Udo Samel Movies

A lively cast brings Waltz King's beloved comic operetta to life in this performance headlined by Pamela Armstrong, Thomas Allan, and Ragnar Ulfung, and featuring The Glyndebourne Chorus and London Philharmonic Orchestra performing under Vladimir Jurowski. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

How far is a man willing to go to be with the woman he wants? Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is a veteran piano instructor at a famous music conservatory in Vienna. Erika is highly respected for her remarkable talent and strong discipline, but she's also known to be a harsh taskmistress and does not suffer fools gladly; among her students, Erika's class is considered a highly rewarding challenge, but difficult to weather. Erika seems to get her stern and unforgiving nature from her mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she still lives, and without a husband or a lover, Erika satisfies her strong but frequently perverse sexual appetites through extreme porn videos, voyeurism, and masturbatory practices that sometimes involve pain and self-mutilation. Erika discovers she has attracted the attentions of one of her students, Walter (Benoit Maginel), a gifted and good-looking young man who does not seem at all put off by her icy personality. She refuses to acknowledge Walter's romantic overtures, but when he rises to the defense of a fellow student after a recital, Erika is enraged, and Walter pursues her, finally following her as she storms off to the women's room. Erika abruptly approaches Walter in a rough sexual fashion, but refuses to fully satisfy him until he is willing to allow her to control the relationship. When Walter becomes aware of just how much pain and humiliation is involved in Erika's erotic bill of fare, he refuses to participate, but in time his attraction to her causes him to weaken, and he begins to accede to her sexual demands. La Pianiste was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Maginel were named Best Actress and Best Actor, and writer/director Michael Haneke received the Jury's Grand Prize. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Safe sex just got a lot more dangerous in this purposefully outrageous comedy from Germany. A college professor, Mr. Smirnoff (Ralf Wolter) lures an attractive female student, who is willing to do just about anything to improve her grade, to New York's Hotel Quickie, where he avails himself of one of the free condoms provided by the management. However, the prophylactic in question has sprouted teeth and has a taste for blood, and before long, the prof is suddenly missing a penis. Assigned to investigate this strange case is detective Luigi Mackeroni (Udo Samel), a gay policeman who just transferred from Sicily and is a little lonely in his new home. When Luigi and Billy (Marc Richter), a good looking hustler, decide to repair to the Hotel Quickie for some fun and games, the detective himself is attacked by the carnivorous rubber (though his injuries are considerably less than those suffered by Prof. Smirnoff). Now much better acquainted with his new nemesis, Luigi has to convince his partner about the menace of the killer condoms, while in his spare time, he tries to brush off the uninvited advances of burly transvestite Babette (Leonard Lansink). Kondom des Grauens, released in the United States by Troma as Killer Condom, was based on a comic book by German cartoonist Ralf Koenig, who also wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Movie-making cliches are parodied in this German comedy which features to warring actresses, meddling producers, indulgent directors, and an ignored writer. Not only must they contend with each other, they must also deal with the bankers who have the power to shut them down at any moment. The story begins at the premier of director Viktor Rote's newest film "The Tin Cat," which stars his popular wife Riki Rote. The film's writer and Viktor's brother Richard is miffed when he is not allowed into the screening. Viktor's ambitious mistress and aspiring star the Nina is also not invited in. The film is a hit so Rote is allowed to begin his new film by producer George Kuballa. George is also head of the studio. His rich and frequently rejected wife is Lore, a major financial studio backer who prefers spending her time consorting with her handsome young chauffeur. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Wim Wenders revisits his masterpiece Der Himmel Uber Berlin in this film which picks up several years after the original left off. Cassiel (Otto Sander) is an angel who watches over the lives of the people of recently reunified Berlin with Raphaella (Nastassja Kinski). Damiel (Bruno Ganz), Cassiel's former partner who opted to return to the land of the living in the first film, now lives happily as a pizza chef with the woman he loved and married, circus performer Marion (Solveig Dommartin). While angels are forbidden to directly intervene in the lives of humans, Cassiel impulsively breaks this rule when a little girl falls from the balcony of an apartment block, and he swoops down to catch her. Suddenly made flesh and blood, Cassiel has earned the enmity of Emit Flesti (Willem Dafoe), a sort of overseer of the angels on the physical plane. Emit makes it his business to make things difficult for Cassiel now that he's living among the humans, and after a period of alcoholism and imprisonment, Cassiel finds himself working for gangster Tony Baker (Horst Buchholz), who distributes weapons and pornography on the black market. However, Cassiel has a change of heart and decides to destroy Tony's stockpile in a bid to make the world a better place. Peter Falk, who played himself in Der Himmel Uber Berlin, makes a return appearance when a gallery shows the sketches that he was making in the first film; rock singer Lou Reed and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev also appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This dramatic presentation is the story of the landscapes that inspired Caspar David Friedrich. Narrated by Friedrich's friend and pupil, Carl Gustav Carus (played by Helmut Griem) this takes place on location throughout Europe. Mr. Friedrich's will not appear, except with his back to the camera, as he paints. ~ Rovi

Otto Sander plays a German film director who shows his films to a skeptical panel of censors in this satire. He unspools the reels of his work in front of officials and religious leaders who make up the censorship board. Many filmmakers' and celebrities' faces familiar to German audiences appear in the film. One of the most memorable scenes involves a line-up of well-known directors awaiting their own appearance before the unforgiving board. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This somewhat superficial historical drama is about the 1525 Peasants' War in Germany when the lower classes rebelled against oppressive conditions imposed by the clergy and nobility and then committed many acts (including atrocities) that did not morally set them far apart from the people they were fighting. It was a time of upheaval: Martin Luther (1483-1556) had broken away from the Catholic Church, calling for reform, and Anabaptists in Germany, like Thomas Munzer fought on the side of the peasants (opposed by Luther). This complex age and its political and religious turmoil are summed up in a story about an attack on a small monastery whose monks used a forged document to confiscate some land from the peasants. When their wrong-doing is revealed by the monk who forged the document in the first place, the peasants attack. While the peasants wait for the heralded arrival of their warrior-savior on a white horse to bring justice to their cause, their fortunes go from bad to worse as the nobility gear up for revenge. This epic story might have been better served if director Christian Ziewer's budget had not been cut, forcing economic measures that have an effect on both depth and continuity.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Gross und Klein is a respectable four-hour drama based on a play by Botho Strauss about a woman, Lotte (Edith Clever), and her relationships with a wide range of characters in Saarbruecken. Lotte interacts with liberal artists and a conservative elite, and along the way, the sorrows and joys of life are brought forward. With excellent acting to complement a good script, the four hours go by quickly, though the film is more like a stageplay since the camera is stationary and the actors perform in the manner of theater thespians. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Despite the film's English title Knife in the Head, Hoffman (Bruno Ganz), a scientist, is shot in the head by the police while he is trying to pick up his wife from a political rally. Upon awakening, Hoffman finds that he has lost all memory of who he is and why the police were after him. At first, he is also paralyzed, unable to move or care for himself. As he recovers the use of his faculties, his search to discover what was really at stake during the rally leads him to take some harsh measures of his own. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi