It's rare to find a film which manages to disturb and horrify without ever being exploitative or using cheap shock tactics like you'd see in the August Underground movies but Nothing Bad Can Happen manages to do exactly that. I came away from the film feeling drained and disturbed in a way that I haven't felt since Pascal Laugier's Martyrs which should certainly ring alarm bells if you can't handle upsetting subject matters in your films. Although Nothing Bad Can Happen is undoubtedly a superb piece of filmmaking, it's something I wouldn't recommend lightly due to explicit sequences involving abuse of all kinds and cruelty to animals.The film follows the true events surrounding a young self-proclaimed 'Jesus freak' called Tore who happens to have some form of autism which makes him think and act very differently to others. Tore places all of his faith in Jesus Christ and is naively taken in by a truly evil family who take advantage of his absurdly good nature. It's a fascinating meditation on evil in society and the dangers of religion. Despite being a truly gruelling watch, Nothing Bad Can Happen never gratuitously relishes in the violence and is always focused on delivering a powerful message. The fact that these events are true makes the film all the more relevant and important.First-time director Katrin Gebbe shows astonishing confidence behind the camera. Despite the ugly subject matter, the images always try to find beauty and light through the bleakness. There's a hypnotic sense of realism to the whole film which reminded me of Justin Kurzel's equally uncompromising Snowtown. The acting from the unknown cast is similarly impressive, particularly breakout star Julius Feldmeier in the lead who manages to make Tore an engaging and sympathetic main character. Sascha Alexander Gersak also feels toe-curlingly real as the malevolent patriarch determined to break Tore's Holy spirit.You could easily mistake Nothing Bad Can Happen as being the lost film in Lars Von Trier's 'Golden Hearts Trilogy' which correspondingly follows mentally-challenged protagonists as they battle through life's brutal hardships. It's just as tough to watch as seeing Emily Watson getting stoned by feral kids or Bjork dancing through life despite desperately trying to raise enough money for her son's operation. It'll be too much for some people and it does get worse as the film progresses but the reason I watch films is to be moved and provoked by some sort of emotional response. Nothing Bad Can Happen does this in spade loads.This is a haunting piece of work which will bury itself under your skin and stay there long after the credits roll. It's a torturous watch at times but it carries an important message which is extremely relevant to society today. The pacing is very slow at the beginning but it's also immersive and character-focused meaning that it's easy to engage with. There was not one moment where I was bored or distracted in its 110 minute running time. It's a heart-breaking watch which will shake you to your core. A stunning debut but proceed with caution.

The slowly unwinding pace of this film can seduce one into a believing not much is happening, but from the outset there's a sinister feel to this film that becomes far more visceral, and disturbing. At times the violence was so calculating and casual it made me physically ill, and wanted to walk away from it. That said, the behavior of the parents, who fed into each others 'evil', reflected for me the explicit desire to dehumanize that which they hate. A feature so evident in the early 21st century. It's not from a genuine failure to reach and understand another's vulnerability, and Tore's is achingly portrayed in this film, painfully so, and the adults ever so casually seek to obliterate it. A day before I'd seen Reggie Yates doco on the experience of the LGBTI community in St Petersberg, and was truly frightened by the casual nature of the brutality, intimidation and violence of 'ordinary' Russians to gay people. The banality of evil indeed.

Tore's dancing and Benno's prancing in "Tore tanzt", the first full feature movie by writer and director Katrin Gebbe. This is a 2013 release, so it will have it 5th anniversary next year. The young actor who plays the title character is Julius Feldmeier and there is a reason why he did not really receive a great deal of awards attention while his film did. He is a good casting choice for the part of a modern Jesus on his very own modern Way of the Cross, but there is nothing about his performance that stands out. The MVP in this 110-minute movie is certainly Sascha Alexander Gersak. I may be a bit biased as I like him a lot as an actor in other projects too, but there is no denying how he is the (evil) heart and soul of the film, a man playing a sadistic family dad who seems to be Tore's big test when it comes to his faith and devotion to God. Yes there are scenes when this movie sacrifices a bit of realism in his attempt to be memorable through shock value, but it's fine I guess and once again Gersak is the one who needs to be thanked for making even these moments work.But enough talk about Gersak. Another thing that makes this film an interesting watch are the references about a real case. Of course, a lot of it was added for dramatic purposes, but that's fine as after all we are not watching a documentary, but a work of fiction here. The cast does not include too many known names, but I personally felt this wasn't a problem. Sure better acting would have made this an even more rewarding watch, but lets be honest here, this film is really mostly about the story and how strange and absurd, yet reality-based, it all is. I personally also see Tore as a bit of an antagonist here, or at least a very insane person if he goes through all of this on purpose and still will not contact the police or anything. Anyway, I must say I am quite shocked by the contents here. This is definitely not an easy film to stomach and (just like me) you will not expect what is hidden behind this so harmless, almost playful title. I mean the German title of course, the English title "Nothing Bad Can Happen" has a great deal of irony attached to it eventually. So yeah, I think this was a decent film overall, even if it has weaknesses. It's certainly closer to a ** out of ***** than to a **** out of *****, but I still recommend the watch.

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN (aka TORE TANZT) could have slipped into the annals of torture porn but first time director Katrin Gebbe has such a sure hand and grasp of her subject that the film never crosses the line into degenerate entertainment (not that I'm against that). But it's refreshing to see a film that has so much on its mind and plays with our expectations while depicting a world in which beauty, truth and innocence are not only resented but demeaned and destroyed. This is a tough film which one could see as a statement on the masochism behind religious zealotry but is ultimately about human pettiness and capacity for destruction. The film seriously calls to mind the work of Lars von Trier and Gebbe deserves positive comparisons to von Trier but NOTHING has a genuineness that makes if feel poignant rather than an intellectual exercise. NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN is not an easy film but well worth the pain.