Austria,
1998, 61 min
Shown in 1999
CREDITS
- dir
-
Valentin Hitz
- cam
-
Martin Gschlacht
- editor
-
Torsten Heinemann
- cast
-
Haymon Maria Buttinger, Proschat Madani, Roman Kaminski, Michaela Leutzendorff, Stefan Wieland, Christian Weinberger
- source
-
M.Gschlacht FilmProduktion, Naglergasse 27/9, A 1010 Vienna, Austria. FAX: 43-1-533-3180
- gga award
-
Silver Spire, Film & Video: Short Narrative
-
COMMENTS
Screened with The Man from the Deep. Valentin Hitz and Haymon Maria Buttinger in person.
OTHER
Things are not going well for Kater. His girlfriend Maria has left him, he can’t remember the last time he won at the local rat races, and he’s sold nearly all of his internal organs to pay off his gambling debts. His only way out is to become a brain pusher, trafficking in artificial memories and amputated brains for the powerful and mysterious Doctor. But memory manipulation is a treacherous business, especially for Kater, who has nothing but memories left. Valentin Hitz’s beautifully bleak Rat Race, a grainy, black-and-white nightmare, is one of the most intriguing pieces of science fiction noir to appear since Alphaville. Hitz explores the philosophic divide between body and mind while reveling in its more visceral aspects (now think David Cronenberg). Can a person without a heart still love? Is a person without a brain necessarily without memories? How much can you cut away at a person before they stop being who they are? These are difficult questions and, as Kater learns, you can’t find their answers without getting a little blood on your hands.
—Doug Jones
FACTOID #304
After its U.S. premiere at the 1969 Festival, the print of Z by Costa-Gavras was stolen from the locked projection room of the Masonic Auditorium.
