Well known for his work in commercials as well as music videos for stars such as Des’ree, Freddie Jackson, Marc Cohn, Metallica, and Shania Twain, German writer/director Markus Blunder makes his feature film debit with Autumn Blood, a kind of low-rent Tarantino riff, which comes off as empty, pretentious, and ultimately unnecessary.
Set in a lawless town in the Austrian mountains, Autumn Blood finds nameless siblings (Sophie Lowe and Maximilian Harnisch) witness the senseless murder of their father, and lose their mother just a few years later. The children, the girl 16, and boy 10, bury her in the woods and the girl takes over her mother’s trips into town to collect their government benefits. The men in town can’t help but notice what a young beauty she’s become. It’s not long before she’s raped; first, by the preacher’s son (Samuel Vauramo), and later by the young man’s equally brutish friends. A social worker (Annica McCrudden) sent to check on the family senses trouble, but learns nothing; nonetheless, her visit prompts the guilty men to band together and plan the murder both siblings, in effect erasing all evidence of their crimes. However, what they don’t except is that this time, their victim fights back.
A third of the film is gone before a single word of dialogue is spoken. Communication is all about glances, body language, and animal-like sounds. Markus Blunder is also an accomplished cinematographer and depends on stunning visuals in order to tell much of the story. When you consider that Autumn Blood was completed in 20011 and sat on the shelf for three years before receiving blink-and-you-missed-it U.S. distribution, it’s no wonder that few filmmakers experiment with largely visual storytelling. In the case of Autumn Blood, the pace is painfully slow, and the use of apparently gratuitous violence, troubling.
The girl in the film seems far from stupid, so it’s hard to understand why she doesn’t do the small things, like reinforce her door locks. Instead, Markus Blunder seems content to have her run, naked, and hide in obvious places. Given all the superfluous nudity, I had to wonder if Blunder is throwing around the idea of victim blaming. Autumn Blood offers nothing to recommend.
Autumn Blood is presented in the widescreen aspect ratio, and audio is delivered via a English 5.1 Dolby Digital track.
There are no extras included.
