Fun with Rabbit

"OK, that´s fine!" – Fun with Rabbit outlines a separate world populated by young people: The film focuses on three boys; adults remain secondary figures; there are no girls at all. A fast and loose sequence of scenes in which these youngsters are observed in their everyday lives, as they perform their duties and pursue their inclinations: school (late again), karate lessons, hanging out in the wintry Prater, a local amusement park, and running away from the guard at the spook-house ride.

The impressionistic short film quickly portrays a situation, during the transition from childhood to young adulthood.

An excerpt from the synopsis: "To prevent the loss of his best friend, Chris, to the cool and aloof Henk, 14-year-old Johnny tries to impress him with off-beat cell-phone videos. But at some point even the absurd comedy of the rabbit costume worn by his little brother isn´t enough anymore."

Fun with Rabbit describes growing up as a loss or weakening of the imagination, which is replaced by a hunger for reality. An exchange concerning a violent scene on the cell phone´s display: "Do you think that looks real?" - "Yeah, it´s OK."

At some point pretending isn´t enough anymore. The imagination loses its power, its effectiveness. "Really" hitting someone exercises a stronger pull.

Fun with Rabbit describes this transition as a painful rupture that the individual senses only vaguely, though is disturbed by it, suffers from it; something´s happening but they´re not sure what; puberty, they´re at its mercy. The effect it has is brutal. Really.
(Bernhard Seiter)