Saw this film at the Tribeca Film Festival. It's the first effort by German filmmaker Niels Laupert who attended the Munich film school. Laupert bases his film on a true story that occurred in Poland where two juvenile delinquents commit a series of thrill killings. The story is set in Germany however a little over ten years ago. Laupert said after the film was over that he set it in Germany in order to be able to direct the actors in his own language. Laupert admittedly is not interested in the reasons why these youths decide to kill nor does he offer any kind of psychological analysis. He simply wants to chronicle the 'banality of evil' has it actually happened.
The remarkable aspect of the film is that the Laupert really seems to get into the characters' heads--the dialogue is extraordinarily realistic and the dreary routines of these amoral criminals appear quite credible. But be forewarned: this film quite bleak and will not warm your insides. If you are looking for a screenplay with the familiar markings of the typical Three Act Structure, you will not find it here. In short, the film does not build to any real big crisis points. It's a long, slow grind, culminating in a series of violent scenes which become a bit repetitious. The only real surprise is the revelation that the main character (a lapsed choir boy) ends up being more violent than his pal who appears at the beginning of the film to be the more violent of the two. The acting and cinematography are excellent and one gets the impression that the director is talented enough to sustain a career in the film industry in the years to come.
The remarkable aspect of the film is that the Laupert really seems to get into the characters' heads--the dialogue is extraordinarily realistic and the dreary routines of these amoral criminals appear quite credible. But be forewarned: this film quite bleak and will not warm your insides. If you are looking for a screenplay with the familiar markings of the typical Three Act Structure, you will not find it here. In short, the film does not build to any real big crisis points. It's a long, slow grind, culminating in a series of violent scenes which become a bit repetitious. The only real surprise is the revelation that the main character (a lapsed choir boy) ends up being more violent than his pal who appears at the beginning of the film to be the more violent of the two. The acting and cinematography are excellent and one gets the impression that the director is talented enough to sustain a career in the film industry in the years to come.