German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

The theme for this year’s array of #German films at #TIFF14 could have been Hot Young Actors, and they all came, to the delight of fans: Tom Schilling, Elyas M'Barek, Hannah Herzsprung, Alexander Fehling, Florian David Fitz. The mainstream selection of German features definitely had a definite TV movie feel to it, but that is not necessarily a swear word these days. The shining directorial star was without doubt Berlin's Christian Petzold, who delivered with "Phoenix" and stands --together with his "muse", actor Nina Hoss-- heads above most other films I saw (and was very well-received and well-reviewedand sold to the North American market within days, so you will get to see it in theatres soon). You heard it here first: The next (2016) #Petzold film will be treatment of Anna Seghers' book "Transit".

Here's my #TIFF14 flashback in tweets:

German themes 2014:
+++ Watch & compare @tiff.net: PHOENIX + LABYRINTH OF LIES: echoes of Holocaust in post-war #Germany.

+++ Euthanasia featured prominently -and delicately- (after last year's "Amour") with "Tour de Force" & "The Farewell Party".

+++ New German Wave: the well-made #thriller: #WhoAmI @BaranboOdar

Winners & Losers: Continue reading "#TIFF14 Flashback in Tweets" »

Remember a great nerdy Tom Schilling roaming the streets of Berlin in last year's hit movie "Oh Boy"? In "Who am I", a great nerdy Schilling roams through Berlin on Ritalin.

The film has been pitched as a "hacker drama", with a colourful foursome of popular German actors -not including Jackie Chan, that's "Who Am I?"--hacking for the greater good (aka social engineering IRL). And for fun. Until someone makes a mistake.

Funny it is --when you experience writer-director Baran bo Odar (previously of "The Silence") live, you see it comes naturally to him-- and sometimes it veers into the silly (see poster). But I think the creators know it and are toying with it (and us). As bo Odar says after the TIFF world premiere: "It's like your child, you can't change it."

The visual realization in a parallel "dark net" universe keeps it fresh as does the funky electronica score. And just when you think this is a usual suspect (comfortingly, both Russians and Americans are still the bad guys), the director pulls some nice trickery out of his hat. Continue reading "#TIFF14 REVIEW: Who am I." »