The Others

The Others portrays the lives and loves of a group of young people in Linz over the course of one year. The narrative markers employed by filmmakers Johanna Rieseneder and Gerald Hötzeneder tells us of their attempt to understand a foreign world, that of skaters and teenage bedrooms, DJs and black metalheads, while their young protagonists soon learn how to reinvent themselves with the video cameras made available for their use. Laura, Martin, Duke and their pals document the hot afternoons they spend on the bank of the Danube, at dancing school, or on their balconies. They goof around, catch each other in embarrassing situations, talk, laugh, or yell straight into the camera. Some of them gradually develop a personal relationship with video as a medium which amplifies their personal perception, which preserves fleeting impressions, and which presents a critical mirror for inspecting the effect they have on others, whether on the dance floor, at band practice, when home alone, or in intimate conversations with the camera. That requires the courage to risk embarrassment and often ends in aimlessness. And then, there are suddenly touchingly beautiful moments, such as when 16-year-old Laura, back in Linz after a year in Germany, puts on some music and reclaims the territory of her bedroom in a slow, swaying pan. (Michael Loebenstein)