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Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl
Austria 2014
produced by Günther Friesinger, Johannes Grenzfurthner for Traum und Wahnsinn MedienKollektiv, monochrom art group, ORF
directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
starring Sophia Grabner, Lukas Tagwerker, Martin Auer, Roland Gratzer9, [Evelyn Fürlinger, Jeff Ricketts, Eva-Christina Binder, Martin Nechvatal, David Dempsey, Sean Bonner, Harald Homolka-List, Conny Lee, Ryan Finnigan, Marrie Mayhem, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Alexandre Lejeune, Joe Baumgartner, Stuart Freeman (narration)
written by Johannes Grenzfurthner, Roland Gratzer, music by Max Beseda, Kasson Crooker, Stefan Franke, Robert Glashüttner, Jordan Starpause Gray, Leigh Howells, Brady Leo, Albin Meskes, Andreas Stoiber, Christoph Burstup Weiss, Yakov
review by Mike Haberfelner
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After civilisation has been destroyed in the big nuclear war Google vs
China, having left behind vast wastelands and megacities collecting the
rests of humankind, media tycoon Thurnher von Pjölk (Martin Auer) has
seized control of the news as such, as via the claim that he has invented
letterpress printing, he has started the only newspaper in the world. But
there are those who want to take media one step further by developing
tell-O-vison - the small but inventive community of "the nerds".
So Pjölk starts his TV network, and for the first ever show he teams up
his top reporter Fratt (Lukas Tagwerker) with nerd Alalia (Sophia Grabner)
to track down the Echsenfriedl (Joe Baumgartner), the legendary leader of
the nerds. But to track him down the two must make their way into the
wastelands, where the two of them run into all sorts of dangers, from the
militia of the postal service to enraged members of the farmers
association trying to fill out EU-applications, from zombified miners to
shareholders of a long fallen conglomerate hoarding electrical appliances
they have no idea of, and despite their total lack of survival skills they
make it through it all - to discover the Echsenfriedl is in fact a
basilisk (a snake-like creature from European mythology said to petrify
those catching its glance), and by broadcasting an interview with him,
Pjölk wanted to petrify all nerds all at once to eliminate competition.
But the Echsenfriedl has a few tricks up his sleeve as well ... In
its best moments, Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl is
really good, as it nicely blends biting satire with genre-specific
over-the-topness and a healthy dose of camp. Unfortunately, these moments
are all too rare, and mostly it's all cheap genre jokes, exaggeration for
its own sake, endlessly drawn out situations, and tiring dialogue scenes
that destroy what's funny about whatever situation. Plus, the film seems
to be a bit too proud of its crudeness and cheapness for its own good and
lacks any really interesting characters. Now it's not a total trainwreck
by far, but it's slighty below par and it seems it tries to be more trashy
in a Troma
way than it tries to be good - and heck, let's face it, Troma
itself isn't really good all of the time.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
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