The new movie of maverick Austrian-based director Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days, The Paradise Trilogy), In the Basement, offers yet another exploration of the dark underside of the human psyche with a look at Austrian basements fitted out as private domains for secrets and fetishes.
As usual, no desire or proclivity is off-limits to Seidl’s concerns, which include an opera-singing gunslinger, a Hitler-loving brass band, a hunter of exotic species and some passionate devotees of S&M.
But the film is not just a curio item: Seidel probes with detached compassion, letting the viewers decide if his subjects are just bizarre or perverse.
The bigger question that In the Basement raises is to what extent Seidl is using his considerable talents and skills in choosing significant these for his movies.
Running time: 81 Minutes
