Gun-shy Movie Review

Curious and bleak, Dito Tsintsadze's story of rank obsession will gain fans among thrill-seekers and rubberneckers alike, while leaving most moviegoers baffled.

Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs) is a German semi-slacker, interested in old hookers and rowing. His life is meaningless until Isabella (Lavinia Wilson) drops a note in his lap at random, reading "Help me." Turns out she doesn't really need any help at all -- she's just looking for a place to sleep and, maybe, a head to mess with a bit.

Lukas and Isabella begin a strange and wildly dysfunctional relationship which soon develops into Lukas watching her screw an older man in a closet and eventually culminates into his purchasing a gun and outright stalking her. Lukas spends more time caressing that rifle (with silencer) than he ever does Isabella... so prepare for some rough and disturbing moments in the 105 minutes that lie ahead.

Unfortunately both Lukas and Isabella are poorly so developed as characters that it's hard to care much about their plight. Lukas has no reason to be obsessed with the girl. She's got no motivation to be such a freak -- aside from old-fashioned insanity. The story moves from perverse to outright shocking simply as a ploy to try to keep our attention. To some degree, this works, but on the whole we're left with a character study of half-baked characters.

Tsintsadze's examination of obsession is equally cursory -- Gun-shy simply doesn't make enough logical sense to justify its third act histrionics. It's well-made, though, and at times wryly sarcastic, but something this bleak really ought to have a moral to the story.

Aka Schussangst.