Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Main Actor (1977)
Director: Reinhard Hauff
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This has something of the same hard-edged documentary authenticity as Hauff's earlier Brutalisation of Franz Blum, though a tone of autobiographical self-flagellation adds a slightly mawkish element. A teenage boy and his brutal father act in a film about their no-hope lives; at the end of the shooting, the boy runs away to the anguished middle class director, who unsuccessfully tries to help him start a new life. Hauff, it seems, actually had this experience with a non-professional actor whom he used in an earlier film. The movie doesn't get very deep beneath the skin of its wayward adolescent protagonist, but it registers as a thoroughly competent (if somewhat crude) example of second division New German Cinema.Author: JPy
Cast & crew
Director: Reinhard Hauff
Producer: Eberhard Junkersdorf
Cast: Mario Adorf, Vadim Glowna, Michael Schweiger, Hans Brenner, Rolf Zacher, Akim Ahrens, Doris Dörrie, Eberhard Hauff full cast
Duration: 91 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now