Aloys | Film review - Tobias Nölle’s surreal Swiss drama

(Image credit: Hugofilm)

Surreal Swiss drama.

The decidedly glum hero of the surreal Swiss film Aloys is a lonely private investigator (Georg Friedrich) who finds his drab, antisocial existence unexpectedly shaken up by a series of calls from a mystery woman. She invites him to go ‘phone-walking’, a bizarre form of telepathy that sees him joining her on imaginary trips. Don’t let the bizarre premise or sour protagonist put you off. First-time writer-director Tobias Nölle’s strikingly filmed psychological drama is oddly comic and quietly touching.

Certificate 12. Runtime 91 mins. Director Tobias Nölle

Aloys debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 17 January. Available on Dual Format & Digital from Eureka Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LinVtXXqqVY

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.