Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Pregau" or "Pregau – Kein Weg zurück" or "Mörderisches Tal – Pregau" is an Austrian/German 4-part mini-series in the German language. The episodes, each slightly under 90 minutes all aired at the end of 2016, so it's a really fresh and new project. All parts were written and directed by Nils Willbrandt and it is probably his most know work so far, even if he is far from a rookie filmmaker. The cast includes somewhat known German and Austrian actors mostly, such as Strauss, Rohde or Monot Jr. The main character is played by Bavarian actor Maximilian Brückner. And while I am not too sure if he was really good enough for the part, I still believe he was better than most of the supporting guys in here. I remember after seeing films in the past with Ursula Strauss I kinda liked her, but by now I almost feel as if she plays very similar characters all the time, or to be more precisely her approach to these characters, including her mannerisms, physical acting etc. did not make a difference at all.In terms of the story, I cannot say I was impressed either. The film lacked a lot of focus and better elaborations on certain characters. Instead it throws in one after the other all the time and I did not like it at all. Less characters and better writing in terms of these would have been the key to a success. But it did turn out differently. This is especially tragic as this one runs for almost six hours total and at some point you just lose interest about what happens. Or I could maybe say "about who dies" as many people get killed off here the longer the film goes. But this is already described accurately by Brückner's character in the voice that opens the episodes when he says that if it wasn't for him then there was no need for so many people to die. Yeah well, that's pretty much all that needs to be said about the film. It starts early with a scene in which we see that the main character does not feel respected by his wife's parents and you could wonder if it turns into a relationship drama. But no, it's all about the crime elements here with occasional drama and thriller moments. The one thing that never exists in here is comedy. Maybe this is why it did not go so well. The strength of recent Austrian films has also been the strong mix of drama and comedy, especially in crime movies. Just think of Hader's/Murnberger's Brenner films. Back to this one here, I thought it dragged a lot and not a single component (acting, directing and especially the script) was good enough so that I would recommend checking it out, especially not at this runtime. I guess they invested too much into all these explosions at the very end instead of getting quality earlier on. Pity. Watch something else instead.
