FULL MOON A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
A 10-year-old boy has gone missing in writer and director Fredi M. Murer's magical mystery, FULL MOON (VOLLMOND), but the police are not sure what they are dealing with. Is it a kidnapping, a runaway kid or what?
It falls to Inspector Anatol Wasser, played sympathetically and warmly by Hanspeter Müller, to solve the mystery. Soon, he finds that he has not 1 but 12 interrelated incidents to investigate. It seems that 12 children, 3 in each of Switzerland's language regions, disappeared on the same morning, all without a trace.
With no clues to work with, save the commonality of the date, Inspector Wasser launches into a long and basically hopeless investigation. The only hint he uncovers is both obscure and ironic, but it doesn't help resolve the location of the children. (One of the missing kid's young sister keeps trying, without any luck, to reveal some important information to her mother, but her mother is too busy worrying about the kidnapping to listen.)
Momentary relief comes to the parents through a letter that each child writes. In each letter is the same undecipherable ultimatum along with an associated date.
The parents are an amalgamation of a wide variety of types, and, within the constraints of a normal length film, the writer manages to develop each remarkably well.
Murer, who was at our screening, clearly understands and appreciates children. His presentation of them is never patronizing or demeaning. He even did an impromptu magic trick that he used to entertain the child actors on the set. His treatment of the parents in the story is a bit more judgmental, but completely honest.
The beauty of the film is that, as the conclusion draws nigh, the audience realizes that it has learned remarkably little. The busy, cathartic ending may be a bit much for some, but it nicely caps a most unusual tale. And it takes the biggest risk of all by leaving much to the imagination.
After the film concluded, the director poked fun at his own movie. "You can tell it isn't an American film -- no big stars, no happy ending," he said. I told him that I respectfully disagreed about the ending. He smiled broadly and didn't argue with me.
FULL MOON runs 2:04. The film is in all the four languages of Switzerland (Swiss German, French, Italian and Romansch) and has English subtitles. It is not rated, but would be PG-13 for a little profanity and would be fine for kids around 10 and up.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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