Stereo

The intertwined pasts of the two men lead us to a mystical, desperate attempt of catharsis. The cop dad is the the exact opposite reflection of the protagonist..cringey.. weak..but loyal. Like in Bertolucci's "Sheltering skies" the old man has visions that are both accurate and surreal. Blooming excellent end.

Likeable middle aged rogue tries to go it straight in a small rural town when he starts to find himself almost literally haunted by his own dark past. Somehow the film manages to thread a confusing path balancing the fantastic and the mundane to reach it's bloody, bullet ridden climax. For me, this film did a much better job of bringing together it's various "out there" plot points than most similar efforts on the market. But then again, it does manage to both have good ideas but also not bludgeon the audience over the head with them.

I found this film very boring, uninteresting, unrealistic during the first hour, or a little less. The characterization totally tepid, lousy at the most. Suddenly after this first hour, things change in the most radical way, before finishing in the best brutal fight sequences and a little more interest for the characters. You can try it.

Stereo: Eric (Jurgen Vogel) is living in rural Bavaria, he runs a garage, is easy going, has a girlfriend. But her policeman father is suspicious of him. To be honest Eric is suspicious of himself, he's a bit dubious about his past, what really happened in his Berlin days. To add to his confusion a character called Henry starts to stalk him, Henry knows more about Eric's past than Eric does. The trouble is only Eric can see Henry. A therapist/medium with the aid of a wheelchair bound Aleister Crowley lookalike tries to help. Then a Roma man appears who seems to know Eric and attempts to involve him in a criminal scheme. A black comedy, gangster flick and revenge thriller which is quite edgy and violent. Vogel is good at portraying Eric as the confused everyman who just wants a quiet life and a family. But like Job the troubles of the world are showered upon him. Good acting all round as the film moves from fields to seedy nightclubs and a grand guignol finale. Directed and written by Maximilian Erlenwein. 8/10.

I had the chance to see the German movie Stereo early during a Sneak Preview. The impression with which I left the cinema was largely positive mainly due to the strong performances of Jürgen Vogel and Moritz Bleibtreu as well as some nice shots and camera work.

The story starts with Erik, played by Jürgen Vogel, receiving a ticket for speeding on the way to his girlfriend Julia. Together with her daughter they lead a quiet life in the countryside. The plot starts to unfold when one day Erik's work as a motorcycle mechanic is disturbed by the arrival of gypsies and the appearance of a mysterious hooded man, who is played by Moritz Bleibtreu.

From here on the story convinces with some nice turning points and surprises, although some of them can be easily anticipated as the plot progresses. The most interesting part for me was the development of the relation between Erik and the character played by Bleibtreu, which worked really well. With the focus on these characters I could not help myself but feel disinterested in the fates of Erik's girlfriend and her family (not to mention the gypsies).

One of my main gripes with the movie is therefore the slow and boring family scenes. Some of which contain slow motion shots combined with a soundtrack that I did not find fitting. Still the music convinces in many other parts of the film and underlines many great shots, notably during the outdoor scenes.

In my opinion, another flaw of the movie is its overdone profanity. While I enjoyed the comedic remarks by Bleibtreu's character a lot of the misogynistic comments and portrayals found in the film seem overdone. I think the movie could achieve the same result, i.e. depicting the bad guys as really evil men, with a more subtle tone, especially since we have Julia's family as a stark contrast. Furthermore, I found the performance of Erik's adversary Keitel with his strong Austrian accent convincing enough to also justify a more unobtrusive dialogue and imagery without watering down the characters too much.

All in all, Stereo is an entertaining and gripping thriller. It manages to compensate for its slow parts with good performances by its two lead actors and the development of the relatable characters they play. The plot will keep you interested to see what's next despite rather predictable twists and revelations. You should not be easily offended by strong language and explicit images though.