German Cinema
The devastation of World War One left Germany's budding film industry, like much of Europe, in tatters. But necessity being the mother of invention, German Expressionism was born. Relying heavily on symbolism and shadow rather than elaborate and costly sets, films like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' are still studied by film students the world over. By the mid-1920s, the industry was getting back on its feet and great directors like Fritz Lang and FW Murnau were making their early masterpieces. However the onset of Nazism and the impending war led many of Germany's artists, including filmmakers, to flee to the U.S. Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Douglas Sirk, Karl Freund and many more all continued their careers in America while the German film industry virtually disappeared. It was not unitl the '60s and '70s that new talents emerged. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Viktor Schlondorff and Wim Wenders revitalised German cinema and today international hits such as 'Run Lola Run' and 'Goodbye Lenin!' assure us it is here to stay.
Right: 'Run Lola Run'
The Conference (2022)
7.3/10
Director: Matti Geschonneck
On January 20, 1942, leading representatives of the German Nazi regime met in a villa in Berlin-Wannsee for a meeting that went down in history as the... Read more
A Stasi Comedy (2022)
Starring: David Kross
After falling in love with the Nathalie and sleeping with his first target, Corinna, Ludger ends up living two lives - one as an underground poet and... Read more
Next Door (2021)
7/10
Director: Daniel Brühl
Starring: Daniel Bruhl, Peter Kurth
Explores the subjects of gentrification and social inequality in Berlin. Read more
Berlin, I Love You (2019)
4.5/10
Director: Peter Chelsom, Fernando Eimbcke, Dennis Gansel, Dani Levy, Josef Rusnak
Starring: Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Luke Wilson, Jim Sturgess, Mickey Rourke
Latest installment of the Cities of Love series (Paris, je t'aime / New York, I Love You / Rio, Eu Te Amo), this collective feature film is made of te... Read more
Transit (2018)
7/10
Director: Christian Petzold
Starring: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer
In an attempt to flee Nazi-occupied France, Georg assumes the identity of a dead author but soon finds himself stuck in Marseilles, where he falls in... Read more
The Young Karl Marx (aka Der Junge Karl Marx) (2017)
6.6/10
Director: Raoul Peck
Starring: August Diehl, Vicky Krieps
The early years of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Jenny Marx, between Paris, Brussels and London. Read more
In the Fade (Aus dem Nichts) (2017)
7.1/10
Director: Fatih Akin
Starring: Diane Kruger, Adam Bousdoukos, Numan Acar, Denis Moschitto
Katja's life falls apart in the blink of an eye when two neo-Nazis kill her husband and 6-year-old son in a bomb attack. Her quest for justice soon pu... Read more
Return to Montauk (2017)
5.8/10
Director: Volker Schlondorff
Starring: Niels Arestrup, Stellan Skarsgard, Nina Hoss
It is winter in Montauk, at the far end of Long Island. There are two deck chairs on the windswept beach. The chairs are waiting for two people who ha... Read more
Frantz (2016)
7.5/10
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stotzner
Anna is a bereft young German woman whose fiance, Frantz, was killed in the trenches of World War I. Adrien, a French veteran of the war, makes a myst... Read more
Toni Erdmann (2016)
7.4/10
Director: Maren Ade
Starring: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Huller
Winfried doesn't see much of his working daughter Ines. The suddenly student-less music teacher decides to surprise her with a visit after the death o... Read more