hundstage be an intentionally ugly and unnerve study of life in a particularly dreary suburb of vienna . it come from former documentary director ulrich seidl who adopt a very documentary like approach to the material . however and the film veers away from normal type and present u with character that be best describe a extreme some be extremely lonely while some extremely violent while some extremely weird while some extremely devious while some extremely frustrated and misunderstood while and so on . the film combine several near plot less episode which intertwine from time to time and each follow the character over a couple of day during a swelter viennese summer . very few viewer will come away from the film feeling entertain the intention be to point up the many thing that be wrong with people and the many ill that plague our society in general . it be a thought provoking film and it conclusion be pretty damn on the whole . a fussy old widower fantasise about his elderly cleaning lady and want her to perform a striptease for him while wear his deceased wife clothes . a nightclub dancer contend with the perpetually jealous and violent behaviour of her boy racer boyfriend . a couple grieve over their dead daughter can no longer communicate with each other and seek solace by have sex with other people . an abusive man mistreat his woman but she forgive him time and again . a security salesman desperately try to find the culprit behind some vandalism on a work site but end up pick on an innocent scapegoat . and a mentally ill woman keep hitch ride with stranger and insult them until they throw her out of the car . the life of these disparate character converge over several day during an intense summer heat wave . the despair in the film be palpable . many scene be characterise by long and awkward silence that be twice as effective a a whole passage of dialogue might be . then there be other scene during which the dialogue and on screen event leave you reel . in particular and a scene during which the security salesman leave the female hitch hiker to the mercy of a vengeful guy to be beat and rap and humiliate ( thankfully all off screen ) for some vandalism she do not even do arouse a sour and almost angry taste . in another scene a man have a lit candle wedge in his rear end and be force to sing the national anthem at gunpoint and all a part of his punishment for be nasty to his wife . while we might want to cheer that this thug be receive his come uppance and we be simultaneously leave appalled and unnerve by the nature of his punishment . indeed and such stark contrast could act a a summary of the whole film every moment of light heartedness be counter balance with a moment of coldness . every shred of hope be counter with a sense of despair . for every character you could like or feel sympathy for and there be another that encourage nothing but anger and hate . we might want to turn away from hundstage and to dismiss it a an exercise in misery and but it also point up some uncomfortable truth and for that it should be applaud .