CIFF 2005 REVIEW: LOW PROFILE

Movies about how much adolescence sucks are a dime a dozen. Movies that diagnose why are getting more common as well. Besides this years under-screened Chumscrubber there's a whole host of films that deal with the pressure of trying to grow into a living, breathing human being in a lifeless plastic world. But among the pitfalls of such subject matter is the likelihood of getting good and lost in the emotional territory, and ending up nowhere very interesting. It's worth noting that for all of Low Profile's faults the film contains great performances but it's also worth noting that those performances achieve mainly the effect of suggesting where a more interesting story might have taken us.

LOW PROFILE
Dir. Falscher Bekenner

I hesitate to start a review with a bad pun but Low Profile could be called Slow Profile if one wanted to quickly identify a major weakness. Taking that tack one would be wise to move on to the film’s many strengths. Low Profile is a strong debut but it is clearly a debut sacrificing a compelling narrative to explore character development. It works, but mostly because of the performances. At its heart Low Profile preaches empathy to the choir. I highly doubt the average person would understand exactly what director Falscher Bekenner is getting at.

Armin Steeb is a teenage high school graduate trapped in suburbia. His family, indeed all of life, seems to his wild imagination as sterile as can be. Encouraged by his boorish parents to find work he endures one humiliating job interview after another until an accidental encounter with a car accident gives him an idea. Stealing a part of the car from the scene and claiming responsibility he launches into a hidden career and soon is claiming responsibility for whatever made the headlines that day. During the escalation into inevitable tragedy we are also privy to Armin’s sexual fantasies, which involve a group of helmeted leatherclad male motorcyclists.

Bekenner's goal, satirizing suburban morality and its stifling of individuality, are well realized in the film although nothing in it made me laugh out loud. But rather the quiet intensity of family banter and the constant badgering of Armin gives the whole film an empathetic energy. We are squarely in Armin’s shoes emotionally. But how Bekkener wants us to feel about the character’s foray into false confession and sexual promiscuity is unclear. The question isn’t even primarily a moral one. Obviously one dysfunction (the larger dynamic of the Steeb family and society) leads to another (Armin’s complete inwardness.) But is that all Bekenner has to say on the subject? That Armin’s family is to blame for driving him to these distractions? The ending is particularly unsatisfying to me and without spoiling it here I will say that I was left asking is that all there is? Perhaps Bekenner is finding fault with a world that leaves teens saying the same. If so his style of narrative is a not very interesting exercise in coming full circle.