Berlin Nobody

Most boring monotone movie in every aspect from script,dialog,cinematography,locations & attire.

Sadie may of did well in Stranger Things however,based on this & other performances I'm really not a fan.

Although the rest of the cast,even their acting was average to poor.

This topic of cults is beyond clichéd & has been done,so much better in the past.

I guess because it took place internationally it apparently was more unique,they could of used more locations or something.

Still got over 100 characters to go & frankly,there isn't anything else that is worth talking about.

Finally.. Watch is you need sleep!

Eric Bana and Sadie Sink sulk their way through Berlin Nobody, a drab cult thriller given the far less tantalizing title "A Sacrifice" for North American distribution. Bana is an American professor in Berlin working on a complicated thesis about cult mindset and dangerous groupthink, unaware that his teenage daughter (Sink) is slowly orbiting the very same deadly cult via a German boy (Jonas Dasser) she's started seeing. Bana is a brilliant actor who doesn't always choose the best scripts and this is unfortunately one of them, Stranger Things' talented Sink also falling into the same trap. They try to do honest character work but the writing lets them down hard, attempting some complex thematics regarding the cut angle that get left completely open ended like they just gave up in fully exploring their ideas and let the credits roll. Skip.

The description of the movie plot sounded so mysterious and intriguing! With the the topics of cults & murders, i was expecting an exciting & mysterious movie. Sadly, this is more of a slow-paced drama than a thriller. The first hour was the worst, with no intrigue or mystery building. I'm not sure if it is the story, dialogue or action (or lack thereof) that makes the viewing so darn dull. But it's quite bland. Now admittedly, the last 20 minutes were more exciting, and the last bit does rather make some sense of what you were watching in the hour or so previous. The last 20 minutes, however, is not enough to redeem this movie. Unfortunately, despite the good acting & production overall, the story just falls flat.

The movie touched on some cult recruitment practices and attempted to address the why people get sucked into groups with some slightly on the nose dialogue dressed up as academic banter.

Unfortunately I'm familiar having directly experienced a real cult and it's terrifying groupthink. The use of psychedelics is a cult trope but mostly not the case. Maybe the cult this was based on used them but that's a generally held misbeleif. It doesn't take much to suck the unguarded in. We're social animals and crave community and acceptance.

None the less it did expose some cult standards. Being made to feel special. Group acceptance. False dilemmas to instil fear and compliance. A sociopathic cult leader. Etc.

From a movie/narrative perspective the story was a little flat and one dimensional. A splash of colour should have spruced it up visually. Sub plots were thin and the twist foreshadowing tipped its hand.

Eric did a good job as did his co-stars but I had the feeling they weren't buying the dialogue here and there. Still it was watchable and there wasn't that feeling you'd just wasted two hours of your life.

I just wish it had that extra something.

Traditional cult movies involve satanic or religious cults. Out with the old in with the new. As those two previous mentioned categories fade further and further away from the forefront of people's minds, the more relevant environmental cult, is more fitting for a modern audience.

Unlike some cult movies the leader's sole purpose isn't necessarily gathering as many followers as possible to do slave work, make her rich or even powerful. The environmentalist cult agenda is that Earth comes first and people are killing the earth. Therefore, people need to die quickly so that the earth can heal. A Doomsday Cult.

PRO: The movie does a good job at showing you how people that feel lost and are searching for something, can easily fall prey to people who just want to further their cause.

CON: The movie progresses way too fast. You barely get to know the characters and then boom the end. The ending is also predictable, although there is a slight twist with some characters.