Vienna: seven scenes

Three photographers position a movie camera at three different spots in Vienna, possibly to make these seven scenes the seven days of creation. There is plenty of time at these locations, and they allow the viewer time - time to think unbelievable things. Not a great deal happens in these seven scenes, though not nothing. We sometimes see a car as it passes by. Or a McDonald´s Drive-Thru which has been "shat onto the landscape" develops its own surrealistic humour. Or the viewer discovers images which not even the soundtrack can change, neither their meaning nor the way they are perceived.

(Torsten Alisch)


The minimalism of the film is only an apparent one. In fact, the excessive duration of the long shots allow for a differentiated seeing that enriches our cinematic experience considerably. Here events normally not considered cinematically notable become the focus. The filmmakers not only find subtle irony and astounding correspondences between image and (off-screen) sound, but above all, the opportunity to tell a different and more complex story about Austrian reality.

(Stefan Grissemann)