21 out of 23 people found the following review helpful:

Import Export

rowntreegrovenour from , 26th April, 2009

Not really my cup of tea

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14 out of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Life in concrete cities

A Customer from Abingdon, 14th March, 2009

Acutely observed, dark, depressing, pornographic, hopeless, miserable, impoverished lives set in concrete cities are briefly enlightened by the young beauty and humanity of a Ukranian woman seeking work and survival in Austria. Her counterpart is an energetic fit young man driven to try to earn money by going to the Ukraine. Both of their worlds are unfit for human habitation. The images of rotting rubbish piled deep outside concrete housing blocks which are home to gypsies in the Ukraine are not staged, but a shocking reminder of what civilization can do when everyone’s backs are turned. This debris style of living is reflected in Austria where the aged and demented are kept in cots devoid of any stimulation or privacy. Prostitution and power struggles dominate the relationships depicted with just a few tender moments of human kindness and humour. Not a film to cheer anyone up and not for the faint hearted. It is a powerfully directed indictment of how modern city life really is for the millions of underprivileged in the world.

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12 out of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Wasn't sure what to expect!!

Toepunter from , 7th February, 2009

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, but it was a good taste of real life in Ukraine. Not one I would like to live in, but an eye opener!!

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9 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:

What is this?!

A Customer from Gloucestershire, England, 22nd August, 2009

Didnt even realise that it was ALL in subtitles. Switched off half way through 'cause the story was just going no where....

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Deeply bleak but grotesquely fascinating

Noseyjoe from , 1st March, 2010

I can imagine people saying this film is like watching paint dry, but actually it is more like watching paint stripper slowly eat into your flesh - yes, it's that good! A sort of 'pleasure through pain' experience. Poor migrants seeking a better life in the West (here Ukrainians in Germany), getting exploited and abused, the story's been told a thousand times in film. Yet there is something new here... I suppose it is the degraded moral universe they find (rather than just the usual economic mirage). Be warned there's a lot of sexual exploitation here, many women will probably be offended. And unfortunately the director seems a little too keen to depict it, which I felt severely undermined his arthouse credentials. I mean it was making me horny for Chrissake, that's not supposed to happen...

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The Sound of Music it ain't

MinkyNinky from , 6th February, 2010

For connoisseurs of the prosaic (which includes your humble reviewer) this film was something of a challenge to say the least. Here's a brief synoposis (it doesn't contain spoilers, as there's no plot to speak of to spoil...): Young woman leaves her nursing job in impoverished Ukraine, and emigrates to Vienna, where she ends up as a cleaner in a geraitric unit. Cue much squalid dribbling and diaper references. Meanwhile, glowering youth and his oafish father - who has a penchant for sexually humiliating young women - leave Vienna for Ukraine, to install slot machines for the benefit of semi-feral gypsies in rotting tower blocks. Umm...film ends. Some fairly satisfying footage of bleak, snowy semi-industrial landscapes in both countries, and a surprising amount of pornography. Whereas Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings made New Zealand something of a tourist must-see, I doubt that Ukraine will benefit much from this film in that respect. Or Austria, come to think of it. For committed grim-and-bleak fans only.

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import export

nothanks from , 5th February, 2010

total 2nd rate horse sh**..quite why i watched it to the end hoping it would get any good is anyones guess..starts slow dull and story less goes onto be a two story eastern euopean load of pointless crap..i would rather watch big brother and i like that like i like cancer

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Import/Export

A Customer from Harrogate, 18th January, 2010

If you enjoy grim and depressing films you'll not be disappointed.

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