Kino Steals ‘The Robber’ From NYFF

In 2010, Kino International have proven to have impeccable taste buds for cinema nabbing a trio of imports that IONCINEMA.com has been high on since they preemed at Cannes (Le Quattro Volte, Tuesday, After Christmas and My Joy), but if we go with our own Sean Glass’ assertion (see below), Kino’s latest pick-up, which just preemed at NYFF and which was launched all the way back at the Berlin Film Festival, is somewhat flawed and enabled by what occurs when the running stops. Benjamin Heisenberg’s The Robber (Der Raeuber) has been picked up for distribution and will be served next year with the rest of Kino’s impressive 2011 slate.

We observed that “the action scenes flow very nicely, think Bourne-like style without the shaky cameras. He knows how to slow it down and speed it up appropriately. This is not a case of a filmmaker who can shoot a chase scene really well, but happens to have a script that features a whole lot of talking, i.e non-chase scenes, without knowing how to shoot them.” 

The Robber tells the story of a multitalented man: Johann Rettenberger is a successful marathon runner and a serial bank robber. Soberly and precisely he measures his heart rate, strain, stamina and efficiency – both during training runs and bank raids, from which, concealed beneath a ludicrous mask and armed with a pump gun, he takes flight from the police. He lives, undiscovered, with his girlfriend Erika in Vienna. However, his addiction to the passion, the kick, the exercise and the symmetry of the perfect robbery propels him to take off for a regular fix – as much as three times a day. When he is discovered, he bolts, as fast as his legs will carry him, from a massive police cavalcade. Somebody like Johann has no goal: he keeps on running because what he seeks is a pure and permanent state of motion. His flight forces him to press on and on – but he has no intention of ever arriving.