Oliver Stokowski Movies
- 2008
A woman who has escaped the brunt of the Cold War discovers she misses it in this comedy-drama from filmmaker Neele Leana Vollmar, set in the early 1960's. Irene (Katharina Schubert) and her family -- husband Dieter (Oliver Stokowski) and children Ute (Nina Monka), Wasa (Leonie Brill) and Flori (Tamino Wecker) -- have recently moved to West Germany, leaving the chaos and political instability of the East behind. However, Irene doesn't quite see it that way; she's oddly nostalgic for the oppression and danger of life in East Berlin, and she makes no secret of the fact she'd like to go back. Irene is also convinced that Dieter is cheating on her, that nuclear war is on the horizon, and that she and the kids would be better off dead. While Irene's wildly unpredictable driving often puts a scare into Ute and Wasa, for the most part they're sympathetic to their mother's frequent rants, and are secretly hatching a scheme to break up their parents and keep her mom from killing herself so she can return to her beloved East Germany. But Ute and Wasa are a bit too young to understand that their mother's behavior isn't charming eccentricity but signs of mental illness. Friedliche Zeiten (aka Peaceful Times) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Katharina Schubert, Oliver Stokowski, (more)
Upon learning that his deceased ex-lover has willed him a substantial sum of money after succumbing to AIDS, a young Swiss man finds his life endlessly complicated by the deceased man's homophobic mother and headstrong recent boyfriend in director Christof Vorster's heart-rending drama. Steff and his ex-lover Martin Hilder had some great times together before parting ways, and when Steff learns that Martin has named him as the sole beneficiary to his substantial fortune, Steff finally begins to consider fulfilling his lifelong dream of starting his own business. It's not going to be as easy as it sounds, though, because in order to get the money, Steff is going to have to go through Martin's controlling, vehemently anti-gay mother. Add to that the fact that Martin's most recent ex-boyfriend, Rex, is determined to fulfill the deceased's wishes of having his ashes scattered in the Atlantic -- a wish that Martin's mother staunchly opposes -- and Steff soon finds himself forced to reexamine his life and reassess his priorities. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Oliver Stokowski
- 2004
Following in the footsteps of The Weight of Water and other recent films, Hans W. Geissendorfer's arthouse drama Snowland (AKA Schneeland, 2004) juxtaposes stories set in two different time frames. In contemporary Sweden, Elisabeth (Maria Schrader), a young wife and mother, learns that her husband was just killed in an automobile accident. Grief-stricken beyond the point of consolation, she shuttles the kids off to a relative's house, climbs into the car with plans to end her life, and drives headfirst into a blinding snowstorm, where her car breaks down and she makes her way to a nearby cabin for help. Upon discovering that the building's only resident has frozen to death, Elisabeth then uses various items located in the house to reconstruct the story of the woman's life. The film then flashes back to 1937, when Ina (Julia Jentsch), a young woman, found herself entrapped by the incestuous domination of her bastard father, Knovel (Ulrich Muhe). When a handsome and slightly enigmatic young stranger named Aron (Thomas Kretschmann) arrived and moved into the home of a neighboring couple, Salomon and Helga (Oliver Stokowski and Ina Weisse), Elisabeth fell hopelessly for him - little realizing that Helga also had romantic designs on the new arrival. Step by step, piece by piece, Elisabeth gains insights from the story into the problems plaguing her own life, and much-needed wisdom that will ultimately help her survive. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Thomas Kretschmann, Julia Jentsch, (more)
A man taking part in a scientific study finds the fine line between play-acting and reality has been blurred beyond recognition in this taut drama. Tarek Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu) is a journalist who is temporarily making ends meet by driving a taxi when he sees an advertisement offering 4,000 marks to people willing to submit to a psychological experiment. Intrigued, Tarek offers to take part in the study and persuades one of his former editors to help him work up a story about his experiences. Recording the events using a special high-tech video camera hidden in his glasses, Tarek arrives for the two-week experiment to discover half of the volunteers will pose as prison guards and the other half will be their prisoners. Before long the behavior of the subjects suggests more than just make-believe; "inmate" Tarek, in particular, is unwilling to take abuse from the "guards" and makes no secret of his contempt, while Berus (Justus VonDohnanyi) begins playing a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with Tarek. Tarek, meanwhile, begins escaping reality by fantasizing about Dora (Maren Eggert), a woman with whom he had a brief fling before taking part in the experiment. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, (more)
- 1999
Acclaimed German director Soenke Wortmann spins this cleverly constructed, sumptuously shot crime drama set in St. Pauli, Hamburg's notorious red light district. The film opens with a gang of thugs dumping someone's ashes in the harbor. One of the group, brash punk Johnny (Benno Fuermann) crosses town in a cab driven by Robby (Ill-young Kim). As the film jumps from one story to the next, Robby and his taxi emerge as the central thread that holds the film together. Later, a naked man with a gun terrorizes a crowded street and accidentally kills Johnny. The film immediately dives into the naked man's history before moving on to the movie's sundry other outcasts and miscreants such as brassy transvestite Roberta, disaffected punk Sven, and sleazy club owner Billi. With a cool, almost clinical eye, Wortmann artfully cuts back and forth through both space and time as his characters are systematically picked off. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Benno Fürmann, Kathleen Gallego Zapata, (more)
Aimed at mainstream audiences, this German sex comedy centers on Frankfurt police officer Cristoph who gets blind drunk after his girl friend breaks up with him and ends up the next morning in bed with Edgar, a homosexual auto mechanic. Poor Cristoph is beside himself trying to figure out whether or not he and Edgar.... Unfortunately, his bedfellow refuses to tell him. Cristoph returns home confused. Things get worse when a series of mistakes causes him to lose his apartment and move to Edgar's for a while. At work the hapless cop and his team get in big trouble when the arrest the wrong person. It's then he learns Edgar's true vocation. If this weren't enough, his colleague Helen, who could be a lesbian, seems terribly attracted to him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1989
Suffering from complex and difficult personal lives, the three women at the core of this drama seek out one another, their childhood friendships now giving them perspective on their current situations. Meanwhile, a parade of the characters in their lives shows some of the multifaceted challenges they face. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sabine Kaack, Martina Gedeck, (more)
