Crasses et Voluptés

Photographer, author and filmmaker Miron Zownir’s second feature film, “Back to Nothing”, was shot on abandoned, dilapidated locations in Berlin. A group of freaks subsist as city nomads in an uncontrolled ghetto, doomed for demolition. Hell breaks loose when their last hide out – a condemned factory complex – is to be knocked down. Kongo, Strasser, Bobby and Jackie are heading out – back to nothing. Zownir’s stark b/w imagery depicts an erratic, immoral shadow world without hope or mercy, that forces his protagonists to the lowest level of survival.

Kongo (Birol Ünel), a doomsayer broken by life, wanders the streets announcing the end of the world. Strasser (Timo Jacobs), seeking for shelter, goes back to his wife Luna (Meret Becker), a junkie who indulges in unfulfilled dreams. Strasser’s feeble attempt to make good ends in a cruel fiasco. He starts losing his mind, setting out to hawk human flesh, which he declares as pork meat. His best customer is Muckie (Rummelsnuff), an ex-wrestler who’s seen better days, now competing in no limit MMA-fights. Jackie (Aljkzindyr Narmer) a transgender street hustler, abandoned by her former pimp Bobby (Milton Welsh), tries to make her way out by chumming up with Muckie. Bobby, a raving crack-addict in cahoots with Strasser, schemes Muckie into a fixed fight organized by satanist preacher/promoter Pontius (King Khan): Muckie vs. Jackie. Nothing works out as planned, with three dead on fight night. A nameless detective (Mark Philipps), mourning the suicide of his ex-partner, proves utterly indifferent about the homicides but savvy about blackmailing Strasser into a partner/relationship. In a world where lives are valueless even the winners and survivors become losers. It’s Kongo, of course, who gets the last word.