Import Export

Deeply moving depiction of two victims of the post-modern world and perhaps also critizising the capitalist society, this is a movie full of empathy for the main characters' ability to maintain their dignity even in a tough world that rewards amorality. It's a sad film, but not without a feeling of hope.

The sparse text makes immersion difficult; I was mainly in a limbo of dispassionate interest and brief smatters of exuberance. A heightened sense of space and composition (reminiscent of Antonioni in its treatment of environments and people) in the cinematography is a constant. One of the few films I felt an immediate need to watch again right after.

A stunning, sore and mature piece of filmmaking. Heartfelt and unfeigned in its tragicomic depiction of a few people struggling to keep their head up in a tiresome (and apparently hopeless) existence. Deeply and exceptionally touching.

Goes out of it's way to absolutely depress you, so thank you very much for that.

If Inarritu happened to be born a pessimist Austrian he might be making movies like this. Don't let Seidl fool you, he's one of the most compassionate filmmakers out there.

The quirkiness of the film is fascinating. On the one hand it highlights the absurdity of the capitalist situation shown in the film (that a man is being kept alive devoid of all pleasures in hospital rather than enjoying his final moments, or two guys being made to set up a gumball machine where no one would actually buy any gumballs), and the final moments for me recalled Stroszek in how the quirkiness brings that feeling of staring into the abyss. A sad and visually impeccable film.

Yet another bleak, cold and miserable east-European art house flick. Watching this film will be a challenge for many, because what it offers is over two hours of feeling uneasy. Many of the actors are not professionals; sense of realism is almost overwhelming. I missed a storyline and some kind of resolution, but then again, real life stories rarely have those.

Hope in hopeless lives.

Very well acted and shot little film.

nothing happens

Brutally vivid analysis of East/West relations today with an unsparingly honest portrayal of the bleak situations the two main protagonists find themselves in. Easier to admire and learn from than enjoy, however.

Uncomfortable to watch in places (this was the director's intention). Very truthful look at the lives of two people. I find it hard to comment on this film.

"The titular backslash of Import/Export turns out to be a vast geographical schism, crossed only intermittently by thin strands of mutual emotional anguish." - Joseph Jon Lanthier

This probably deserves a higher score, but the fact that i've watched it twice but i can still barely remember it says something...

Brutal comic snapshot of the EU of the late 2000s as depicted through two characters who never meet. A nurse from Ukraine immigrates West to end up as an adult Webcam performer, among other things, while a skinhead from Austria ends up in Slovakia servicing vending machines and chased by gypsies. Indelible images.

Another impressive film by Ulrich Seidl. He really knows how to make gritty and realistic movies. More real than this you're not going to get. It reminded me strongly of Lilya 4-Ever.

Seidl depicts the incapable life that wanders in hope. Protagonists flee from in-dignifying struggles that are globalized, and discover the absence of purpose without first making a certain type of connection. This one hurts, with it's bleak reality, that what you may try to leave still follows, as you reach and grasp one's own desires.