Polt. [link’s in German]
Director: Julian Pölsler
Writer: Julian Pölsler
Based on: Alfred Komarek‘s [link’s in German] novel
Sequel to: Polt muss weinen, Blumen für Polt, Himmel Polt und Hölle, Polterabend
Cast: Erwin Steinhauer, Fritz Karl, Tatjana Alexander, Simon Schwarz, Elisabeth Orth, Karin Kienzer, Michou Friesz, Cornelius Obonya, Hans-Michael Rehberg

Plot:
Simon Polt (Erwin Steinhauer) used to be a police man but he gave that up to live in a small village surrounded by vineyards and working at the local grocery store. His only remaining contact to the police is his friend Norbert Sailer (Fritz Karl). And then one night Simon and Norbert find a body in Norbert’s vineyard and Simon’s retired life is over.

Polt. did surprise me. It’s a made for TV, Austrian crime movie – and those are usually things that are a dangerous combination for the quality of any movie. But it turns out that Polt. is a beautifully shot, slow film with a great cast.

I have to admit that I haven’t seen the first four Polt movies, nor read the books and I kinda stumbled into this film. But it didn’t matter that I was new to the series: Polt. is a film that can easily stand on its own and does. I had no trouble following and it only made me curious to find out what had happened before.

The movie itself was a very atmospheric piece of film, which was mostly due to the fantastic camera work and the editing that allowed for long, calm shots that captured the mood of the town they shot in extremely well.

Though the fantastic cast was also a great plus. And there really isn’t a weak spot in that cast. All of them were fantastic.

What I loved, too, were the characters – especially the women who were all strong, layered persons who stood up for each other. And how often do you get to see that in a film?

Summarizing: watch it (at least if you speak German, because I don’t think it’s been translated).