Not a Love Song . Austin Chronicle . 03-30-98

Not a Love Song

DIRECTED BY: Jan Ralske

REVIEWED: 03-30-98

Plenty of lip service is paid to the ideal of moviemaking that arises organically from character and setting as opposed to contrived concept, but films that actually follow this path are so rare as to be startling when they're encountered. This oddly compelling little slice of comic absurdity from native Texan Ralske patiently seduces you into its tale of a sardonic drifter named Bruno (Rudolph) who stumbles onto the warped, Albee-esque world of a dysfunctional couple who plan to open a bistro in a tiny German backwater town. Rudolph has a startlingly expressive face (think Tab Hunter as drawn by Dick Tracy cartoonist Chester Gould) that adds wordless ironic commentary to Ralske's understated dialogue. Thalbach is equally memorable as Luise, the pugnacious entrepreneur with whom Bruno forms a disastrous alliance. In truth, not a hell of a lot happens in Ralske's determinedly low-keyed, black-and-white film. The local burghers - symbolically no doubt - seem to spend half their time pissing away the beer they swill from dawn to dusk, and many events seem inconsequential, arbitrary, or both. Yet even as the characters spin their wheels futilely in pursuit of their hazy dreams, Ralske's sure sense of the tiny but crucial details of character and circumstance that bring even the most minimal story to life makes the experience not only watchable but rewarding.

--Russell Smith

Film Vault Suggested Links
Tromeo & Juliet
Spike & Mike's '97 Festival of Animation
At The Circus

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