Winterschläfer

When filmmakers attempt to do anything radical or completely experimental, critics often hit them hard with insults about how "unreal" or "amateur." But, hello, all of these new devices being used in films ARE unreal AND amateur because they're so innovational (since no one has tried them before). Tom Tykwer is exactly the sort of filmmaker that likes to take chances, who goes against the normal (sometimes recycled) cinematic techniques employed by the majority of the cinematic world. Here, in "Winter Sleepers," we see those revolutionary techniques that led to his international success in "Run Lola Run" in full bloom. The narrative is basically shallow, leaving many gaps in plot and dialogue, but this is done purposefully, and the filling of the gaps is left up to the cinematography, lighting, and color schemes. It is no surprise that Tykwer uses the subjective camera to convey the feelings of his characters (sometimes we fall to the ground in a flash of white when Laura blacks out, or we spin around in circles when Rene has a psychological episode). It is done for a purpose, and we can understand the turmoil that each goes through--without the reliance of a script.

The film can be seen as more character driven than plot. So, if you need the precious plot more than anything else, I wouldn't recommend this movie. But you should see this movie if you're at all interested in how an event can exponentially set off another set of events, continually building, until the life of every character (whether involved in the first event or not) changes forever.

I went to see "Winter Sleepers (Winterschläfer)" only because it's the same director as "Run Lola Run," though it turned out to be pre-"Lola."

It plays with the same theme of coincidences, though not with "what if's" of Lola or "Sliding Doors" or others in the genre. Rather, the audience knows what connects random people together to understand the misunderstandings and connections.

It's slow at spots (too much stuff that's almost French movie satires of a couple not looking at each other and smoking away) but the directing otherwise is very non-Hollywood intriguing, swooping and looking in at such odd angles, creating tension from a neat VERY unpredictable plot involving basically five or so people in a beautiful Bavaria.

I had no idea the German Alps could be so breathtakingly beautiful -- absolutely terrific stunts that will look puny if you see it on cable or video.

The pop soundtrack is again in English, but the director co-wrote the ambient music that is also used very-non-Hollywood in how it comments and builds up on the tension.

It's a bit long but a nice relief from too many Hollywood movies.(originally written 4/23/2000)

This movie pictures the life of five characters connect by a car accident in a snowing road, provoked by the projectionist Rene (Ulrich Matthes) and the broken farmer Theo (Josef Bierbichler). Rene is a kind of melancholic intellectual, who has amnesia problem and takes picture of the most important events of his life to recall them. One night he drinks too much and steals the car of the ski trainer Marco (Heino Ferch) just for fun. Due to a lack of attention of Theo on the road, there is a dreadful accident, when his young daughter is seriously hurt in the head. She is sent to a hospital without the necessary resources for such a case, but she is unable to be transferred to another suitable place due to the bad weather and her conditions. The nurse in charge of the young girl is Laura (Marie-Lou Sellen), an anorexic woman full of problems and inferiority complex due to her body, who lives in a house inherited from her grandmother with her friend Rebecca (the delicious and sexy Floriane Daniel). Rebecca works in translation, usually wears red colored clothes and has a kind of engagement (indeed their relationship is limited to sex) with Marco. He is a typical unfaithful male man, sexually chasing the women trained by him and being an empty person. The story is a kind of metaphor with the cycle of life, through the lives of five persons with different attitudes and behavior, who are linked by an incident, having death and birth but with life going on. The direction and the performance of the cast are excellent and the photography is wonderful. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Winter Sleepers – Inverno Quente' (`Winter Sleepers – Hot Winter')

I had seen "Lola Rennt" before and I remember that I liked a lot (I even bought it on DVD). So when I got the chance to see another movie from Tom Tykwer I didn't think twice and watched it. Although it is very hard to compare both movies, I must say that I liked this movie even a bit more.

In this movie we meet five people who, at first sight, don't seem to have much in common, but faith and love brings them all together. You'll see Rebecca. She's a translator who lives with her boyfriend, a ski instructor and a real womanizer, in a villa owned by her friend Laura, a nurse. Marco's car is stolen by Rene, a local cinema projectionist, who suffers from amnesia. He still knows everything that happened in the past but can't remember recent facts. While he's driving Marco's car, he causes an awful accident with a local farmer called Theo. Theo's daughter ends up in a coma and is rushed to the hospital where Laura works, where she dies later on. In the mean time Laura has fallen in love with Rene, who doesn't know what has happened. And Theo, who can't accept his daughter's death, tries everything to find the man who caused the accident and killed his daughter, so he can punish him...

What makes this movie so good is the combination of some very fine acting, a great choice of music, very beautiful images and a touching story. If you like movies like "21 Grams" than you definitely have to see this one as well. This is the kind of movie that will never be a great success in the multiplexes, but that will be loved by all who like to see a movie with some depth. You know what I mean, it doesn't have to be art-cinema, but not the 36th sequel of a movie based on a comic book either.

This is honest and sincere cinema from a country that isn't exactly very well known for it. Although I know several German movies that are more than just worth a watch ("Der Untergang" and "Lola Rennt" are two others), German movies aren't as well known or famous as the ones from Spain and Sweden and to a lesser extent France. Nevertheless Tom Tykwer proves with this one what a good director he is and that's why I can recommend it to everybody who likes to see some good, European cinema. I give it an 8.5/10.

Naturally, everybody saw "Run Lola Run" and liked it, just as I did.

And movieplexes, eager to cash in, probably scrambled for other T.Tykwer films, which is how and way the Century Landmark Theatre in Chicago was quick to put on "Winter Sleepers"

And it only lasted 2 weeks.

Which makes me very lucky to have seen it! It was a momentous surprise- just as much "Run Lola..." was dynamic and restless, this was dreamy and magical...

Scene after scene of quiet country life- often of desperation and lost chances and graet sorrow- and often wildly sexy. I usually take love scenes in movies as a simple plot device and hardly they are more than transparent tricks to keep one's attention on ( besides wall to wall soundtrack and car chases). Having said that, I have to admit that I hardly get so wound up after a movie love scene, as I did in this one, but here they were so intense and unforgettable ..

I also loved the fact that the film did not have a major plot line, following the standard Aristotellian curve- it just was and it ended without major fireworks, because this is how life is- it happens, it flows, it is felt, it is sometimes understood, it runs forward or slowly passes by, but it is almost never simplified to a beginning and a middle and an end. Very few films ever grasp this concept or very few filmmakers can relate it, but that is why film is such an elusive art.