{"id":22571,"date":"2022-06-25T18:02:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T22:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=22571"},"modified":"2022-06-27T19:56:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T23:56:36","slug":"we-might-as-well-be-dead-film-review-tribeca-film-fest-2022-by-gregg-w-morris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/we-might-as-well-be-dead-film-review-tribeca-film-fest-2022-by-gregg-w-morris\/","title":{"rendered":"<small><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Tribeca Film Festival 2022<\/strong><\/span><\/small><br>WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD &#8211; Winner of Best Cinematography in the TFF International Narrative Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/669977603?h=2667604ba1&amp;color=ef0097\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/669977603\">WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD Teaser Berlinale \/ Tribeca International Competition<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/heartwake\">HEARTWAKE films<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FEATURE | Germany, Romania | 93 MINUTES | German, Polish | English subtitles<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Women, Comedy, Drama<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"40%\" \/>\n<p>Directed with panache by Natalia Sinelnikova about the tenants of an exclusive home owners type association disintegrating \u2013 allegorically and metaphorically \u2013 into a state of sadistic and vile misanthropy of Trumpian magnitudes. In 93+ minutes of riveting story telling, it\u2019s as if the tenants are victims of a communal schizophrenic disorder of cosmic proportions yet to be recognized in the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/psychiatry.org\/psychiatrists\/practice\/dsm\">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR)<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22579\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22579\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-22579\" src=\"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy-300x203.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy-300x203.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy-768x520.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy-560x379.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy-260x176.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy-160x108.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WMAWBD_Jan_Mayntz_3-1080X1080-copy.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22579\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fore! Weaponized batons. Picture by Jan_Mayntz.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The malaise in this dystopian satire eats away at values, customs and traditions of a modern society purporting to be democratic and following The Rule of Law.<\/p>\n<p>For those reading this review and wanting a simple answer to, <strong>Are you recommending this movie and how many stars are you giving it?<\/strong> \u2013 Here it is, yes, emphatically, I am. Yes. You should see this cinematic pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance post haste.<strong> How many stars?<\/strong> Damn the Pandemic, full speed ahead. Theaters or at home. Don\u2019t forget your masks (and don\u2019t believe the hype that Pandemic is now under control).<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not hard to imagine that a movie about the communal schizophrenia of tenants of a swank habitat tottering on the edge of an abyss may be too much for some recovering from these COVID-19\/Trumpian times that made movie going a hazard to our heath. Yet, a savvy audience capable of imagining a new ring of Dante\u2019s Circle and, or, open minded about, say, Vonnegut, Kafkaesque and Theatre of the Absurd undertones, can kick back in sheer delight, as this reviewer did, unintimidated by the pristine cinematic vision of Director Natalia Sinelnikova about a society going bonkers.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22600\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22600\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-22600\" src=\"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-300x130.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"130\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-300x130.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-1024x445.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-768x333.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-560x243.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-260x113.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap-160x69.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/animaltrap.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22600\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anna, Iris trying to connect. Picture by Jay Mayntz<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Anna, played by Ioana Iacob, heads security at the habitat which has contractually strict rules and procedures as well as expectations for tenants based on those rules and procedures. Life in the community typically humming along idyllically \u2013 at least on the surface \u2013 may be experiencing, she imagines, some rough moments that need her leadership with its rational and common sense approaches to challenging matters.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Anna, herself, is experiencing challenging domestic issues with her daughter, Iris. The missing dog plus the ailing daughter, along with other incidents, are escalating into macabre scenarios. The tenants are defying the rational and common sense leadership that they use to accept without question from their chief of security. For example Anna suggests that the missing dog will eventually return, and the tenants sneer, insisting that the dog has been brutally murdered if not tortured to death \u2013 and Anna must find that culprit soon or else.<\/p>\n<p>Anna\u2019s daughter, Iris, played by Pola Geiger, is convinced she is infected with an evil that causes her thoughts to become reality. Rumors spread this way and that about her. Spiteful as all get out, Iris pushes Anna\u2019s buttons every which way, such as, for example, the way the daughter insists that she and her mom communicate through a weird arrangement: Using an animal trap door.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22601\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22601\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22601\" src=\"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz.jpg 1200w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz-300x152.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz-1024x518.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz-768x388.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz-560x283.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz-260x132.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/complex_Jan_Mayntz-160x81.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-22601\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Court yard. Ripped from the pages of E.R. Escher? Picture by Jan Mayntz<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There comes a time when Anna realizes the futility of trying to do her job as chief security officer with perks and privileges that she doesn\u2019t want to lose. What does a person, who is the only sane and responsible individual in a community teetering on the edge of an abyss, do?<\/p>\n<p>This reviewer admits that the ending flew over his head. Things quite byzantine in the final 20 minutes. But he didn\u2019t panic, nor should audiences. The comprehension sought, I truly believe, can come after two or three more screenings and viewings of WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD.<\/p>\n<p>Bon appetite.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Cast &amp; Credits<\/h3>\n<p><em>Directed by Natalia Sinelnikova: Emigrated from St. Petersburg to Germany in 1996 as a Jewish quota refugee. She grew up in Berlin and studied culture studies, focusing on theater and photography in Hildesheim and film directing at Babelsberg Film University in Potsdam. WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD is her debut feature.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Producer, Julia Wagner<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Screenwriters, Natalia Sinelnikova, Viktor Gallandi<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Cinematographer, Jan Mayntz<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Composer, Maxi Menot, Michael Kondaurow<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Editor, Evelyn Rack<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Production Designer, Elisabeth Kozerski<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Executive Producer, ulia Wagner<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Associate Producer, Ioana Iacob<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Co-Producer, Magdalena Wolff<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Sound Design, Michael Kondaurow, Colin Shaw<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Producers Filmuniversit\u00e4t, Charlene G\u00fcrntke, Lina Mareike Zopfs<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Costume Design, Marylin Rammert<\/em><br \/>\n<em>VFX Supervisor, Johannes Blech<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Hair &amp; Makeup Design, Franziska Mayntz<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Junior Editor &amp; Music Consultant, Billie Jagodzinska<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Cast.<\/strong> Ioana Iacob, Pola Geiger, J\u00f6rg Sch\u00fcttauf, \u015eiir Elo\u011flu, Moritz Jahn, Susanne Wuest, Knut Berger, Mina \u00d6zlem Sa\u011fd\u0131\u00e7<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Gregg W. Morris can be reached at gregghc@comcast.net,profgreggwmorris@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tenants of an exclusive home owners type association are disintegrating \u2013 allegorically and metaphorically \u2013 into a state of sadistic and vile misanthropy of Trumpian magnitudes. In 93+ minutes of riveting story telling, it\u2019s as if the tenants are victims of a communal schizophrenic disorder of cosmic proportions yet to be recognized in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). Winner of Best Cinematography in the TFF International Narrative Competition<br \/>By Gregg W. Morris<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/we-might-as-well-be-dead-film-review-tribeca-film-fest-2022-by-gregg-w-morris\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,29,1972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-fest-news","category-film-tv","category-2022-tribeca-film-festival-2022-june-8-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22571"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22647,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22571\/revisions\/22647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}