Victoria (2015)

Directed by: Sebastian Schipper
Country: Germany

Movie Review: Genuinely electrifying, “Victoria”, perhaps inspired by Gaspar Noé’s raw filmmaking style, is a triumphant drama by the German actor-turned-director, Sebastian Schipper, who impressively shot 2 hours and 18 minutes in one single take. The title character, earnestly performed by Laia Costa (the first foreign actor to win a LOLA German award), is a Spanish former piano student who moved to Berlin three months ago after seeing her musical ambitions fail. She's currently working at a small café, which she has to open every day at 7 a.m. We’re first introduced to Victoria at a night club, having a good time dancing and drinking until 4 a.m., time when she resolves to have her last drink, pick up her bike, and leave to the café. When preparing to hit the streets, she bumps into Sonne (Frederick Lau), an amusing liar, and his friends, who were trying to steal a beautiful car parked on the street. Victoria and Sonne had already seen each other at the club where he was flirting with her. Immediately, we sense a sort of chemistry between the two, but it was too soon for saying if this was authentic, or if Victoria, who doesn’t speak any German, could be in trouble by following him and his friends to a store where they steal a few beers, and then to smoke a joint on a building’s rooftop. The film succeeds in part because it was initially cooked with this haunting tension that wisely never goes in the direction we expect. The group of lawbreakers ends up smoothly accepting Victoria, who continues acting very natural and unworried while playing a casual flirting game with Sonne. The latter escorts her to the café and the romance can be spotted in the air. This relaxed moment is suddenly interrupted when Sonne has to quickly leave in order to take care of a murky business with his hyper old pal, Boxer (Franz Rogowski). He returns a few minutes later to ask if she can drive them to an old parking lot where Boxer is supposed to meet with the man who had given him protection when in jail. At the meeting, the boys are forcefully assigned to rob a bank, and once again, they’re counting with the help of the irresponsible Victoria whose behavior balances between scared and thrilled. Moving at its own hypnotic rhythm, helped by the fantastic ambient/melancholic score by Nils Frahm, and carrying a persistently gripping tension, the film, which is nothing more than a delirious night in Victoria’s life, becomes as much unforgettable (due to disparate reasons) for the viewer as it would be for the title character if the story wasn’t fiction.

Every Thing Will Be Fine (2015)

Directed by: Wim Wenders
Country: Germany / Canada / others

Movie Review: After the masterpiece documentary “The Salt of the Earth” about the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, the extraordinary German director, Wim Wenders, stumbles in his most recent fictional drama, “Every Thing Will Be Fine”. Here, the iconic filmmaker works over a script by the Norwegian Bjorn Olaf Johannessen and entrusts to James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Rachel McAdams, the main roles. The story is based on Tomas Elden (Franco), a writer who’s making an effort to maintain in good terms the relationship with his girlfriend, Sara (McAdams). In the middle of that intricate process, he has a traumatic accident, in which a kid dies after recklessly crossing the street in front of his van. Tomas becomes so affected by the incident that he breaks up with Sara and tries to commit suicide. However, after recovering at the hospital, he gradually finds his inner peace, becoming more and more inspired and prolific in his writings. Two years after, he finds his novel critically acclaimed. This fact provokes a sort of exasperation in the victim’s mother, Kate (Gainsbourg), an illustrator who opens the door of her house to Tomas, in an ultimate attempt to ease her pain. Also, her eldest son, Christopher, who was with his brother when the accident occurred, can’t really live in peace with the consuming trauma. The story spans for more than a decade, and even starts with some significance, but falls in a troublesome passivity of processes along the way. The genius of Mr. Wenders, who plays safe this time, completely fades away in a shabby drama characterized by a dismayed atmosphere, monotonous pace, and lifeless interactions among the characters, which transport us to repeated rueful psychological scenarios and pushes us into long-awaited resolutions. By the end, it seemed that the drama would evolve to a sort of thriller, but instead, the painful torpor takes care of the remaining time. The film didn’t touch me, not even once, while the performances of Mr. Franco and Ms. Gainsbourg didn’t impress me either.

Labyrinth of Lies (2014)

Directed by: Giulio Ricciarelli
Country: Germany

Movie Review: “Labyrinth of Lies” is a German historical drama, set in 1958, that addresses the dignified endeavors of the young state prosecutor, Johan Radmann, who sets mind on taking to the justice the unpunished SS officials and doctors who still live freely after torturing and killing thousands of innocent people in the terrifying Auschwitz concentration camp during the world war. The shame of a complicated past of a powerful country seduced by Hitler’s Nazi regime, falls on Radmann, stiffly played by Alexander Fehling, who sees former Nazis everywhere. During the relentless investigation, a labyrinth that nobody wants to deal with, he unveils a few painful truths that devastate him inside, to the point of wanting to abandon the task. His best friend, the zealous journalist Thomas Gnielka (André Szymanski), was a member of the party when he was very young, as well as the father of his seductive girlfriend, Marlene (Friederike Becht), and his own father who's still missing since the end of the war. Radmann starts interviewing former victims of Auschwitz, while trying to capture the abominable, unrepentant culprits such as Schultz, who was teaching children at a school, and Dr. Josef Mengele, who is now living in Buenos Aires and was responsible for inhumane lab experiences that took the life of the twin little daughters of the artist Simon Kirsch (Johannes Krisch), a tormented soul who survived the camp and hardly agrees to collaborate. Radmann’s honorable cause, here depicted with no less estimable intentions by the Italian actor-turned-director, Giulio Ricciarelli (directorial debut), isn’t a synonym of an accomplished movie. Actually, an obstructive formalism in the approach and the rusty performances aggravate the issues of a post-holocaust account that struggles in a few instances to find cohesion and tightness. Adopting tidy visuals and swinging between Hollywood’s standard twitches and TV series’ monotone routines, “Labyrinth of Lies” lacks intrigue and never manages to really speak to the heart. Its artificial undertones were the main reason why Mr. Ricciarelli couldn’t extract more and better from a strong real story. And thus, the film instantly vanishes from our minds when the theater lights are turned on.

Beloved Sisters (2014)

Directed by: Dominik Graf
Country: Germany / others

Movie Review: “Beloved Sisters” is a biographical film that portrays the long-lasting love triangle lived in the 18th century between the German poet and philosopher, Friedrich Schiller, and the aristocratic von Lengefeld sisters, Charlotte and Caroline. The drama, written and directed by Dominik Graf, a filmmaker with a three-decade career of TV movies and series, was unable to hold my attention apart from the first half-hour. Despite handsomely crafted in its attempt to revive the period and attractively photographed by Michael Wiesweg, the film gradually loses impact and even drags itself on several occasions, during its protracted 138 minutes of the same cadenced maneuvers focusing on the noble German social and literary society. Faith has determined that the young Schiller (Florian Stetter), exiled from its country and lost in the streets of Weimar, will meet Charlotte (Henriette Confurius) in a time when she was preparing herself to get married with some illustrious, wealthy man, following the steps of her sister Caroline (Hannah Herzsprung), who had done it, not for love, but to guarantee financial stability for her family. Defying both society and family, both sisters fall in love with the amiable and yet revolutionary thinker, consciously assuming their affair and understanding whenever they need to get out of each other's way. Regardless the many obstacles, like looking like a beggar and being broke, Schiller ends up marrying Charlotte and having a child with her, but never ceases from seeing her unhappily married sister, who starts a successful literary career under the name of Agnes von Lilen. Resorting to close-ups of the protagonists in an attempt to draw the emotions that the plot couldn’t assure, the slightly staged “Beloved Sisters” is leisurely paced, never flowing conveniently to escape its shallowness. Here, we get more lethargic and bored than invigorated or excited, and the film leaves no positive memories.

Who Am I (2014)

Directed by: Baran Bo Odar
Country: Germany

Movie Review: Bustling enough to cause some apprehension, but unoriginal in approach and storytelling, “Who Am I” is a German cybernetic thriller directed by Baran Bo Odar whose previous “The Silence” had given positive indications about his filmmaking aptitudes. The film stars Tom Schilling as Benjamin, an uncommunicative young man who, since childhood, has a crush on Marie, and wishes to have superpowers and invisibility. Being an outsider in the real world, he gains some self-respect on the Internet, as he becomes one of the most wanted hackers in Germany. Benjamin, seated on a chair with his hands tied, and bent over a table, tells to the suspended female inspector, Hanne Lindberg, how he was sentenced to 50 hours of community work for breaking into the university servers in order to help Marie. While carrying out this light sentence, he bumps into his dissimilar, Max (Elyas M’Barek), an insubordinate impostor who introduces him to Stefan, the one who can find any bug in any system, and Paul, a hardware expert, with whom they create a computer hacker group baptized as ‘CLAY’ that stands for ‘clowns laughing at you’. Mostly aiming at wealthy corporations and governmental services, which includes the foreign intelligence agency of Germany (BDN), the reserved and yet bright Benjamin will have to fight the most venerated online pirate, MRX, who allegedly belongs to the Russian mafia hacking group known as ‘Fr13nds’ and is implicated in a crime. The film can be described as “The Social Network” meets “The Prestige”, but still using familiar tones and well-worn narrative timbres, setting a bunch of clichéd situations that spin around with consecutive twists and turns without creating a beneficial impact. The score by Michael Kamm often transmits a sensation of more danger than what the film actually gives. I still have faith in Mr. Odar’s films, only this one didn’t work so well for me.

The Cut (2014)

Directed by: Fatih Akin
Country: Germany / others

Movie Review: German filmmaker/screenwriter of Turkish descent, Fatih Akin, roundly stumbles in “The Cut”, a grim picture about an Armenian family man who survives the terrible genocide inflicted by the Turkish in 1915, during the Ottoman Empire. The sad story of Nazaret Manoogian (Tahar Rahim), who was hauled from his house and taken to isolated arid mountains for hard labor, never truly did much to gain our attention and cogitation. He miraculously survives the massive throat slitting perpetrated by the oppressors but loses his voice. After briefly joining a group of rebels, he decides to abandon them and go after his family. The only one he finds with life is his sister-in-law who, in a deplorable state, expects being struck by death at any minute. Hapless and emotionally devastated, a little hope will spark in his heart when he bumps into an old acquaintance that tells him his twin daughters might be still alive. The relentless search takes him to Havana and then to the US, where a few intractable episodes won’t frustrate the renewed Nazareth of regaining hope and faith. Whatever were the intentions of the acclaimed Mr. Akin, who has unforgettable dramas in his curriculum such as “Head On” and “The Edge of Heaven”, “The Cut” slides into commercial territory, and in any occasion was sufficiently gritty to knock us down, squandering all the chances to escape banality and cause a positive impression. This dismal exercise, which shares a few tedious similarities with “The Water Diviner” in a different historical context, uses six distinct languages to construct an overlong narrative that falls short of its dramatic ambitions. Tahar Rahim’s performance failed to be compelling, while talented Mr. Akin was never so boring before, evincing an embarrassing lack of vision.

Phoenix (2014)

Directed by: Christian Petzold
Country: Germany / Poland

Movie Review: Beautifully crafted, with refinement and objectivity, “Phoenix”, Christian Petzold’s adaptation of Hubert Monteilhet‘s novel ‘Le Retour des Cendres’, is a pungent drama set in a shattered post-war Berlin. The German filmmaker and co-writer brings in his long-time inspirational muse, Nina Hoss (their sixth collaboration), to portray the sad story of St. Michael’s choir singer, Nelly Lenz, an anti-Nazi transfigured woman who miraculously survived to a concentration-camp and obsessively looks for her crooked pianist husband, Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), most likely the man responsible for her capture. Another character with strong dimension is Nelly’s savior, Lene Winter (Nina Kunzendorf), a Swiss Jew whose disappointment with the forgiving posture of the Jews, in general, is patent. Her role leads to opposite emotional sides since she brings some cheerful hope but also the shocking truth about Nelly’s family. After finding Johnny in a nightclub called ‘Phoenix’, the unrecognizable Nelly agrees to participate in a strange game with him, playing his missing wife, so he can claim her valuable inheritance. At this moment, Nelly experiences mixed feelings, admitting she’s jealous of her past self, but increasingly becoming enveloped by suspicion. Petzold injects all the elements that permit us to identify his work identity – formidable camera work, unshakeable storytelling, subtle score, sharp photography, perfect timing when using silence, and lastly, an impactful finale to be remembered. The presence of a gun is merely symbolic since the film overwhelms you by other means. “Phoenix”, or Fassbinder’s “Lili Marleen” meets Franju’s “Eyes Without a Face”, is a major example of emotional expressiveness. Just give it some time to be fully absorbed.

Stations of the Cross (2014)

Directed by: Dietrich Bruggemann
Country: Germany

Movie Review: The fourth feature film by Dietrich Bruggemann, “Stations of the Cross”, was co-written with his sister Anne, making an interesting parallelism between a modern world tale, set in a Southern German town, and the 14 stations of the cross endured by Jesus towards Calvary. Maria is a14 year-old somber girl who lives obsessed with God and religion. Coming from a very conservative family, Maria feels helpless most of the time, struggling against the fear of sin and brainwashed by her merciless unloving mother and the town’s priest, Father Weber. While preparing to receive the sacrament of Confirmation, Maria is getting more and more obsessed with the idea of sacrificing her life for God to save her 4 year-old little brother who suffers from a mysterious disease. After start talking with Christian, a schoolmate who has a crush on her, Maria seems to vacillate in her intentions, giving signs of wanting to relate with outside people. As her mother denies her any type of affection and castrates her even more, Maria tries to extend her arms to Bernadette, a French friend of the family, who gave her the protection, trust and understanding that she couldn’t find in her real mother. However, and after getting seriously ill, not even a very concerned doctor seems capable to deviate the tormented young girl from her ordeal. We can glimpse a hint of the psychological strength of Haneke and Ulrich Seidl’s cinema, but never too intense to shock directly with its meticulous scenes and dialogues. Saint or not, the truth is that Lea van Acken’s performance was convincing, and the long shots of “Stations of the Cross” invites us to a sort of bitter commiseration.

Two Mothers (2013)

Directed by: Anne Zohra Berrached
Country: Germany

Movie Review: “Two Mothers” is a lukewarm drama about a lesbian married couple, Katja and Isabella, who decided to have a child in Germany, a country that imposes so many legal issues, high fees and other obstacles in a very difficult process. They agreed to find a sperm donor (long part of the film relies in this aspect) but not a father, so they can educate the child without any exterior interference. The more reputable insemination clinics refuse to accept them and the treatments in minor clinics, besides too much expensive for their income, are not working out. The frustration led them to check sperm donors online, where they find their last hope: Flo, a man with already twenty children. The script shows potential but the film, not so fluid, could have been so much better executed. Set up with an unattractive light and dismal colors, “Two Mothers” counts with capable performances by Karina Plachetka and Sabine Wolf, and has the subject matter as the more interesting aspect. It was a pity that the debutant director and screenwriter, Anne Zohra Berrached, didn’t have hands to handle the story in a more absorbing way. The detachment that slowly occurs between the couple feels real and shows that Berrached knows how to extract something from the performances. However, the technical side wasn’t so strong, resulting in a deterioration of the final result. The director was awarded at Berlin Film Festival, while the two main actresses received a special mention at Potsdam Sehsüchte.

F*ck You, Goethe (2013)

Directed by: Bora Dagtekin
Country: Germany

Movie Review: With a fast pace and presented with flamboyant colors, but also too forced and exaggerated to be sufficiently consistent, “F*ck You, Goethe” promised a lot in the first minutes but degenerates in uneven situations after a short period. Zeki Miller (Elyas M’Barek) is an impolite, inconsiderate, and uneducated ex-con who applies for a vacant position of janitor in Goethe School but ends up as substitute teacher. Without any interest in the job, Zeki just wants to have access to the new gym of the school, constructed precisely where his prostitute friend had buried his bag of money at the time he was arrested. Quarrelsome and impatient, Zeki will impose some respect to the rebel students by making their life a living hell, on the contrary of his colleague Lisi (Karoline Herfurth) who was born to be a teacher but doesn’t have strength to control the constant pranks of the kids. As expected, and as the film approaches its end, Zeki and Lisi help the kids finding their own way of expression, becoming ‘cool’ teachers, while true romance is inevitable. Some jokes and situations that were supposed to be funny didn’t achieve their purposes (the whimpers are so stupid that drove me nuts), while some others, despite tolerable, can be considered polemic (references to Nazism, prostitution and drug dealing). The second feature film from Turkish-German director Bogda Dagtekan, creator of TV series “Turkish for Beginners”, is a teen movie for adults with so much of ridicule that has the same effect as fast food: my stomach can’t tolerate it anymore.

The Physician (2013)

Directed by: Philipp Stolzl
Country: Germany

Movie Review: Set in 11th Century, “The Physician”, is a German film in English-language based on Noah Gordon’s novel with the same name. However, the adaptation made by Jan Berger didn’t make justice to the book, a hit in Europe, leaving this epic adventure a few miles away from the original story. It starts in England, where the smart young orphan Rob Cole becomes apprentice of an uproarious barber surgeon who applies primitive and painful methods for treatment. When the latter almost gets blind due to cataracts, he agrees to be operated by Jews who brought sophisticated techniques from Isfahan. With an enormous will for learning more, Cole will disguise himself of Jew (since no Catholics are allowed) and travel to Persia to study with the great Ibn Sina, the biggest reference in medicine. Guided by his God and a sixth sense, nothing hampers Cole towards his triumphant discovers. The scenarios and settings reflect well the conditions lived in each place – England was depicted with fog, somber, and misery, while in Persia we can see sunlight, abundance and knowledge. Indeed, the plot showed not to be in the same level as some of its technical aspects such as production and costume design. Helmer Philipp Stolzl created an atmosphere taken from “Prince of Persia”, “Alladin” and “Sinbad”, but the course of the story becomes uneven and the film struggles in its middle part to maintain the vivacity of the first half-hour. Slightly entertaining but highly clichéd, “The Physician” might please inattentive fans of adventure genre, but wasn’t solid enough to be recommended without considerable reservations.

Two Lives (2012)

Directed by: Georg Maas
Country: Germany / Norway

Movie Review: Germany’s submission for the 86th Academy Awards, “Two Lives” is the second fictional feature by Georg Maas, focusing in the story of Katrine Evensen-Myrtal, an evasive yet affecting Norwegian-German woman who dedicates herself to her husband, daughter, and mother. The place is Bergen, Norway, and the year is 1990, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Katrine (Juliane Kohler) and her mother, Ase (Liv Ullman, former Ingmar Bergman’s muse), were victims of the famous Nazi program known as Lebensborn, being the unique case that both mother and daughter were found. A young lawyer is trying to persuade them to testify in court against Norwegian Government for having cooperated with the Germans. By refusing to testify in the case, Katrine will call the attention for her secret past as Stasi agent, compromising the happiness and stability of her family life. “Two lives” was well structured, as well as visually representative of the time and place where the story occurs. There were occasions where a narrative impasse was noticeable, with the revelations near the end becoming very welcome in a time where impatience seemed to start taking care of me. Gladly, the interest and satisfaction increased as the story proceeded to its sad conclusions. Performances were extremely credible, in a sober thriller that exposes the discomfiture of seeing dark secrets exposed to the ones we truly love.

Dust On Our Hearts (2012)

Directed by: Hanna Doose
Country: Germany

Movie Review: “Dust On Our Hearts” depicts a relationship of love and hate between mother and daughter, giving us at the same time the whole picture of a broken family. Kathi (Stephanie Stremler) is a 30-year-old single mother who is trying to be an actress without practical results. Her recent auditions keep going the wrong way and the financial dependence of her mom (Susanne Lothar in one of her last roles), a neurotic and manipulative life coach, affect her life deeply. Kathi sees herself in another weird situation when her dad, Wolfgang (Michael Kind), comes to live to Berlin many years after his separation from her mother, to try to get the family back together and meet his teenage son Gabriel for the first time. After an incident in a street market where her 4-year-old son disappears, Kathi loses the trust of her mother who tries to keep her grandson. Things didn’t seem so real in the scenes after the kid’s disappearance, when the family members act in a relaxed manner, while Wolfgang sees a good opportunity to infiltrate in her ex-wife’s house. Hanna Doose gives some good indications on screenwriting and direction, portraying a dysfunctional family where everyone is needy, but some scenes demanded a little more control to work better, exception made for a fight scene between mother and daughter that leads to their rupture. The fear of failing and be rejected, along with its consequences, played also an important part in this respectable but inessential study of characters.

Hannah Arendt (2012)

Directed by: Margarethe von Trotta
Country: Germany / others

Movie Review: German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt’s biopic is a compelling drama that captivates mostly for the realistic and sober way the scenes are presented. Known to be a great thinker of her time and student of Martin Heidegger, Arendt would become a political theorist who was many times misunderstood and criticized. Her work falls on themes such as totalitarianism, democracy, and authority. This film centers particularly on Arendt’s response to the 1961 trial of former Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, in a series of articles for The New Yorker. Arendt’s personality and ideas were depicted through conversations with her intellectual friends, or in school during her classes. Without any kind of dramatic exploitation, we get to know that this polemic woman was in a German detention camp in France, and for her the US was a paradise of freedom. Barbara Sukowa’s performance was worthy, giving the real notion of a woman who died thinking about her famous topic, ‘banality of evil’. Despite all these favorable aspects, I believe some others could have been improved. The pace was steady, while most of the scenes were cold and straightforward, sometimes lacking motion and emotion. That’s why “Hannah Arendt” wasn’t made to please everyone. Margarethe Von Trotta’s risky approach must be praised since it is anti-sensationalist, but in several moments the film fails to engage, and we absorb the divided world created by this frontal woman with a certain distance.

Passion (2012)

Directed by: Brian De Palma
Country: Germany / France

Review: “Passion” is Brian De Palma’s remake of Alain Corneau’s “Love Crime”, that tries to mix sensuality, business, and murder, in a pseudo-stylish thriller that was not able to add anything relevant to the original version. The story begins with a love triangle formed by the subversive and whimsical Christine (Rachel McAdams), talented and secretive Isabelle (Noomi Rapace), and their unscrupulous lover Dirk (Paul Anderson). Later, they are joined by calculative Dani (Karoline Herfurth), in the last attempt to recover a movie that was always boring throughout the way. De Palma tried to give some fancy airs with a disconcerting ending, but it didn’t work as expected, failing to cause any involvement. The hidebound plot was set up with a few disjointed scenes that became totally unconvincing, especially those involving the work environment and little personal revenges. De Palma’s questionable options in direction, especially the split screens composed with unrelated frames of crime and ballet, were not favorable. Moreover, the performances didn’t stood out, making “Passion” a manipulative murder story that is placed miles away from other thrilling works from the filmmaker’s past. Revealing to be ineffective and disappointing, I would skip this unnecessary remake.

Home For The Weekend (2012)

Directed by: Hans-Christian Schmid
Country: Germany

Review: “Home For The Weekend” is an emotionless German drama about family. Gitte suffers from clinical depression for 30 years, and is fed up of taking drugs all the time. One day she reunites her family for a weekend to announce her intentions of quitting medication. Surprisingly, husband and sons become afraid and discomforted with the idea, but the announcement will provoke big transformations on their behaviors, in a moment where everyone had relevant issues in their lives to be solved. The complexity of human relationships is depicted with disappointing effects, through the apparent calmness of the facial expressions, nostalgic music, and a strong sensation of emotional coldness. The clarity of the images and accurate photography contrasted with the too cerebral and almost staged performances, which weren’t able to extract the right atmospheric ambience from the conflicts. Once in a while, I could feel the weight of the words, but “Home For The Weekend” never took off from its rigidness, getting trapped in a plot that lacks motion and in a direction unable to express something profound from the situations. Despite pertinent in its vision, this third collaboration between helmer Hans-Christian Schmid and screenwriter Bernd Lange ("Requiem", "Storm") wasn't so satisfying, becoming an easily forgettable film.

Oh Boy (2012)

Directed by: Jan Ole Gerster
Country: Germany

Review: Taking advantage of a grained black-and-white picture, adorned with a moody jazz score, “Oh Boy” is not just an intimate portrait about a particular character who feels lost, but also a portrait of a contemporary Berlin. Nothing seems to go right with Niko Fischer (Tom Schilling), who is going through a complicated phase in life. Certain that a law course would not be the right thing for him, Niko gave up his studies two years before, but still lives in Berlin with the allowance sent by his father. Meanwhile, he keeps living a carefree life, taking his time to think what he really wants. After his father finds out, Niko had his bank account closed, and everything seemed to fall apart. However, a few casual encounters with several interesting people across Berlin will become important experiences to learn and grow. I can mention a sweet old woman who, in a moment of affection, made the role of the mother that Niko didn’t have; a former schoolmate girl who is still haunted by a traumatic past; or a lonely man who was abroad for 60 years and was remembering his childhood in the city. Some references to Nazism were naturally introduced as making part of the city's history, in a movie marked by honesty, sensibility, and humor. “Oh Boy” is a mature accomplishment from a debutant cineaste who used beautiful long shots and detailed close-ups to show in a charming and conscious way that both people and city are in constant transformation.

Stopped On Track (2011)

Directed by: Andreas Dresen
Country: Germany / France

Review: "Stopped on Track” is painful to watch. The opening scene seemed so real that did hurt, when Frank in the company of his wife, receives the news that he has only a few months to live due to a malign brain tumor. Their children took this fact with a sort of lightness at first. A curious fact, which I believe to be normal considering their age. The actors' commitment to their roles was noteworthy, with the expressions on their faces showing exactly the affliction of their souls.  The movie is not only about how Frank deals with his anger, frustration and fear; it’s also about how his family will change throughout the time. A film about cancer will never be easy to watch, having associated to itself an imminent risk of falling in well-known dramatic scenes. “Stopped On Track” was too honest to fall in that state, being able to depict every moment with a great sense of reality.

Barbara (2012)

Directed by: Christian Petzold

Country: Germany

Review: Christian Petzold is a respectable German filmmaker, recognized for his originality and naturalistic style. “Yella” and “Jerichow” were very well accepted by the critic and represented a boost in his career. “Barbara” can be compared to “Yella” in some aspects - slight suspense, a natural performance from Nina Hoss, a changeless pace and a Silver Berlin Bear  – but without the same satisfactory results. The story takes place in West Germany, 1980. Barbara, after having applied to leave the country, is forced to abandon her life in Berlin, to be confined to a small village in the countryside. Closely watched by Stasi agents, she continues to prepare her escape to Denmark, but some occurrences will change the course of her plans.  Too slow and often cold, almost everything in “Barbara” looked like a bit premeditated, making it a film to watch without expecting too much enjoyment.

The Silence (2010)

Directed by: Baran Bo Odar
Country: Germany

Plot: 13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.

Quick comment: An investigation of two similar murders with a gap of 20 years that will keep you with the eyes wide opened. I have no remarks concerning the story’s integrity. This plot could be true and it is from here that comes its main strength. As for the rest I shall warn you that this is a bitter film where everything and everyone involved are gloomy. Even the police men.

Relevant Awards: -