Musik
Director: Angela Schanelec
Writer: Angela Schanelec
Cast: Aliocha Schneider, Agathe Bonitzer, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Argyris Xafis, Frida Tarana, Ninel Skrzypczyk, Miriam Jakob, Wolfgang Michael, Finn-Henry Reyels
Seen on: 3.11.2024

Content Note: homomisia

Plot:
Jon (Aliocha Schneider) was abandoned as a baby. As a young man, he goes to prison for manslaughter. His guard Iro (Agathe Bonitzer) connects with him over music. They fall in love. After his release from prison, Jon lives with her and he starts to sing.

Musik is difficult to describe. It’s an impressionistic contemplation of the Oedipus myth, paired with thoughts about the role of music. I can’t say that I loved it.

Schanelec chose a very distinct cinematic language for this film, one that goes without dialogues for the most part, definitely without explanations and with a dispassionate demeanor that is at odds with the dramatic events of the film. The music alone provides the emotional aspect, or tries to. I suspect that the film will work best for those people that connect with the music the best. I have to admit that I was not one of those people.

The trouble for me started right at the beginning, when our protagonist and dramatic hero commits the crime that puts him in jail. Said crime? Another boy tries to kiss him and he (probably accidentally) kills him for it. As a queer person, this “gay panic” murder is already distressing enough, even more so when the victim has practically no other role than set up the drama in the protagonist’s life. This is problematic to say the least.

It also made me distrust the film, ultimately keeping me from falling into its flow. But it is the kind of film that needs you to coast along with it, less trying to understand it or to find explanations and more experiencing what it shows you and associating new thoughts with those experiences. In short, it’s the kind of film that gives you exactly as much as you put effort in it, and I was not hugely motivated to put a lot of effort in.

Nevertheless, it is an interesting film and one that is definitely not “the usual stuff”. There is a lot to be said for that.

Summarizing: maybe you will be able to connect more with it.