Un valzer tra gli scaffali

This was an excellent movie about the importance of comradeship and the dignity of work even in a menial job in the modern mechanized and dehumanized work space. The bonding between an steady older man and a young man with a past trying to find his place with the world was very touching. In that, it reminded me of the excellent movie 'Spring Forward' with Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber.

The physical setting is fascinating. Our guys stock the shelves of some sort of super grocery store where there are endless aisles and the stacks of crates loom 40 feet up in the air. It's like the warehouse at the end of 'Raiders of the Lost Arc', but it's just a grocery store.

Minor note -- even when the guys dream of leaving the aisles, it's to go to other isles, like Ibiza. But I suppose that's an accident of English, not something intended by the German filmmakers.

In Thomas Stuber's austere drama about the lives of supermarket employees in Germany, Strauss' 'The Blue Danube' conveys the lyrical magic of forklifts skating amidst the vast rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves, paying homage to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Introvert Christian (Franz Rogowski) has a chequered past but finds work as a shelfstacker at a Costco-style supermarket. He's urged to hide his tattoos and wear his name tag to maintain the company's clean-cut image. Assigned to the beverages department, Christian finds a trusty mentor in no-nonsense veteran Bruno (Peter Kurth), who schools him on the politics of 'forklift conflicts' and who patiently trains him to drive pallet jacks in between smoke breaks on the sly.

Christian's first time operating a pallet jack is a wry exercise in slapstick. Possessing a reserved charm, Rogowski makes the meek Christian likeable with a largely physical performance of bashful turns of the cheek, wistful glances and approving nods. Christian's frequent encounters at the coffee machine with Marion (Sandra Huller) from the Sweets aisle sends tongues wagging, but their innocent flirtations barely crack the ice. Upon learning of Marion's martial unhappiness, Christian's wounded vulnerability compels him to self-medicate with alcohol to numb the pain.

Stuber would have done well to play up the romance angle to give his inert film more energy and direction, but that's not the goal here. 'In The Aisles' celebrates the human connections formed in the daily grind of work. Christian and Bruno bond during smoke breaks, looking out to the world beyond from behind a wire fence, with the older Bruno reminiscing of Germany before reunification when he used to drive trucks, recalling the landmarks that were markers that told him home was close. Stuber is careful not to turn it into a battle cry against the collossus of global capitalism, but the bleakness hangs over like a dark cloud nonetheless. 'In The Aisles' handles tonal shifts well, and by adding deadpan jokes to undercut the gritty, urban gloom, its shades of light and dark are sketched with convincing realism; however, more laughs to cut through the grey wouldn't have gone astray.

The screen play surprisingly won best screenplay awards in Athens and Berlin international festivals ,,, The sad truth is the script is sooo slow ,, spread over two long hours which could have been a really good hour 20 minutes top...

The plot is genuine and somewhat purposeful and kinda sad with its harsh truth at some scenes , but the movie had some gabs and definitely more than few unnecessary dull moments.

The cast was perfect though,, Franz Rogowski was perfect for the role with his weirdness facial expressions and voice and Sandra Hüller I loved her in the Oscar winner movie of 2016 "Toni Erdmann" and here she did well.

final thought,, i watched the whole thing with subtitles so if you speak German you might have enjoyed it better than i did ,, but for its meaningful message i think the movie is somewhat recommended .

I think it's a very aesthetic representation of life in aisles as in the assembly line (not much different in the cubicles). Didn't feel the darkness was exaggerated. You feel for the characters and then you think of yourself too. And of life today. The store itself is masterfully shot... the tall roofs and small aisles... for those working there, that's the sky and the streets. An existential film!

Needs a bit of existential acceptance to watch such movies. And an eye for the aesthetic... or else one might find it too gloomy. The direction is top notch. And the actors are such a great fit, they look like they actually work there. Marion, just like for the hero, is a welcome sight whenever she is in the frame... and she is used just optimally to make you feel the otherwise dullness of the place and work broken only when she's around. The mentoring relationship is another aspect very well-covered. Just to show that there's always some brightness and some warmth in the darkest and the coldest of places.

This movie has a unique nature, it will move your mood to a different level ,it will ring a lot of bills and it will make you wonder a lot about life.

It starts with a beautiful "Johann Strauss" music, then we will be taken into a journey between the aisles of a supermarket, this journey starts with the process of hiring a new employee "Christian", then the events follow to know more about the routine of the employees and their habits during different occasions.

The performance of the actors is the best here, they look as normal people we see everyday, their reactions are normal or not cinematic so they give you the feeling that anyone of us can be in their places.

The background of each character is introduced in a simple way, and to a sufficient extent.

Most of the events happen in the supermarket, but there are some external scenes. However you may wish that all the events remain in the aisles as they have a unique magic that attracts you.

The movie has a message about life that is delivered in a very simple way, but not all of people may catch it in the first time.

The directing added a lot to the nature of the movie, there's a great attention to details and this is clear in the connection between the final scene and the scene in the 9th minute.

Finally, if you ever wondered about the life of people in IKEA or any supermarket, then this movie is recommended for you. You may feel it's elongated as two hours movie, but you may wish if it could stay more. It's not boring and rewatchable.