AUFZEICHNUNGEN AUS DER UNTERWELT : Notes From the Underworld
#de Im Milieu der Wiener Unterwelt der 1960er Jahre herrscht Unruhe. Mitten
im Geschehen stehen der Wienerlied-Sänger Kurt Girk und sein legendärer Freund Alois Schmutzer.
Beide müssen ihre Nähe zum illegalen Kartenspiel Stoß in einem umstrittenen
Prozess mit langen Haftstrafen büßen. In eindringlichen Schwarz-Weiß-Bildern erzählen die charismatischen Protagonisten
über diese Zeit aus einer noch nie gezeigten Position. AUFZEICHNUNGEN AUS DER UNTERWELT ist
nicht nur eine Liebeserklärung an ein vergangenes Wien, sondern auch
ein Sittenbild österreichischer Nachkriegsgeschichte.
#en There is unrest in the milieu of the Viennese underworld of the 1960s. In a controversial trial the singer Kurt Girk and his legendary friend Alois have to pay for their proximity to the illegal card game "Stoss" with long prison sentences. The charismatic protagonists tell us about this time from a perspective never shown before. A love letter to a past Vienna that is also a social portrait of post-war Austria.
#en There is unrest in the milieu of the Viennese underworld of the 1960s. In a controversial trial the singer Kurt Girk and his legendary friend Alois have to pay for their proximity to the illegal card game "Stoss" with long prison sentences. The charismatic protagonists tell us about this time from a perspective never shown before. A love letter to a past Vienna that is also a social portrait of post-war Austria.
#de „Du Kurt, zurück zu deiner Verhaftung, wie war das?“ Der elegant
vergreiste Heurigenmusiker Kurt Girk lässt sich von den Regisseur*innen Covi und Frimmel nicht zweimal bitten und erzählt
aus der Zaungastperspektive seine Version der Wiener Unterwelt der 1960er Jahre, als in den Mean Streets von Mariahilf und
Meidling immer brutaler um Einfluss im Rotlicht- und Glücksspielmilieu gekämpft wurde. Alois Schmutzer, Freund von Kurt und
der eigentliche Held des Films, verschuf sich seine Autorität mit seinen großen Fäusten. Zehn Jahre saß er in Haft – die Doku
fächert das Drama des brummigen Phlegmatikers mit deutlicher Sympathie auf. (Robert Weixlbaumer)
#en A deep sip from a glass and a blunt question form the introduction to this intriguing trip into the past of two Viennese “gangsters” from the rough 1960s, who were set up by the police and subsequently incarcerated for many years. “How do you feel about always being called the ‘king of the underworld’? Was there an underworld in Vienna?”, Alois Schmutzer is asked. “Never”, he replied.
Directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel continue their studies of marginalized milieus by interviewing two protagonists of an era that can only be recalled via an exercise in oral history such as this: Alois Schmutzer, a mythical figure from the Meidling district, who used to be as strong as a bear, and Kurt Girk from Ottakring, a rather fragile gentleman who used to perform Viennese songs at the city’s famous “Heurigen” (wine taverns). Both were engaged in illegal gambling, a card game called “Stoß”, and presumably in some other petty crimes, which now raise the question of how truth is conceived.
But AUFZEICHNUNGEN ... is less about questions of criminality and more a shimmering portrait of an suburban culture soon to be lost. The film places a clear focus on Schmutzer and Girk’s rough but engaging charm, the bleak times that shaped them, and the habitus of a dying species. (Gunnar Landsgesell)
#en A deep sip from a glass and a blunt question form the introduction to this intriguing trip into the past of two Viennese “gangsters” from the rough 1960s, who were set up by the police and subsequently incarcerated for many years. “How do you feel about always being called the ‘king of the underworld’? Was there an underworld in Vienna?”, Alois Schmutzer is asked. “Never”, he replied.
Directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel continue their studies of marginalized milieus by interviewing two protagonists of an era that can only be recalled via an exercise in oral history such as this: Alois Schmutzer, a mythical figure from the Meidling district, who used to be as strong as a bear, and Kurt Girk from Ottakring, a rather fragile gentleman who used to perform Viennese songs at the city’s famous “Heurigen” (wine taverns). Both were engaged in illegal gambling, a card game called “Stoß”, and presumably in some other petty crimes, which now raise the question of how truth is conceived.
But AUFZEICHNUNGEN ... is less about questions of criminality and more a shimmering portrait of an suburban culture soon to be lost. The film places a clear focus on Schmutzer and Girk’s rough but engaging charm, the bleak times that shaped them, and the habitus of a dying species. (Gunnar Landsgesell)
