Little Joe - happiness is a business

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Movie
German title Little Joe - happiness is a business
Original title Little Joe
Country of production Austria , Germany , United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2019
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jessica Hausner
script Géraldine Bajard ,
Jessica Hausner
production Bertrand Faivre ,
Martin Gschlacht ,
Jessica Hausner,
Gerardine O'Flynn ,
Bruno Wagner
camera Martin Gschlacht
cut Karina Ressler
occupation
synchronization

Little Joe - Happiness is a Business is a science fiction drama and psychological thriller by Jessica Hausner , which premiered on May 17, 2019 as part of the 72nd Cannes International Film Festival , where it competed for the Palme d' Or. Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw play the leading roles in the Austrian director's first English-language film.

action

Single mother Alice Woodard works as a plant breeder at Planthouse Biotechnologies, a company engaged in the development of new species. She has grown a very special purple flower, which they call "Little Joe", which is not only characterized by its beauty, but also by its therapeutic value. It was developed for a very special purpose, because it should make people happier. Their scent triggers the release of oxytocin, which in turn leads to a general sense of wellbeing. If it is kept at the ideal temperature and properly nourished and spoken to regularly, it will make its owner happy. Contrary to company policy, Alice takes one of these plants home as a present for her son Joe. But as the plant grows, so does Alice's suspicion that her new creations may not be as harmless as believed.

When the genetically modified plant spreads its seeds, it causes uncanny changes in humans and animals. The afflicted appear strange and changed, especially to those who are close to them.

production

Martin Gschlacht, Jessica Hausner and Bruno Wagner (2020)

Directed by Jessica Hausner . It is in Little Joe to her first English-language film.

From the Austrian Film Institute was Little Joe , a script development funding in the amount of 15,000 euros and a production subsidy of 600,000 euros, the Vienna Film Fund a grant of 15,000 euros for project development and production funding of 350,000 euros, of FISA film location Austria a production funding of 580,000 Euros and a production grant of 150,000 euros from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg . Additional funds came from the BFI British Film Institute and Eurimages (production funding of 450,000 euros).

Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw can be seen in the film in the roles of the scientists Alice and Chris, who work in genetic research. Kerry Fox took on the role of Bella, an older scientist who is recovering from an accident and is allowed to bring her dog Bello to work. Lindsay Duncan plays Alice's psychotherapist. David Wilmot , Sebastian Hülk and Leanne Best can also be seen in other roles .

The shooting took place between August 11th and October 9th, 2018. The film was shot in Vienna and Krems an der Donau , here at the Karl Landsteiner University for Health Sciences , in Veiling Rhein-Maas, Germany's only auction house for flowers and plants, and in the greater Liverpool area . Martin Gschlacht acted as cameraman . Tanja Hausner was responsible for the costume design and Katharina Wöppermann was responsible for the production design .

The Wrap's Ben Croll describes Little Joe , the genetically engineered plant similar to a giant saffron bulb that Dr. Seuss could have been outlined: “It feeds on love and care and in turn gives happiness because it was bred to spread the same hormone that connects new mothers with their children. The flower works through a kind of mind control and produces pollen, which increases the happiness of everyone who smells it. "The whole thing follows a dynamic like from the film The Body Eaters come when" Little Joe "tries to control the people around him, first and foremost his namesake Joe, while his mother Alice defends against this.

Christoph Petersen writes of film starts, even if the motif wears out at some point, the flowers increasingly lose their hypnotic horror and the images lose their power, the absolutely brilliant film music could at least cushion this to a certain extent: “The Japanese avant-garde who died in 1982 -Composers Teiji Ito go back to the cacophonic sound carpets and with their metallic yowling would probably make even recordings of kittens playing with balls of wool extremely disturbing. "

The film premiered on May 17, 2019 at the Cannes International Film Festival , where it competed for the Palme d'Or. In late July and early August 2019 it was shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival . In September 2019 it was shown as a centerpiece at the Fantasy Filmfest and presented in the same month at the Leipzig Film Art Fair . In early October 2019 he was presented at the London Film Festival . The Austrian theatrical release took place on November 1, 2019, in Germany it is planned for January 9, 2020.

reception

Age rating

In Germany it was approved by the FSK from the age of 12, but allowed from the age of 6 if accompanied by the parents. The statement of reasons for the release states that the story is told very cautiously and creates a subtle horror with suggestive means . The threatening atmosphere and strange changes in behavior of the main characters as well as conflicts that are not easy to classify could irritate children under the age of 12 and overwhelm them emotionally, especially since the protagonist's son is suitable as a figure of identification for children and young people.

Reviews

The film has received mixed reviews so far, with the approval of 67 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics . In the critics survey published by Screen on the festival contributions in Cannes, he received 2.3 out of 4 possible points.

Dominik Kamalzadeh from Standard writes that the film, which is based on sci-fi horror classics such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Little Shop of Horrors , is in the already characteristically withdrawn, gently ironic tone of Jessica Hausner , which is also profane Gives grade. In terms of staging, Little Joe is all of a piece: “The ingenious production design, which, apart from the poisonous red flower, bathes everything in cool colors, the slightly disconcerting play of the actors, the minimalist music by Teiji Ito - all of this gives the film a genuinely artificial note. “Hausner's focus is on closely monitoring the changes, says Kamalzadeh, but the script is not entirely up to the art. Sometimes this would explain a bit too much of what the pictures convey anyway, but in the end the game with guesswork and premonitions definitely works.

David Ehrlich of Indie Wire writes that Hausner is one of the few contemporary filmmakers who deserve to be considered Kubrick's heir, and that her control over her work is still paramount in Little Joe . The film is always on the move, drifting sideways or sneaking forward to reveal all the everyday threat that escapes the naked eye. The film only takes a few minutes so that the viewer is afraid of a simple plant, and so he did for greenhouses what Psycho did for showers. The further the film progresses, the louder its message becomes, because Alice, who defends "Little Joe", no matter how irrational this is, makes parallels to addicts recognizable. Ehrlich also refers to the present day when pain medication is one of the leading causes of death in large parts of the world. However, Hausner's film could have been so much better if the characters shown had made an inventory of their personal happiness without delegitimizing it at the same time.

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian says the setup is great and there are great shots of plants the size of a soccer field moving eerily in the hi-tech greenhouse like in a documentary by Nikolaus Geyrhalter , who is a master of this kind of tableau of alienated nature. Bradshaw also writes that the film is not convincing dramatically, and that the actors, who are all very talented, may not have received clear enough directing instructions.

Use in school lessons

The online portal kinofenster.de recommends the film for the subjects biology, English, German, ethics and psychology. Karl-Leontin Beger wrote there that the film could be the starting point for studying green genetic engineering in biology lessons . Ethical questions , on the other hand, can be deepened in politics and ethics lessons and thus also a discussion about the consequences of the widespread use of genetically modified seeds in industrial agriculture. In the German and English classes, it is advisable to work out the film aesthetic means of the horror and sci-fi genre and to use the figure of colleague Bella to discuss the requirements of the competitive society and its consequences: “What is happiness and how can it be in of the post-industrial consumer society ? ”These questions could be discussed in philosophy and religion classes with regard to marketing strategies and concepts such as work-life balance .

Awards

Diagonal 2020

  • Awarded the Diagonale Prize for Exceptional Production Services by the Collecting Society for Audiovisual Media (VAM)
  • Awarded the Diagonale Prize for the best production design ( Katharina Wöppermann )

Cannes International Film Festival 2019

Karina Ressler, Heiko Schmidt and Katharina Wöppermann at the presentation of the Austrian Film Prize

Austrian Film Award 2020

Thomas Pluch Script Award 2020

  • Nomination for the main prize and the special prize of the jury (Jessica Hausner and Geraldine Bajard)

The film was also in the preselection for the European Film Awards 2019 .

synchronization

actor Voice actor role
Emily Beecham Anna Grisebach Alice Woodard
Ben Whishaw Tobias Nath Chris
Kerry Fox Almut Zydra Bella
Kit Connor Kaspar Johann Wollstein Joe Woodard
Sebastian Hulk Sebastian Hulk Ivan
Andrew Rajan Rainer Fritzsche Jasper
David Wilmot Oliver Siebeck Karl
Phénix Brossard Tim Schwarzmaier Ric

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certification of Release for Little Joe - Happiness is a Business . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 195335 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Little Joe. In: austrianfilms.com. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  3. ↑ http://www.coop99.at/web-coop99/?portfolio=little-joe&lang=de
  4. ↑ a b Hannah Woodhead and Adam Woodward: 25 films we'd like to see at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. In: lwlies.com, March 2, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b Little Joe. In: filminstitut.at. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  6. ↑ Little Joe. In: filmfonds-wien.at. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  7. ↑ a b https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/17/little-joe-review-cannes-2019
  8. ↑ https://www.indiewire.com/2019/05/little-joe-review-cannes-1202142527/
  9. ↑ Little Joe - Happiness is a business at crew united . Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  10. ↑ Ben Croll: 'Little Joe' Film Review: Cannes Gets a Horticultural Horror Flick. In: thewrap.com, May 17, 2019.
  11. ↑ http://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/271955/kritik.html
  12. ↑ Little Joe. In: jff.org.il. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Little Joe. In: f3a.net. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  14. ↑ http://beta.blickpunktfilm.de/details/442245
  15. ↑ Marc Mensch: Lots of new things at the film art fair. In: Blickpunkt: Film, August 20, 2019.
  16. ↑ 63rd BFI London Film Festival program announced. In: bfi.org.uk, August 29, 2019.
  17. ↑ Start dates Germany In: insidekino.com. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  18. ↑ https://www.spio-fsk.de/?seitid=2737&tid=469&Vers=1&FGID=5404
  19. ↑ Little Joe In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  20. ↑ Ben Dalton: Screen reveals Cannes 2019 jury grid critics. In: screendaily.com. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  21. ↑ https://www.derstandard.de/story/2000103357306/filmfestival-in-cannesder-giftig-rote-ueberlebenskuenstler
  22. ↑ David Ehrlich: 'Little Joe' Review: A Horror Film that Dangerously Compares Antidepressants to an Alien Invasion - Cannes. In: indiewire.com, May 17, 2019.
  23. ↑ Karl-Leontin Beger: Little Joe - Happiness is a business. In: kinofenster.de, January 6, 2020.
  24. ↑ Diagonal firmly in a woman's hand. In: orf.at, June 30, 2020.
  25. ^ Jochen Müller: Lola-Abräumer in pre-selection for the European Film Award. In: Blickpunkt: Film, August 20, 2019.
  26. ↑ EFA Feature Film Selection. In: europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved August 20, 2019.