. Who would think that beautiful out of the fairy tale Vienna could be shot so un-appealing but I guess the nursing places for the ill and old patients are not the most cheerful places anywhere in the world, and they only add to the overall feeling of pessimism, degradation, lack of hope or anything uplifting in the existence of two main characters who never met because their lives moved in the parallel directions, and every character they come across.

Ulrich Seidl excels in giving Import/Export feel of a documentary and in showing how advanced the humans are in corrupting and humiliating one another. I think this film takes a prize for the amount of the un- sexy, most unpleasant and longest X-rated scenes ever filmed. I guess if sex is not accompanied with love, desire or at least, lust, it is very boring and uncomfortable to watch and makes a viewer guilty for the degradation they are forced to watch and makes them want to stop or fast-forward these scenes as fast as possible. If that what Ulrich Seidle intentions were - he succeeded fully. Let me put it this way - Import/Export is a well-made move. It made me think of the serious matters - for instance, how high is the price of freedom to look for and to find a better life, to support yourself and your family, to be able to go to any country you chose and to succeed there. I did not see a single false note in any performance given mostly by the non- professionals. Import/Export achieves what it was set to do but I would never watch it again. I got the point(s) and I don't think that it is for multiple viewings.

3.5/5 (7/10)

A funny story of post-communist Europe where people going around to meet ends, prostitution flourishing and sons are less interesting in sex than their kinky old men.

Laughing through crying.

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