American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 93

Houston
Cinematographer:
Michael Kotschi
Director: Bastian Günther
In Houston, corporate headhunter
and closet alcoholic Clemens Trunschka
(Ulrich Tukur) is tasked with tracking
down Steve Ringer ( Jason Douglas),
the CEO of an American oil company,
and offering him a job as chief executive
of a German car manufacturer.
Trunschka’s pursuit takes him to
Houston, Texas, where the strangeness
of his new surroundings compels him to
the hotel bar. There, a boorish American
businessman (played by Garret
Dillahunt) latches onto him like a
barnacle. Lumbered with his abrasive
alter ego and thwarted by Ringer’s stateof-the-art security, Trunschka seeks
solace in the bottle and begins spiraling
toward a breakdown.
Leavening its drama with bursts
of humor, Houston emphasizes the
drunkard’s disorientation with a striking
variety of lens flares and other “aberrations” that cause the anamorphic
compositions to crowd in on Trunschka,
making him appear trapped within a
boozy bubble. During a Sundance
Q&A, director Bastian Günther singled
out cinematographer Michael Kotschi
for praise, noting that the imagery
provides elegant subtext for the movie’s
themes. One of the goals was to draw
subtle parallels between the world’s
dependence on oil and Trunschka’s
addiction to alcohol; Kotschi helps
convey these ideas via ominous visual
portents: empty parking lots and other
desolate settings, or frames in which
Houston’s futuristic-looking skyscrapers
loom threateningly behind the protagonist.
The striking building shots
benefit from Kotschi’s experience as
an assistant to German architectural
photographer Reinhard Görner in
1998. Two years later, Kotschi enrolled
at the German Film and Television
Academy Berlin, where he met
Günther. “Before university, I was a
carpenter’s apprentice, but I decided to



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American Cinematographer - April 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2013

American Cinematographer - April 2013
Table of Contents
Editor's Note
President's Desk
Short Takes: 7x6x2
Production Slate: War Witch • The Darkest Day
Hello, Yellow Brick Road
Hell on Wheels
All In
6 Sundance Standouts
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Christopher Baffa
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - American Cinematographer - April 2013
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 1
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 2
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Table of Contents
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 4
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 5
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 6
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 7
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 8
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 9
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Editor's Note
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 11
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - President's Desk
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 13
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Short Takes: 7x6x2
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 15
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 16
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 17
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 18
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 19
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Production Slate: War Witch • The Darkest Day
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 21
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 22
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 23
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 24
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 25
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American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 31
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American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 34
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 35
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Hello, Yellow Brick Road
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 37
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 38
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 39
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 40
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American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 49
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 50
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 51
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Hell on Wheels
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 53
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 54
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 55
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 56
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 57
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 58
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 59
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 60
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 61
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 62
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 63
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - All In
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 65
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 66
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 67
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American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 78
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 79
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 6 Sundance Standouts
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K1
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K2
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K3
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K4
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K5
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K6
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K7
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K8
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K9
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K10
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K11
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K12
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American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 101
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 102
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 103
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 105
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 106
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 107
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 108
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 109
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 110
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 111
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 112
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 113
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 117
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - 119
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - ASC Close-Up: Christopher Baffa
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - April 2013 - Cover4
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