Breathing (2011)

AKA: Atmen
Directed by: Karl Markovics
Starring: Thomas Schubert (Roman Kogler), Gerhard Liebmann (Probation officer), Georg Friedrich (Co-worker), Karin Lischka (Mother), Luna Mijovic (Girl on train)
Country: Austria; Effed Up European Movies
Language: German (Eng Subs); Effed Up German Cinema
Runtime: 01:29:58
Genres: Misery-Depressing, Juvenile, Necro-related

Plot – Spoilers:
At one point in the film, a character says, Hell is other people.

Pretty much eighteen-year-old, Roman’s worldview as he drags himself through his days at a juvenile centre that’s been his institutional home from the age of 14. On the surface, he seems like a special bastard to whom everything needs to be told twice. He doesn’t interact with the other inmates, and everyone, including some of the guards, know to keep their distance.

Roman’s parole hearing is up in a couple of weeks, and having been unsuccessful at holding a job, he finally finds one that unnerves, yet interests him enough – at the city morgue. Perhaps it’s the silence of the dead people, the initial coldness of his work colleagues and the fact that a group of men need to cooperate and work together, mostly in silence, to get the job done. For someone like Roman, who’s been in state-run facilities all his life, maybe it just fits right. Whatever the reason, for a change, Roman turns up to work diligently, to the surprise of his probation officer who actually gives a shit, more than you’d expect him to.

Breathing follows Roman’s daily routines almost repetitively, and yet, does so without boring you. You always feel there’s something of importance just round the corner and this is probably down to the performance from the leads.