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"I want the same as everyone else. I just want it more," someone says here in the third act. These days, for young people, the heartfelt desire is often no longer to become a star as an artist. Being famous, becoming an influencer, or gaining influence within an entourage - that is the new grail.

Matthew works at a trendy boutique. There, he meets the popular musician Oliver. Using a trick, he manages to catch Oliver's attention and earn his respect. (Tellingly, the film leaves open whether Matthew even likes Oliver's music.)

He is invited backstage to Oliver's concert, but is left confused by Oliver's erratic behavior: sometimes affable and jovial, sometimes distant and dismissive. Still, Matthew manages to tag along with the clique and eventually gains access to Oliver's "crib"-where a small court of crew, assistants, and musicians surrounds the star.

Matthew's resourcefulness and cunning, both here and later, are almost uncomfortably compelling to watch. Oliver's manager, Shai, eyes the schemer with suspicion. But for Oliver (who may crave affirmation as much as our protagonist) and his fellow musicians, Matthew soon becomes indispensable - the whisperer who turns into a supposed talisman.

Yet just as he outmaneuvers most of the others in Oliver's entourage, Matthew's former boutique colleague soon enough pushes into the picture. As this colleague's talents rise and he threatens to become the next golden boy, the carousel of ambition, envy, and resentment spins out of control.

Maybe it's a prerequisite for artists to believe their own hype. When flatterers and hangers-on start to believe it too, things get tragic - or, as in this cleverly staged drama, bizarre.

A directorial debut, by the way!

Special praise goes to the nervous, simmering energy that lead actor Théodore Pellerin brings to the screen, as well as the skillfully constructed story by writer-director Alex Russell.

Seen this at the Berlin International Film Festival.

She was about to unleash the film on us, as the noticeably excited director finally exulted, having been brought on stage beforehand by the screenings moderator. The Cinderella tale was very close to her heart, and she almost spoiled the ending (more on that below). But first things first:

At the beginning, we still wonder, due to the emerging, subtly crude exaggeration, where this journey is headed... whether the film will find its tone. Yet another patchwork family coming together, a few centuries before today.

The penniless widow Rebekka moves with her daughters, Alma and Elvira, into the estate of a supposedly wealthy, older suitor, who has a pretty daughter named Agnes. Unfortunately, the hoped-for benefactor soon passes away. When it also turns out that this household has fallen on hard times as well, the newly widowed and aspiring social climber finds herself in a tough spot.

The prince of the county, meanwhile, is idolized by all the maidens for his poetry-and is soon to host a ball where he will choose his bride. A rivalry ignites between the initially haughty Agnes and the unconventionally attractive Elvira, spurred on by mother Rebekka, who puts every hockey mom to shame. After all, the pool of candidates is as large as in today's casting shows.

The audience may soon suspect: The daughter figures and the "evil" stepmother from the original Cinderella story seem here to serve merely as a foundation. For things appear to be taking a different turn, won't they? Who is the good one, who is the bad one-we recall the director's words: "The ugly stepdaughter, that was me." "There is only one Cinderella, we can't all be her."

Here, one feels pleasantly uncertain about how it will all end. It is crafty how Emilie Blichfeldt (both director and writer) blurs boundaries and plays with expectations, even as she does not shy away from clichés but rather embraces them in keeping with the genre.

The parallels to today, which Emilie Blichfeldt hints at, meaning that the whole thing can also be read as an analogy to current and burgeoning social dreams - are not as far-fetched as they may seem. After all, influencers, beauty ideals, body optimization trends, posing coaching, the excesses of cosmetic procedures, and (model) casting shows all promise dreams that rarely come true.

The drastic visual shock effects in "Den Stygge Stesøsteren" do not come across as mere sensationalism; instead, they powerfully illustrate the delusions of the characters: losing weight by ingesting a parasite, a nose job with hammer and chisel, self-mutilation... These scenes provoked intense reactions from the audience: vehement groans, followed by sudden bursts of laughter-even applause for individual scenes. Rare and strange.

And yet, it is simply faithful to the source: fairy tales have always drawn their effect from horrific deeds. The Grimm version of the story, as one can find, is by no means the only one. The Cinderella legend haunted Europe for centuries in countless variations before the Brothers Grimm-and later Ludwig Bechstein-shaped it into the form we remember today.

It is hard to imagine a better or more faithful adaptation of fairy tale motifs for a modern audience than what this film achieves-through adaptation, interpolation, and remixing.

The Nice Guys might not be a cinematic masterpiece or reinvent film making.

What it does, though, it does brilliantly: Presenting a set of unique and interesting characters and putting them into a zany plot that doesn't hold back on weird yet still believeable situations, garnished with witty dialogue.

Unsurprising maybe, if you take into account the film's director and co-writer is the O. G. when it comes to the modern buddy (cop) movie: Shane Black, who made his first splash with Lethal Weapon. (If you want another overlooked gem like this film, check out Kiss Kiss Bang Bang btw with Val Kilmer and Robert Downey jr !)

The films protagonists have edges and flaws. Professionally the at best struggle. Still (or maybe because of that) we root for them. Crowe and Gosling incorporate them with charm and humour.

It is a marvel how this movie didn't get more exposure.