Justus VonDohnanyi Movies
- 2004
An unexpected revelation throws a young woman's history into strange new relief in this sci-fi-slanted drama. Siri Sellin (Franka Potente) is a respected concert pianist who makes the startling discovery that her eerie resemblance to her mother is more than the usual similarities between mother and daughter -- Siri is actually a clone of her "mom," successful classical vocalist Iris (also played by Potente). Shocked by the news, Siri flees her German home and travels to Canada, where she seeks solitude in the forests of British Columbia and finds solace in the arms of Greg (Hilmir Snær Gudnason). But Siri finds herself forced to resolve the issues of her relationship with Iris when she learns the woman who raised her is at death's door. Blueprint was based on a novel by author Charlotte Kerner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franka Potente, Ulrich Thomsen, (more)
One of the Third Reich's sinister plans for training a legion of strong and obedient young men to do their bidding is exposed in this historical drama, inspired by true-life events. In 1942, Friedrich Weimer (Max Riemelt) is a 16-year-old amateur fighter who is spotted while working out at a boxing club by Heinrich Vogler (Devid Striesow). Vogler is a recruiter for the National-Political Institutes of Learning (called "NAPOLA" for short), where promising young men with various talents will be taught to hone their strength, cunning, and fearlessness to a fine point, with the ultimate goal of using NAPOLA graduates to help rule the territories Nazis will overtake once they've won the war. Vogler invites Weimer to join the NAPOLA training facility in Allenstein, and he accepts, despite the strong misgivings of his family. Weimer is at first enthusiastic and committed to his new regimen, and becomes friendly with a fellow student, Albrecht Stein (Tom Schilling), an aspiring writer whose father, a important man in the German military, would like to see him join the SS. Stein does not embrace the training with the same enthusiasm as many of his fellows, and in time he and Weimer develop feelings for one another that go beyond friendship. In time, Weimer begins to lose his enthusiasm for NAPOLA, especially after a mission to find escaped Russian prisoners leads to the death of unarmed teenagers, and he looks for a way to rebel against the repressive system. Filmmaker Dennis Gansel dedicated Before the Fall to his grandfather, Peter Fritz Gansel, a NAPOLA veteran whose stories of the school's brutality inspired the movie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Riemelt, Tom Schilling, (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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, (more)
