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A grim and disturbing vision from Ulrich Seidl, makes for an uncomfortable and uncompromising picture of life, that is anything but comfy and pedestrian.
All Critics (32) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (5)
The mood is as dismal as the weather in Import/Export, by Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl. Jul 31, 2009 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The mood is as dismal as the weather in Import/Export, by Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl.
V.A. Musetto
Ulrich Seidl's Import Export is an unflinching, at times almost unbearably hard yet moral look at human exploitation. Jul 31, 2009 | Rating: 4.5/5
Ulrich Seidl's Import Export is an unflinching, at times almost unbearably hard yet moral look at human exploitation.
Manohla Dargis
Import Export demands we contemplate the horror and the beauty of existence in equal measure. Jul 30, 2009 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Import Export demands we contemplate the horror and the beauty of existence in equal measure.
Keith Uhlich
Seidl's film arguably offers the toughest (and toughest to stomach) portrait of individuals tempest-tossed by the currents of the new global economy. Jul 21, 2009 | Full Review…
Seidl's film arguably offers the toughest (and toughest to stomach) portrait of individuals tempest-tossed by the currents of the new global economy.
Scott Foundas
Seidl is a special talent, reared on documentary and determined to get near the truth with a placidly baleful eye. You are at liberty to hate or admire his work - but you can scarcely ignore it. Oct 3, 2008 | Rating: 4/5
Seidl is a special talent, reared on documentary and determined to get near the truth with a placidly baleful eye. You are at liberty to hate or admire his work - but you can scarcely ignore it.
Derek Malcolm
There is one thing that is beyond doubt: this extraordinary film makes everything else around look comfy and pedestrian. Oct 3, 2008 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
There is one thing that is beyond doubt: this extraordinary film makes everything else around look comfy and pedestrian.
Peter Bradshaw
... fierce humanism in the face of a world shaped by market logic and humiliation. Oct 9, 2017 | Full Review…
... fierce humanism in the face of a world shaped by market logic and humiliation.
Christoph Huber
Import Export adds the welcome element of humanity to stand between the cruelty and humor. Feb 5, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
Import Export adds the welcome element of humanity to stand between the cruelty and humor.
Jeffrey M. Anderson
There is never a moment telegraphed in the story...keeping me interested and attentive throughout its 2 hour runtime. Jan 21, 2010 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…
There is never a moment telegraphed in the story...keeping me interested and attentive throughout its 2 hour runtime.
Robin Clifford
Eastern work ethic vs. the softer West. It is clear who Seidl sides with. Jan 18, 2010 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…
Eastern work ethic vs. the softer West. It is clear who Seidl sides with.
Laura Clifford
Technically, the sedate yet stunning 35mm camera is there for the ride and somehow never imposes or dominates the content. And the result is a true triumph. Aug 6, 2009 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Technically, the sedate yet stunning 35mm camera is there for the ride and somehow never imposes or dominates the content. And the result is a true triumph.
Matthew Nestel
Occasionally drags, but offers a relentlessly stark glimpse into the morbid, tragic life of two lost souls who haven't found happiness or prosperity. Aug 4, 2009 | Rating: 6.0/10 | Full Review…
Occasionally drags, but offers a relentlessly stark glimpse into the morbid, tragic life of two lost souls who haven't found happiness or prosperity.
Avi Offer
This Austrian film directed by Ulrich Seidl was nominated for the Palme d'Or in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix - Golden Apricot reward in Yerevan International Film Festival. Shot in Vienna, Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia from 2005 until May 2007, using 16mm and 35mm lenses, gives us feeling of a documentary with real dramatic style. The movie follows Olga - Ukrainian woman from Uzhhorod, and Pauli - young man from Vienna, Austria and gives us insight in their dreams, mistakes, experiences, disappointment and love... Wonderful work of art! After 135 minutes of watching I wanted MORE!
Super Reviewer
The story takes place in both Ukraine and Austria and focuses on 2 lives of very different people who share a similar circumstance of being at the end of the line in the place that they live in. Both seek change and their circumstances take very different shapes and fates but share a similar intention, to find a better life. The director and writer give us little hope in their depiction of 2 lives and how their environments constantly conspire to either keep them down or challenge their will to survive and change. It is a story at once about Eastern Europe and a story about the world's 'lower classes' and their monumental struggle against inertia and their past. It is a movie filled with images, humor, highs and lows, and, graphic scenes of sexual play that all add to the base quality of the human experience that exists not only in Eastern Europe, but, many place in the world.
Brutally vivid analysis of East/West relations today with an unsparingly honest portrayal of the bleak situations the two main protagonists find themselves in. Easier to admire and learn from than enjoy, however.
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