“A fascinating film that enlivens the viewer on his journey through unknown territory with the protagonist and keeps us occupied long after the poignantly beautiful final moments.”
Between the thicket and a river sit half a dozen teenagers so adamant in their rebellion against the status quo that they are willing to abandon any sense of social etiquette just to feel like they are subverting expectations and doing anything that would unsettle those in charge. Among them is Simon, and while his escape follows a similar pattern, his reasons for rebellion seem much more ambiguous, as we learn through his failure to connect with the free-spirited youths around him. He is the protagonist of Ability problemin which Willy Hans (in his feature-length directorial debut) creates a wickedly ambitious drama about a young man who joins some of his peers to briefly escape their monotonous lives, but finds himself on the fringes of their antics and searching for something entirely different. He realises he may not be able to find it until the last moment, when a mysterious girl enters the fray, shaking everything up and giving our protagonist some direction. Confusing in a way that encourages us to peel back the layers and engage with this film more actively than we would with a more traditional examination of the same themes, and driven by some peculiar ideologies that only reinforce the overall approach. Ability problem is a remarkably unconventional film, but one that rewards those who take the time to grapple with the various enigmatic threads that gradually form the fabric of this strange but fascinating film.
Understanding exactly what Hans wanted to say with this film is a fascinating process that requires us to look beyond the surface. Ability problemswith the underlying themes and their eventual realization being explored in a slightly more unorthodox way. The film is essentially the story of a strange journey of a quiet young man who seems to live in isolation. At least, that’s the picture it paints based on what it presents to the outside world; the audience is merely an observer, peering into his life as if we were distant spectators, rather than having direct access to his inner state of mind or even his background. He decides to join his peers and venture into an ambiguous space between reality and dreamlike landscape, which unsurprisingly turns out to be the basis for a series of vignettes in which Simon and the others (since it seems a little too liberal a sentiment to call them friends due to the nature of their relationship) commit bizarre acts of rebellion – nothing immoral is done, but simple swimming in a river or moments of tender flirting seem unsettling due to the atmosphere that surrounds them. The film gradually and methodically reveals the psychological state of Simon, brilliantly portrayed by the young but promising Leo Konrad Kuhn with a mixture of stoicism and intensity. He represents an entire generation of aimless young people, without direction and whose only valid response seems to be to sink into a state of emotional and existential ambiguity, which is perhaps the only clear line of thought the film seems to pursue in terms of narrative mechanics.
Many filmmakers, especially those who lean more towards experimental and non-conformist styles of contemporary cinema, often express skepticism about the idea of making the messages behind their films easy for viewers to understand, and instead look for more abstract ways to tell those stories. Hans is someone who seems to categorically reject the concept of meta-narratives as a whole, and while Ability problem Although the film makes some fascinating statements about certain themes that make us believe it has its roots in a recognizable reality, we very rarely find ourselves drawn to it as a narrative work. Instead, it functions as a stream of consciousness narrative that drifts into a more esoteric tone throughout as it follows the protagonist on what seems to be a rather intense journey of self-discovery. Although it is made up of many striking images (the compositions, both in terms of framing and colors, are quite stunning), there is something more mystical about the film in terms of the tone that draws the viewer in, and it often works best when we can surrender to the film’s attempts to put us in a sort of daze. Ultimately, it is not even necessary to follow every complicated conversation or plot development, as these ultimately prove to be quite hollow. If one simply gets a general sense of the tone and overall mood of the work instead, then Ability problem becomes a completely captivating, magnetic work, driven both by curiosity and an insistence on shaking up narrative conventions.
Films like Competence problemin which both the imagery and the narrative are subordinate to the general atmosphere of a work are quite rare to find, at least in terms of the ability to pack such immense complexity into what seems like a small, intimate story. A story that initially claims to be about a young man finding his identity and trying to understand his own underlying desires, but gradually develops into something far more exciting. All of this is achieved by taking the boredom of contemporary teenage life and filters it through a bespoke lens that recalls a bygone era of deliberately slow, layered filmmaking where the focus was primarily on creating mood. Some of the digressions are more abstract than others, and the tone constantly shifts between black humor and grim existential nihilism. None of these are staples of the teen drama genre, but Hans uses them to establish himself as someone with a very strong vision of his own that can be turned into a promising, exciting career in the future. Thematically complex, narratively rich, and marked by a peculiar tone that reveals many complexities and uncertainties lurking beneath the surface of a seemingly idyllic small town and its inhabitants, Ability problem is a fascinating film that enlivens the viewer on his journey through this unknown terrain with the protagonist and keeps us occupied long after its unforgettably beautiful final moments.
