Movie

The Master Game

1998 · 106 min

A cerebral, unsettling essay-film that drifts through art-world vandalism and political paranoia, leaving you unsure what is real.

Overview: At the Vienna Art Academy in 1994, an unidentified person painted over 27 works by Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer. Rainer had become world-famous for his abstract art and, in particular, for his over-layering of photographs and overpainting of his own and other artists’ works. But who painted over the “overpainter”? Speculation rages: Did he attack his works himself? A year later, an unsigned letter surfaces claiming responsibility for the act directed against Rainer – and modern art in general – and accusing the artist of being complicit with “destructive modernism.” At the same time, Austria is shaken by a series of mail bombs by the Bajuwarian Liberation Army, in response to the supposed threat to Austria’s “German identity.” Are there connections between the overpainting event and the mail bombs? Or is this all just a game? A dream? Or perhaps a hallucination?
How it feels: Eerie, tense, dark and satirical. Slow-burning and demanding.
About: Art, conspiracy, politics, identity
Content: Mild violence and language. No gore or sexual content.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown