Notes From the Basement

A radical look into the mind of the "man on the street". Peter Haindl, a hospital orderly in Vienna, shot these home movies from 1993 to 1999. They were then given to filmmaker Rainer Frimmel, who created this 90-minute compilation. An original self-portrait and a monolog delivered by an eloquent, almost elegant misanthrope, this psychological striptease is personal and political in equal degrees.

Notes from the Basement: Compiled and edited by Rainer Frimmel, this film defines, so to speak, the furthest extreme which can be reached by Austrian film, where a playful look at the charm and depths of the petty bourgeois soul turns serious. (Stefan Grissemann)