To liven up the somewhat austere German art house discourse we are often engaging in at the Berlinale, let me show you another side of German cinema. Maximilian Erlenwein has delivered a good thriller before, "Gravity". With "Stereo" he has reached another level. For starters, top honours go to The Chau Ngo, who deserves to win every cinematography award around. He had me at the 007-style opening credits (I hope Berlinale juror Barbara Broccoli, aka James Bond's producer, watched the film).
Wednesday, February 12. 2014
Berlinale 2014 REVIEW: Stereo
To liven up the somewhat austere German art house discourse we are often engaging in at the Berlinale, let me show you another side of German cinema. Maximilian Erlenwein has delivered a good thriller before, "Gravity". With "Stereo" he has reached another level. For starters, top honours go to The Chau Ngo, who deserves to win every cinematography award around. He had me at the 007-style opening credits (I hope Berlinale juror Barbara Broccoli, aka James Bond's producer, watched the film).
Henry shows up in Erik's working class life, where things are going pretty well with a fairly new girlfriend and her little daughter. Needless to say things don't stay that way. Is Henry a paranoid hallucination, the manifestation of deep fears, a bad conscience, or the waking nightmare of a schizophrenic? Or does he symbolize Erik's alter ego, his id?
Fast & funny, not predictable, plausible within itself despite the nearly supernatural Henry-figure, the film is suspenseful over the full 95 minutes, with an interesting twist towards the end. Bit bloody, as in Black Swan meets Fight Club. I think David Cronenberg would like it. What more can one ask from a psycho thriller (nicely placed in the Berlinale's Panorama section). It perhaps gets close to silly on one or two occasions, when the bad guys are just too bad, but Erlenwein quickly catches itself.
The music by Enis Rotthoff is so good I will buy the soundtrack. He has worked on some major and very diverse films over the past few years, from the Humboldt 3D biopic "Measuring the World" to recent Sundance entry "Wetlands", Germany's precursor to "Nymphomaniac". And Rotthoff is also the one to answer the hilarious audience question why the film is called "Stereo": "Everyone is mono. Only Erik is stereo."
In the post- show Q&A Erlenwein actually credits the 1950 film "Harvey" with Jimmy Stewart as his inspiration: "I asked myself, 'What would I do if someone started following me around'?" Let's hope his real-life answer would be less extreme than his filmic fantasy.
I don't remember seeing an "American" movie like this, in the best sense, made in Germany. You might call it genre, you might just call it 90 minutes of cinema that works.
by Jutta Brendemuehl, Toronto
image: "Stereo" by Wild Bunch Germany
Fast & funny, not predictable, plausible within itself despite the nearly supernatural Henry-figure, the film is suspenseful over the full 95 minutes, with an interesting twist towards the end. Bit bloody, as in Black Swan meets Fight Club. I think David Cronenberg would like it. What more can one ask from a psycho thriller (nicely placed in the Berlinale's Panorama section). It perhaps gets close to silly on one or two occasions, when the bad guys are just too bad, but Erlenwein quickly catches itself.
The music by Enis Rotthoff is so good I will buy the soundtrack. He has worked on some major and very diverse films over the past few years, from the Humboldt 3D biopic "Measuring the World" to recent Sundance entry "Wetlands", Germany's precursor to "Nymphomaniac". And Rotthoff is also the one to answer the hilarious audience question why the film is called "Stereo": "Everyone is mono. Only Erik is stereo."
In the post- show Q&A Erlenwein actually credits the 1950 film "Harvey" with Jimmy Stewart as his inspiration: "I asked myself, 'What would I do if someone started following me around'?" Let's hope his real-life answer would be less extreme than his filmic fantasy.
I don't remember seeing an "American" movie like this, in the best sense, made in Germany. You might call it genre, you might just call it 90 minutes of cinema that works.
by Jutta Brendemuehl, Toronto
image: "Stereo" by Wild Bunch Germany
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