Dark (Season One) (2017)

Creators: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese
Cast: Too many in different versions
Language: German

I stumbled upon this Netflix original show after seeing it being described as 'Stranger Things' for adults. I haven't seen Stranger Things and not really planning to. Dark is so fucking good that I binged it twice within eight days. If you're planning to watch it, I can't recommend it highly enough, go ahead and do it. Plenty of spoilers ahead.

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I can best describe the show as 'Twin Peaks+Predestination', on steroids. Twin Peaks because of its small town industrial setting, family affairs, haunting atmosphere and music. Predestination reference is quite obvious due to the time travel factor. The way time travel works in the series so far is in the "Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban" mode (the best Harry Potter book by the way). What has happened can't really be changed. Whenever someone from future tries to influence things, they only help in aiding what has already happened inadvertently. So it doesn't take anything goes approach which can be quite disengenous if time travel is your main theme.

Story begins in 2019, the present for all intends and purpose, with shots of Jonas' father committing suicide. It ends with a boy disappearing in the woods near the caves which is again near the nuclear power plant which dominates over the small town of Winden. Boy's father is the cop Uhlrich, who's having an affair with Jonas' mother, Hannah. Jonas, suffering from post traumatic stress,  discovers cave maps drawn by his father in the attic. Different characters in the story discovers the time travel possibility over the course of first season.

The time travel jumps in it is 33 years, a span over which solar-lunar cycle sync happens. So the time periods the series jumps to are 1986, 1953 and for a brief final seconds to 2052. It also has plenty of philosophic references including Nietzsche's musings about eternal recurrence which has a big overhang over its plotline. There is a love triangle in each of the time period: Helge-Claudia-Tronte in 1953, Hannah-Uhlrich-Katharina in 1986 and Jonas-Martha-Bartosz in 2019. It doesn't make a big deal about the twists that come along the way, all of which are pretty much guessable before they are revealed mainly because of the good job they have done with the casting of same characters from different time periods.

Based on the missing pages in Claudia's diary, I have a theory that many of the characters in 2019 are different versions of same people from past and future. Noah is Bartosz grown up and there is some mystery left around from where/when Alexander turned up. His real name Boris suggests some Russian connection, probably Chernobyl, and his surname Niechwald could be a reference to his parents from Nielsen and Kahnwald families- Jonas & Martha? On first watch I ended up with the obvious conclusion that Noah is the villain/dark and Claudia is the light. But on re-watch, I am not that sure especially because of the reference to our propensity to think in terms of duallism. The re-watch is so rewarding and you can see how well the show is edited, with recurrences offering it ample scope to place scenes together. It is masterful storytelling and I can't wait for the second season, which is currently in production.

"You are free with regards to what you can do but you are not free with regards to what you can will"...

PS: I am now more familiar with the family trees in Winden than my own.

Rating: 5/5

Toni Erdmann (2016)

Director: Maren Are
Writer: Maren Ade
DOP: Patrick Orth
Cast: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller
Language: German

A practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter-ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.

I went into the film with knowledge that it is a comedy film and, hate to bring in a stereotype, but German films are not known for their comedy. The recent Hitler film 'Look who's back' ended up as very poignant towards the end even though it was supposed to be a laugh out loud comedy film. Toni Erdmann is is in the category of cringe comedy like the TV series 'The Office'. The drama is on an equal footing with the comedy here or even more prominent and it is a slow burner. The film starts from the perspective of the father but as it progresses we realize that it is the story of his careerist daughter who is leading a sad lonely life in Bucharest (Or is it Budapest). She is a consultant who is primarily in the business of advocating outsourcing and retrenchment of workforce. She calls her father a man living in the 70s with a green agenda. In the beginning of the film, we find Toni to  be very intrusive and the daughter puts up with it but as his behavior becomes even more outrageous she starts losing her shit. But by the end she kind of accepts him as the pain of her sad lonely life takes over and she begins to let go a bit. There is a sequence of her singing in the film and it is the kind that you watch with hands partially covering your face.

It is a great watch overall but is not recommended for everyone. Cringe comedy can be a hard watch for many especially if it is as dark like this. The film is almost three hours long. Toni's character is loosely based on director's own father. The film was nominated for academy awards in the best foreign film category and also was in the running for Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Rating: 4.5/5

Er ist wieder da (Look Who's Back) (2015)

Director: David Wnendt
Writers:  David Wnenedt, Mizzi Meyer, Johannes Boss, Minna Fischgartl, Timur Vermes
Cast:       Oliver Masucci, Thomas M. Koppl, Marc-Marvin Israel
Language: German

Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century. He quickly gains media attention, but whereas Germany finds him hilarious and charming, Hitler makes some serious observations about society.

The premise is that a struggling TV director finds him wandering the streets and thinks of making a show where, what he thinks of as a very good Hitler impersonator, will interact with German people. Hitler finally gets a show for himself where he is making his own honest observations which strikes a chord with the German people considering the migrant situation that Germany is facing today. The film was released in October 2015, just about the time migrant crisis was getting worse. So, the film is very effective in holding a mirror to the current German attitude and points out how easily it can degenerate into fascism. 

It is a very funny film and I guess some of the laughter it will generate in Europe will be the nervous kind. It is filmed in 'Borat' style and there are plenty of other cinematic references as well. There is one scene which reminded me of 12 Monkeys and it even got a Western themed and styled sequence. There is also this inevitable 'Donwfall' parody scene which I think almost everyone has seen on YouTube in one form or the other. The whole thing about the ambitious female TV programming head championing the totally questionable show is a play on Sidney Lumet's 'Network' as well.

Overall it is a great watch with a tremendous central performance from Oliver Masucci. They could have easily played it safe by making Hitler a totally ridiculous character. The film was a big box office success in Germany, surprising many, and one could say that Germany has matured enough to be self-critical using Hitler as a very relatable character. I don't know if the film was made in a social experimental semi-documentary manner, like 'Under the Skin', because there are many faces from the streets which are blacked out. Wouldn't surprise me if many of the characters shown in the film are their real selves. The funniest sequence in the film is Hitler getting beaten up by Neo-Nazis. The subtitles that I had was not the best and so some of the jokes might have been lost in translation.

Rating: 4/5