Michael

Although it's hard to imagine too many ways in which a filmmaker could make a movie about a pedophile that wasn't difficult to watch, director Markus Schleinzer certainly gives it his best shot here. Michael, a 35-year-old child molester, is an everyday 9-to-5 worker bee who just happens to have kidnapped a 10-year-old child and is holding him prisoner in the basement. While Schleinzer is cagey in the way he handles this twisted relationship—more subtly than explicitly, allowing the viewer's imagination to supply all the ugly details—the restraint doesn't make the film any less disturbing. But unlike the characters in directorial kindred spirit Todd Solondz's movies about damaged people, Michael is completely devoid of any trace of humanity other than his ability to have a relatively successful working life in a garden variety office job—a scenario that seems to beg the question of how many other seemingly normal workaday people hide sinister secrets under perfectly normal business etiquette? Ultimately, Michael's persistently suggestive style begins to feel gimmicky and the viewer is left with another depressing indie film, albeit one that favors an artsy approach over cheap shock value. An optional purchase. (M. Sandlin)