MIFF film review: Kill Daddy Goodnight

Posted by Scott on Tuesday 28 July 2009
Categories: MIFF '09  Tags: ,

Film rating: 4/5
Walkouts: 0/5
Pretentious clapping at credits: 0/5
BPM sighting: No

Irascible and lazy, Rupert ‘Ratz’ Kramer is a 35-year-old slacker who plays out his patricidal fantasies through the development of a violent computer game. A chance call from an old flame sends him to New York, where he hopes to sell his creation to a games company, but instead becomes embroiled in events that begin to pose increasingly uncomfortable moral questions.

Part thriller, part psychological family drama, part exploration of German–Austrian war guilt, this film from Michael Glawogger defies categorisation.

Adapted from the novel Das Vaterspiel by Josef Haslinger.

Interesting and believable characters, along with a mysterious script with lots of room for guessing, ensure that you can’t take your eyes of this film. But it turns out to be a slow-burner, with everything building up to a stunning under-egged scene featuring a Nazi war criminal talking about his guilt, fear and lack of remorse. Kill Daddy Goodnight certainly defies categorisation and leaves you thinking for hours afterwards.

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