In a social headlock

Genre films focus on class struggle at the margins of society

Romanian filmmaker Radu Muntean's social satire ›Intregalde‹ celebrates genre cinema between survival horror, road movie and psychodrama. A humanitarian aid organisation has to question its own philanthropy in the Transylvanian landscape. The film had its German premiere yesterday and can still be seen twice in the late-night programme. For all those for whom this is too late, the film is now also available in our stream.

Class struggle as family drama is shown in the competition entry from Uruguay: In ›The Employer and the Employee‹ director Manolo Nieto calmly and gently tells the story of a supposedly friendly relationship between a large landowner and a family that works for him. This is threatened by the smouldering social inequality and after a tragic stroke of fate, the drama develops features of a thriller that builds up to the brilliant finale.

In Levan Koguashvili's ›Brighton 4th‹, former wrestling champion Kakhi discovers that his son has large gambling debts to a New York mob boss and travels from Tbilisi to help him. Koguashvili paints a ruthless world defined by money troubles, yet casts this moving father-son story in images of physicality and tenderness, painting a loving portrait of New York's Brighton Beach neighbourhood.