Spiele Leben (2005)
You Bet Your Life (2005)
DVDRip | English | M4V | 720 x 428 | x264 @ 840 Kbps | AAC 2.0 @ 164 Kbps | 94 min | 688 Mb
Genre: Art-house, Drama, Thriller
DVDRip | English | M4V | 720 x 428 | x264 @ 840 Kbps | AAC 2.0 @ 164 Kbps | 94 min | 688 Mb
Genre: Art-house, Drama, Thriller
Dice dictate the fate of a gambler willing to skirt society's conventions and relegate his fate to chance in this addiction drama from director Antonin Svoboda. Kurt's (Georg Friedrich) life is controlled by money. A manipulative hustler whose constant scheming is wearing thin on girlfriend Manu (Gerti Drassl), Kurt has an epiphany while viewing a television documentary on the life of classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Upon learning of the legendary pianist's unusual method of composing music by the roll of dice, Kurt immediately vows to put his fate in his own hands by making every decision in his life in exactly the same manner. Though at first the unusual method seems to pay off, resulting in numerous job offers and steering him into the company of beautiful drug addict Tanja (Birgit Minichmayr), the dice soon lead him into a life-threatening downward spiral.
IMDB
Inveterate gambler and habitual layabout Kurt (Friedrich), a handsome guy with a nasty pimp mustache, lives in a rented Viennese flat with his longsuffering nurse g.f. Manu (Gerti Drassl). On a losing streak, Kurt sheds the last of his cash at a card game and tries unsuccessfully to get more from Manu and then his devout Christian dad (Michael Rastl). The state informs him his unemployment benefit will be stopped if he doesn't accept one of the jobs they're offering.
A chance encounter with a woman named Elivra (Claudia Martini) leads to a temporary winning streak at the roulette wheel and leaves Kurt with a seemingly lucky gambling die. He starts using it to help him make decisions (a notion featured in cult novel "The Dice Man" by Luke Rhinehart). A job reading gas meters takes him to a stoner's hangout where he meets anarchic drug addict Tanja (Birgit Minichmayr).
When Manu has him barred from the casino, he talks a former crony Franz (Andreas Patton) into being his proxy, directing the bets via mobile phone. In need of yet more money, Kurt hooks up with Tanja again to pull a scam on his own father.
Third act sees Kurt and Tanja, now a couple after an athletic shag in a toilet cubicle, traveling to another town with Franz to visit a new casino. Franz clears off with their winnings, and two make their way back to Vienna.
When Tanja walks into a gas station en route, pic begins to offer six alternative endings corresponding to the six sides of the die. One ends tragically, another with a stoke of luck, and so on.
While this formalist device makes perfect sense given the die metaphor, the branching-path storyline doesn't pay off much in emotional terms in the way it does in Kieslowski's "Veronique" or his "Blind Chance," which formed inspiration for Brit pic "Sliding Doors."
Moreover, while Friedrich shows increasing range as his Kurt grows more desperate, and Minichmayr is incandescent as the amoral live wire Tanja with the wickedest laugh in Central Europe, both characters are ultimately too selfish and unlikeable to generate much sympathy.
Helmer Svoboda handles set pieces and vignettes more confidently than the bigger picture, which perhaps reps evidence of his shorts background.
Handheld lensing by producer-d.p. Martin Gschlacht ("Antares," "Hotel") grows increasingly lurid and is up to his usual impressive standard. Music by Christof Dienz and electro outfit Coshiva add contempo punch.Variety
Spiele Leben (2005)
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