Rising High

"Betonrausch" is a high-energy immersion into the world of real estate and financial greed, driven by a compelling performance from Frederick Lau, who lends charisma and intensity to the film. The story develops at a fast clip, in stylish form, keeping viewers on the edge while plowing through this ruthless landscape of property speculation and corruption. More than once, the feverishness of the film to present its subject matter from all sides allows for a scattershot approach at the cost of character development and emotional depth in the face of its frenetic plot. While Betonrausch delivers a lot of action and piercing comments on modern capitalism, the overestimation of the spectacular against the price of deeper storytelling leaves this movie somewhat superficial.

German movies have a certain flair and a certain flavor to them. There are some preconceived ideas too. Something like this tries eagerly to copy a formula that the US has really done well. The little man struggling but finding a way to rise to the top ... having issues with things he has done or the connections he has made over the years.

There are cliches being used and the story is quite predictable. Overall still a decent effort and enjoyable to a degree. Might not meet the criteria some have or expect from Netflix, but what can you do? It is what it is as Seinfeld might say (or many others for that matter)

I will call this quite original, in german movie standards, its all comes to the question of money, how to do it, how to boost it , who to play fraudulent games against, and at the same time keep up the appearances in love and life.

its a genial story, with a fast shifting plot, where the whole story are flashbacks to the past during an interview made in prison. the twists and the spontaniousity are fun, the main actors are cute and high quality acting, the score are as usual electronica the german style with some extreme rythm sections that catches the spiritual wibes in the film.

so if you like the silent kind of heist, or fraud or racketeering or whatever its called without a kill and a bloody gore, but a fun and ingenious money making caracter, then the grumpy old man can recommend.

This film tries hard to be something it isn't - good. It is a cheap version of Wolf of Wall Street, with mediocre direction, one dimentional characters and mostly bad acting. The main character is supposed to be a charismatic, sly and goodlooking Leo DiCaprio type of guy, but doesn't deliver on that. And don't even get me started on the script and the cringeworthy dialogues. Subtlety isn't this film's strenght. But then again, not much is.

I was very satisfied by this agreeable German comedy drama flick, whi other users seem not to appreciate that much. I have Always craved for rise and fall schemes. here this is pretty well done for my taste. i Don't need that much more to be pleased. The mechanism of all those scams is interesting. The lead character's sidekick, reminds me Gene Hackman in the sixties; I would have imagined him playing this kind of role in a performance of his early career. maybe because the German actor wears the same kind of hat Hackman had in FRENCH CONNECTION. But the scene of the crooks asking an old an to sign documents for an apartment, is one of the highlights of this film; the Gene Hackman double present at the same table is laughable; who would trust an estate agent in company with such a man, looking so much like a crook? I would never answer him asking about the time...ha ha ha