Hacking at Leaves
The history of America told like we never expect it to be. When watching a film by Johannes Grenzfurthner, none of us really knows what to expect. The reason is that this Austrian director likes being eclectic and brave in his approach towards the seventh art as well as experimenting with new cinematic languages to tell some strange but highly relevant stories. Hacking at Leaves, his latest work premiered during Diagonale 2024, is not an exception.
In this regard, therefore, Hacking at Leaves presents us with another way of looking at the history of the United States. A yellow suited Johannes Grenzfurthner connecting via a monitor with a certain ‘Uncle Sam’ is about to bring recent history onto the big screen through an unusual theatrical production. Clever editing speeds things up considerably; interviews, documents, old photos together recent footage lead us from American colonialism till today’s pandemic.
Colonialism. American power (and its arrogance). Native Americans’ living conditions. With suchlike past events behind their back it couldn’t have come as a surprise that someone like Donald Trump become president in recent times already. Thus american history becomes universal one right away in Hacking At Leaves Moreover we all too often feel ourselves involved somehow or other (though indirectly) responsible for them due our sometimes too ’simple minded’ behavior.
Therefore any work by Johannes Grenzfurthner including Hacking At Leaves is essentially unexpected movie. It’s real audiovisual experience where scene full paradoxes moments taking funny forms reveals itself much deeper than may seem first glance just like Masking Threshold or Razzennest feature films did before.
Johannes Grenzfurthner perfectly understands what he wants to say viewer communicates it through different shapes every time utilizing all cinema possibilities. Therefore fiction documentary make magnetic unity unique preciousness within this single Hacking At Leaves fictional document classic piece.
Watch Hacking at Leaves For Free On Solarmovies.