A chicken is in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ced to dance on a hot plate at the end of Werner Herzog’s Stroszek. It’s an absurdly bleak finale in an American Dream takedown so despairing that it makes sense that Joy Division’s Ian Curtis watched it bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e dying by suicide. The same furious hopelessness is reached in/with regard to’concerning’regarding in Bastian Günther’s less-than-effective, ripped-from-the-headlines drama pivoting around what poor individual will suffer in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the sake of a new truck.###An unnamed small town near the Texas/Louisiana border is depicted as the whole world to occupants whose odd traditions thrive unchallenged. Wide plains are captured by director of photography Michael Kotschi with a scope that convincingly portrays how essential vehicles are to e grossly day life here. Fast-food worker Kyle (Joe Cole) is over the moon when his name is drawn to compete in the annual ‘Hands On’ competition, as his motor is faulty and he has a young wife and baby to maintain’sustain .###Once underway, the curiosity value of the competition runs out fast due to a frustrating lack of focus on individual stakes.###Carrie Preston’s Joan is afin/with regard to’concerning’regarding ded a bright little prologue, as she pootles around town hyping the contest and acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting dumped by her “fuck-buddy”. Once underway, the curiosity value of the competition runs out fast due to a frustrating lack of focus on individual stakes. Twenty individual trapped in a single location should be a gift to a director but this opportunity in/with regard to’concerning’regarding tension is frittered away as participants menace, needle and annoy each other with the broad dialogue of an unoriginal comic skit.###As sleep-deprivation and psychological disturbance kick in in/with regard to’concerning’regarding participants, there is a hallucinogenic quality to moments that lay stress on’emphasize’highlight the perversity of the test. One participant keels over, another shuffles off into the night crying. In a gleeful highlight, a devout woman vomits on her bible. These promising vignettes threaten to add up, but sorrowful’distressing’woeful’heartbroken’mirthless’dejected’dismal’lugubrious ly do not, and a lengthy final flashback tests the audience’s own endurance.