Theaters running Silentium will be anything but quiet once appreciative auds get a load of this Austrian comedy-crimer featuring a dissheveled detective, a Catholic school’s darkest secret and even darker humor. Brenner (Austrian comedian Josef Hader) is a grifting private dick in the Marlowe mold who’s a dead cat’s bounce away from hitting bottom. Working as a store detective, Brenner stumbles into the life of newly widowed Konstanze Dornhelm, society daughter of a Salzburg arts administrator. Konstanze’s late hubby was a vocal critic of the local Catholic seminary, due to his status as a sex-abuse survivor. She suspects he died from foul play — a suspicion already confirmed for viewers by his execution prior to the opening credits. While the outcome is a million miles away from the direction it first points in, script will suit conspiracy theorists.
Russell Edwards