This 2009 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film presents you with the facts, the complications and the fall-out linking two couples on opposite ends of a socio-economic scale.
Austrian ex-con Alex (Johannes Krisch) and Ukrainian prostitute Tamara (Irina Potapenko) are enjoying a clandestine relationship in the city. She’s a prostitute working at a brothel where Alex works as an errand boy/handyman. When the boss wants to take Tamara out of the club to work appointments in an apartment, she is trapped. She owes the boss a huge chunk of money (30K Euros) and declining the offer proves difficult.
Couple Susanne (Ursula Strauss) and Robert (Andreas Lust) live peacefully in the countryside. Their marriage is struggling as a result of Susanne’s recent miscarriage. Susanne believes conceiving will not happen, due to something in Robert’s reproductive DNA not jibing with hers.
(Spoiler Alert: Read at Your Own Risk!)
Alex devises a scheme to rob a bank to get Tamara out of her situation. The earnings will payoff her debt and bankroll 
them into a life away from the city, away from the seedy boss and his henchmen. The robbery doesn’t go as planned and Alex loses Tamara. Now, an investigation into Robert’s actions and judgment at the robbery are called into question. He pulls away from Susanne and their relationship strains further.
Alex heads to the countryside to lie low and visit his elderly grandfather. He arrives stoic and introverted. His grandfather is friendly with Susanne who visits often and enjoys the grandfather’s accordion playing. She meets Alex and is drawn to him. She learns Alex is hell-bent on revenge, but doesn’t have a clue that his plan for revenge will strike close. The psychologically tangled plot is a winner that will keep you plugged in. The fantastic twist of an ending makes this one excellent.
Writer/Director: Götz Spielmann
Country: Austria
Genre: Thriller
Run time: 117 minutes
Scale: 5
Malik is offered protection by the Corsican mafia who run a powerful prison faction but only in exchange for an extreme favor...a favor that will haunt Malik. While he receives protection, he is treated poorly for his Arab heritage by the Corsicans, but this doesn’t deter Malik. He forges alliances that guide him as well as put his good standing in the prison and the Corsicans in jeopardy. Yet these experiences shape his coming of age and rise to power within and outside prison. He takes advantage of school, begins associating with other Arabs and ascends to a position of trust with the Corsicans.
Turns out the small beast in the basket is Duane’s once conjoined twin, Belial. They two are in NYC to execute their revenge on the doctors that separated them years previous (at the request of their father). Duane has cared for Belial since the surgery (saving him from the garbage heap), but he can’t control his brother’s killing sprees. When Duane sneaks away on a date, Belial erupts into a murderous rage.
daughter’s costly wedding. To protect his ego and prevent his ex-wife’s rich husband, Roy (Jason Lee) from picking up the tab, he decides to sell a collectible baseball card that will fetch him close to 100K. With the earnings, he’ll have enough for the wedding and still have some leftover for himself.
When Corkey’s manager, Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) expresses concern about Corkey’s mental health, Corkey ignores him and disappears for some R&R to the country getaway owned by his high school crush Peggy Ann (Ann Margret) and her husband, Duke (Ed Lauter). Corkey’s feelings, which haven’t faded, grow ardent. He confesses to Peggy Ann. Peggy Ann, in an admittedly unhappy marriage, starts falling for the old flame’s charm (she’s very amused by the creepy Fats). They reminisce and soon they are discussing running off together. As Corkey begins to display rage and erratic behavior, she goes with the flow. Seems Duke has his own issues with anger, so she might be accustomed to the behavior but as you watch, you want to yell at the TV for her to see the signs that this won’t end well. Instead, she uses phrases like “You bastard!” in a joking manner that are oddly amusing. Fats and Corkey are on a collision course with insanity and the climactic ending heightens to an almost unbearably suspenseful ending.
