Looks like it is strictly “Tanzen im Kino verboten” in the provocative German short film Beneath The Night, written and directed by Maximilian Karakatsanis. Kerl (Peter Schneider) is a middle aged man in Germany who drives a subway at night. He has to pose for a professional photograph along with his co-workers, as the subway company is doing an marketing campaign. Everyone likes their photograph, except Karl. He thinks he looks terrible.
However, Karl’s picture is picked for the advertising campaign, most likely because he has green hair that looks interesting. Soon Karl sees his face on posters all over the city, and the subway cars. All his co-workers ask him how it feels to be famous now. Karl doesn’t understand why he has all this attention on him now, as it doesn’t seem to be doing him any good at all…
“… Karl’s picture is picked for the advertising campaign …”
Beneath The Night is the exact opposite of exciting, which is what makes it so exciting. Karakatsanis employs a devious “under-the-top” style of storytelling that avoids exposition. There is no explanations of what is going on, and the set up isn’t spoon fed to the viewer. The audience only get subtle hints as to what is going on, as well as how Karl may be feeling about it. We are just given green hair with a scowl underneath and are left to figure it out.
I found this slow drip method that Karakatsanis uses to be totally awesome. I have seen this type of thing in literature, especially in the American Splendor comic book scripts of Harvey Pekar. The director’s focus on mundane scenarios, and blank faced reactions result in one of the richest examinations of unsought fame I have seen. The ending is a showstopper of nothingness that speaks volumes. Beneath The Night isn’t anything you would expect, and much more than you would imagine.
"…a rich examination of unsought fame "
