Playing a sexually charged couple who enjoy killing as much as lustful liaisons, real-life couple McGregor and Steinbach go to the extreme in Impunity.
Their physical and emotionally driven performances leave you breathless as they probe the psyche of a 'Bonnie and Clyde' couple whose passion and blood lust knows no limits.
Their artistic hard-core scenes are super sexy and heated and stands in stark contrast to shocking scenes of violence, allowing us to share the intimate mindscape of a couple that you would most definitely not invite over for a cup of tea.
Although Impunity deals with the brutal nature of violence and the tragic consequences of those enslaved by its influence, at its heart it's a touching love story of two young lovers whose fateful encounter spirals into chaos.
Director-writer Mistry, an Associate Professor at the University of Witwatersrand's School of Arts, has consistently explored the avant garde tradition through her short films, which have screened at festivals internationally; she has served as artist in residence in programmes at New York University, California College of Arts, SACATAR (Brazil), and the NIROX Foundation, and makes her feature film debut with Impunity.
"Impunity is an immediate and direct response to the very visible and graphic reporting of the escalating violence in civil society in contemporary South Africa," says Mistry.
"This is not a film about the influence of the media or mediated violence, nor is it a film that attempts to rationalise why South African society has increasingly conflated the boundaries between 'justifiable crimes' and crimes that appear random or where the extent of the violence is unwarranted in relation to the act of civil transgression."
Mistry states that what unfolds over the course of this story is a series of observations, reflections and a surveillance of contemporary life in South Africa, where the rules of social and civil engagement constantly seem to be at a knife's edge: road rage, drunken brawls, armed robbery, and the fear of grievous bodily harm.
"It is important to note that, as a South African, I will not re-inscribe the hysteria that is often reported in the international press, but instead aim to reflect as an insider on the multiple dimensions of the violent crime in South Africa and to show it is a way that also challenges the current political climate."
Impunity will definitely shock sensitive viewers, so be warned.
Alex McGregor burst onto South African screens in the box office hit feature Spud and was also seen in Spud 2 and 3, as well as Bad Land: Road to Fury and Infested! Crusoe and Charlie Jade on television.
Bjorn Steinbach is a New York-trained actor who received his first break on the acclaimed HBO series Generation Kill, delivering a memorable performance. He went on to appear in a number of TV movies, TV series and feature films including: The Book of Negroes, Casting Me, The Lost Future, Invictus, and Natalee Holloway.
Impunity is not your usual soft-core local film, peppered with comedic baloney, but an honest exploration of the violence that destroys lives, and a tragic romance that shows how far lovers will go to be in harmony with the wild passion that incenses them.
