German Dir Valeska Grisebach "Western" Made its US.Premier at NYFF It is Relentlessly Dull

Valeska Grisebach (b Germany 1968) released "Western" a Bulgarian language film which is her first film in a decade.  Her last film "Longing" was a German language film.  "Western" has been honored with multiple Prizes of un Certain Regard; a section of the Cannes Film Festival which runs parallel to the Palme d'Or.  Valeska was present to introduce her film along with one of its Bulgarian stars.  She described her film as a modern take on the American western genre.  Valeska told the large audience at Alice Tully Hall it was also a take on various masculine identities.  She claimed to have made her film in a documentary & poetic style.  The film feels voyeuristic. It captures the mundane lives in a small Bulgarian village.  Nonetheless, this is a particularly sluggish & boorish picture.    A crew of German male construction workers are assigned to build (what is not exactly clear) alongside a small rural village.  The villagers are an eccentric mix of aging men & women with a few young women & teens.  The locals all know each other.  Their main source of entertainment seems to be drinking & playing cards.  Many townspeople have left their fledgling homes for Greece to find work.  There is a dynamic, alpha male amongst the villagers, Adrian.  The boss of the Germans, Vincent, is a menacing bully. Vincent gets too rough with a young woman from the village.  His teasing turns vicious.  He gets rough & pushes her menacingly under water too long.  Even his co-workers tell him he crossed the line.  Vincent is a shady character.  He takes what's he wants, causes havoc and leaves others to clean his messes.  Meinhard is a "Marlborough"man, a German worker amongst the crew.  He claims to have been a Legionnaire soldier and speaks passable Bulgarian.  Meinhard manages to ingratiate himself with the villagers & forges a bond with Vincent.  Meinhard straddles both communities both his construction crew and the Bulgarian townspeople.  There are 2 women in the village with whom Meinhard makes duo inroads.  The reality style filmmaking fails to strike a poetic style, nor does it build any compelling interest.  This movie was drudgery not poetry.  It drilled on with a dull, lugubrious pace without a satisfying pay-off.