Im Nachtlicht

Minthe Hellheim's life is about to get difficult; through no fault of her own she is about to lose her accommodation and her job. Then she gets offered a new job; surveying and restoring an old watermill near the town of Hellheim. It is no coincidence that she shares her name with the town; as a baby she was found there and taken into care. She isn't keen to go back but has little choice. Once there she learns more about her job then heads to the mill, which is situated in the remote Wolf Valley. She is instructed to stay away from the out building and the mute woman who lives there. It is a mysterious place and locals talk of ancient myths concerning the mill and what has happened there. Before the film is over she will learn more about the place, and herself.

I thought this was a decent enough film. The location created a good atmosphere and it did a solid job creating the mythology of the place. Unfortunately it never really got scary, succeeding only to get to the level of a bit creepy. Diana Maria Frank does an impressive job as Minthe and the rest of the cast are solid. There is little violence to speak of and what there is tends to happen out of view. Overall I'd not say this was a must see but if you prefer chills to outright scares it passes the time well enough.

These comments are based on watching the film in German with English subtitles.

The movie might be more interesting if the subtitles were more accurate and covered more of the movie. One keeps thinking they left things out with the subtitles. Minthe, born in Hellheim, seems adrift, not knowing who she is, having been passed from foster family to foster family. She has skills, but seems to not follow through with them. Living elsewhere she is given a job in Hellheim, to restore an old mill. The mill is owned by a bank, and wants the mill (Wolf Mill) completely restored. She can live there, but she is not to go into one of the outbuildings nor the cold room, which is a vast labyrinth. An old woman lives in the outbuilding. She is told back in 1630, there were stories of werewolves and other strange thing happenings. And ominously, she is given a warning by a local to leave before the full moon. And there are things happening that suggest things are not what they seem. There is a murder, and an outsider cop assigned there seems to be greatly disliked by the local police as he asks questions about the crime. There are questions about the motives of the bank. And it seems her getting the job is no accident.

Taking part in two online film festivals at the same time (!) it hit me that due to having enjoyed watching/taking part in the Q&A's so much,I only had a few hours left to catch some of the new titles at the Cine-Excess weekend festival! This led to me getting ready to shine a light into the night.

Note:Some plot details in review.

View on the film:

Getting lost in the woods after losing her job,accommodation,and not knowing who her parents were, Diana Maria Frank gives a terrific turn as Hellheim,whose clean-slate status is used by Frank to push Hellheim's head-strong mind-set to shove pass the whispering locals,and discover what is barking at the moon.

Hired as a construction worker on restoring a old water mill, the screenplay by debut writer/director Misha Kreuz claws into the Werewolf mythology of local town whispers via Minthe's detached state, as Kreuz has the rules laid down by men for Minthe to not enter a eerie outbuilding or to speak to a silent hermit woman, be ones that get broken by Minthe's curiosity to see the light of the night.

Film without narrative and with large plot holes, the photography does not stand out nor the soundtrack, the performances are good but with a lousy direction and generally not very entertaining. I didn't think a movie about werewolves could bore me this much.

There are nonsensical parts where you hope that it will become clear as the film goes by, but the time does not come and they become meaningless pictures, characters that do not have any type of development or final objective within the story. If you have the opportunity to see it, miss it, not recommended. Tedious and boring in every way.