Stereo

Edgar Poe ,"William Wilson" .

At first ,this thriller shows a Roman Polanski influence : the hero's peaceful life , in a common milieu,suddenly subject to the intrusion of maleficent hostile world,and sinister-looking characters looming in everyday life : ever since the first meeting with his girlfriend's father , one feels something bizarre in his attitude towards his (future?) son-in-law ;which the second one (the handshake) does nothing to dispel .In the meantime, a sinister -looking figure appears ,some kind of double, a persecutor, or his conscience,because ,slowly but inexorably, one feels that the hero has skeletons in his closet ,that fueled by the girlfriend's dad 's investigations (he's a cop).

The man who follows him everywhere and which nobody but the unfortunate hero can see may seem sometimes intrusive at times ,but it inspires the excellent scene with the little girl :children often invent an imaginary friend ,and for her ,it's only natural that her mom's friend has one too.

Not only the hero thinks he's losing his marbles ,which the people who are supposed to help him do nothing to rectify : on the contrary ,the thespian in the hospital sends him to a most peculiar therapist ,as though they were all part of a huge conspiracy

Of course ,there are elements taken from former movies ("Jacob's ladder" ,"fight club".... ),and the last twenty minutes are a bit disappointing , for gore and violence which were kept to a minimum level so far ,come to the fore ,a la Tarentino .

In spite of these reservations, "stereo " is a good thriller,well acted by both principals , off the beaten track ; and the "explanation" makes sense , despite (or thanks to) the intrusion of the fantasy and horror in the trite world of a motorcycle mechanic.

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.

Story wise we do not get served something we might not have seen before (can't speak for everyone, but if you have seen a couple of thrillers, chances are, the plot is not new to you). But acting wise, we do get more than a treat. It's two of the best known actors finally together. German actors that is and only if you consider their acting skills that is of course.

We have a very decent effort to bring those two together, though the initial cat and mouse does not make any sense, especially considering the the insistence of the "second" character not wanting to go away after that. There is a lot of foreshadowing and you will be able to see where this is headed. The confrontation towards the end is nicely done, although this has some flaws too (again makes no sense). But the very end, is very good and gives us one final great moment ...

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.