Now he’s a director as well. Josef Hader was a successful cabaret artist at first and got into acting with INDIEN and the Brenner films which he also co-wrote. And now for the slam dunk: WILDE MAUS has Hader writing, acting, and directing to what perhaps amounts to a Hader overdose?
Music critic Georg, embodied by Hader, is a play on himself of course: a man in his prime who seems to have let life pass him. He gets fired from his job, his marriage to psychotherapist Johanna (Pia Hierzegger) is on the rocks, his stomach is getting bigger, and he doesn’t really have any friends which is not a surprise since he’s quite the misanthrope. He was known for his severe takedowns but his harsh judgements have kept him from communicating, also in his private life. That’s the theme that Hader carves out for himself in an amazingly subtle way, beneath all the Haderisms and the tricks. He introduces multifaceted characters – his boss (Jörg Hartmann), Johanna’s good-hearted patient Sebastian (Denis Moschitto), and slacker Erich (Georg Friedrich) – whose relationships all suffer due to a lack of communication. The loose structure and seemingly disconnected characters seem disparate at first but Hader slowly brings them together. The film is a mature effort for a late debut by someone who honed his craft slowly and independently. With success. You can’t get more Hader than WILDE MAUS.

Michael Meyns

Translation: Elinor Lewy