3° kälter

Unlike most recent movies, "3° kälter" prioritizes internal to external development which makes it a slow moving but intense treat. If you go and see it, you should be prepared for an almost fatalist close-up study on love, loneliness and despair. With few exceptions, the film paints a rather grim picture of human nature and relationship. Maybe Hoffmeister is no second Ingmar Bergmann (or isn't yet, if Bergmann is ever to be matched…), but his film remains very well-elaborate and poignant. Probably too heavy to be a commercial success, this movie will leave a deep impression among those who are willing to engage with it.

It's crud like this that gives foreign language films a bad reputation to the average moviegoer. I hated every intolerable minute of it and giving you a synopsis of the non-existent plot is only going to inflame me again but I'm bound to my word to review it.

Jan (a man more chin than head) pisses off from his dingy German town for no given reason, leaving all his friends behind. They look for him but give up the chase when they come to the conclusion that he must be dead or something. Five years later he comes back for no reason to see how they've all changed. And that's your lot, mate! Nothing else happens.

They try to inject melodrama by having Jan turn up at awkward, strange moments to confront his former pals, but it feels quite contrived. The dialogue is almost entirely pointless. Nothing of any importance is said by any character and the only lines they manage to utter seem like stock samples that are only in there to prevent it from being a silent film. Well it ain't much of a goddamn 'talkie'.

The dialogue is usually of the following quality:

'Come with me.' 'My fags are out on the balcony.'

'I'm so glad you're back.' 'That railroad is three degrees colder.'

What??? Did I just walk into an alternate universe where bullshit makes sense?

There are far too many characters introduced at once and none of them really look all that different so you'll lose track really easily, especially since none of them say or do anything other than look perpetually depressed.

The only good thing I can mention about this truly rotten film is the skillful, if bleak, widescreen photography that briefly captures some moments of atmosphere that the film could really have used more of to prevent it from being the borefest that it is. It's too damn metaphysical and requires the audience to really read into the silences than listen to the conversation. I can do that, but not in a pretentious pile of crap such as this.

None of the women were really that attractive either but I was so bored that I was praying for some kind of nude scene.

The appearance of the end credits was like similar to that feeling after taking a really big dump. You feel hollow, dirty and worn-out, but at least it's over now!

I went to see the film at this years Edinburgh film festival and I have to say it did stay with me for a long time. At first I did find it quite irritating - you are exposed to a lot of people and neither the film nor the filmmaker seems to care for establishing characters in a traditional manner. But than slowly things began to sink in and suddenly I felt exposed to an entire world that had been constructed very carefully - it felt if you had gone to a party where you did not know anybody and than slowly started to figure out people and connections between them. The overall mood was quite melancholic - but also very human, and in its observation of a life standing still quite desperate. Interestingly I went with a group of friends: after the film people had quite different opinions on it - taking into account that not many words seem to be spoken during the film, it did keep us busy talking all evening. What I liked most was the very finely crafted performances of the cast - especially the unspoken desires, the life underneath our skin seemed so transparent. In that sense it did in a way remind me of that Russian author Chechow, but that might be a very big comparison. If you ever have the chance to get hold of it, I can only recommend it - that, by the way, is the true great thing about seeing films at Edinburgh, you just run into things you would not expect and you go home enriched and provoked and not only dully entertained.