All the Invisible Things (heile welt)
Austria, 2007, color, 89 minutes, High German with English subtitles Director: Jakob M. Erwa Screenplay: Jakob M. Erwa Producer: Franz Novotny Cast: Michael Sauseng, Simon Moestl, Angelika Schneider, Tatjana Koschutnig, Erni Mangold World Sales: Beta Cinema
The sins of the mothers are visited on their sons in the distinctive feature debut All the Invisible Things. Truants Jolly (Michael Sauseng) and Bolz (Simon Moestl) engage in the kind of grim hijinks of contemporary urban latchkey kids everywhere. Mothers Gabi (Tatjana Koschutnig) and Karin (Birgit Doll) clearly care, though each, for different reasons, lacks the capacity to be strong in the face of rebellion. Young hooker Lara (Elisabeth Mueller) and the blind Frank (Martin Bretschneider) complete the sad circle. The story begins as a standard teen-in-trouble tale, a la Gus van Sant or Larry Clark. But stay with it: young writer-director Jakob M. Erwa has constructed an intriguing narrative that backtracks and overlaps on itself, linking each of the principles in a fateful chain. Winner of the Grand Prix as best Austrian film at the 2007 Diagonale festival, All the Invisible Things is clearly a first film, yet stands firmly as one of clarity and conviction.
Eddie Cockrell
Jakob M. Erwa (b. 1981, Graz) makes his feature-length directorial debt with All the Invisible Things.
