Luggi Waldleitner Movies

A young woman struggles with her unusual relationship with her mother and father in this drama from Germany. Laura (Tatjana Trieb) is a bright young girl whose parents, Martin (Howie Seago) and Kai (Emmanuelle Laborit), are deaf and dumb. Living in a small town in Germany, where International Sign Language has long been frowned upon due to local superstitions, Martin and Kai have a great deal of difficulty communicating with others. However, Laura knows sign language as well as her parents, and she frequently acts as an interpreter between her parents and others, often missing school as a result (though when translating for her mother at a parent-teacher conference, Laura cleverly twists a poor evaluation in her favor). Laura is given a clarinet by her Aunt Clarissa (Sybille Canonica), but this inflames an old sibling rivalry in Martin, and he makes it clear to Laura that he does not approve of her study of music, a subject he cannot understand or take part in. Laura begins learning the instrument despite her father's wishes, and she soon develops a keen talent. Years later, teenaged Laura (now played by Sylvie Testud) is a gifted musician and is encouraged by her clarinet teacher to attend a conservatory in Berlin, where a scholarship can be arranged. Despite Martin's objections, Laura goes to Berlin with Kai's blessings. While studying in Berlin, Laura meets Tom (Hansa Czpionka), a young man who teaches hearing impaired children, and she finds herself enjoying both romance and independence for the first time. Sadly, Laura's good fortune goes south when tragedy strikes at home. Jenseits der Stille, released in the United States as Beyond Silence, received a 1997 Academy Award nomination as Best Foreign Language film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In Fiorile (US title: Wild Flower), Italy's Taviani brothers once again dissect the manners and mores of the Tuscany region. The story is predicated on a 200-year-old family curse. During the Napoleonic era, Elizabetta "Fiorile" Benedetti (Galatea Ranzi) discovers that her own brother Corado (Claudio Bigagli) is responsible for the crime for which her lover Jean (Michael Vartan) was executed. The embittered Fiorile places a curse on the Benedetti family, declaring that none of her brother's direct descendants will ever achieve true happiness. Over the next two centuries, the Benedettis' ill-gotten wealth increases, but they lose the love and respect of their neighbors. In fact, most people prefer to call the Benedetti family the "Maledettis," or the Cursed Ones. The film's final episode occurs during World War II, as Grandpa Massimo Benedetti (Renato Carpentieri), the last family member directly affected by the curse, relates his tale of woe to a pair of youngsters. Will the curse die with Massimo, or will the innocent young ones be forced to carry it into the next generation? Fiorile is not the sort of movie one sits back and relaxes with, despite its leisurely pace; those willing to work with the film, however, will be amply rewarded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sad and diverse romantic lives of the people who come to a ballroom named Ballhaus Barmbek are closely followed in this drama. Each table in the ballroom has a telephone on it so as to speed up the mating process. Some of those who come to the ballroom are pathetic, like the overweight Elvis fan whose makes a shrine to his idol. Others are simply hard-pressed to remain polite, like the studly Axel, whom all the dance-hall's unattached women (and many of those who are attached) want to dance with. One of the patrons is a crazed old man who rails out against the world in his own poetic language. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

German cabaret star Lili Marleen inspired a song that was extremely popular with the German soldiers during WW II. This war drama offers a fictionalized account of her story that begins in 1938 while she performs in a Zurich cabaret. It is her boyfriend, a Swiss Jew who also turns out to be a resistance fighter who pens her famous song. She sings it in Germany and it becomes a hit with the German troops. As a result, Hitler himself invites her to perform for him. This does not set well with the songwriter's powerful who, upon learning that Marleen has become a famed singer in Germany, seek to have her barred from Switzerland. This does not stop the songwriter from loving her though and desperate to see her one last time, he sneaks into Berlin for a tryst. Unfortuantely he is arrested and she gets blacklisted. They do not see each other again until after the war. By this time, their lives have changed considerably. This is not considered among the best of Fassbinder's best films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime thriller, Morelli (Mel Ferrer) is a writer whose books no longer sell well, at least in part because of his slavish worship of "the classics." His response to this insult to his pride is to kill young women in a horrific manner; he calls it "revolutionary disgust." Bossi (Klaus Kinski) is a newspaper reporter who convinces Morelli to write his memoirs, and he engineers certain of his own affairs to coincide with those of the murdering writer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this German melodrama, misfortune follows misfortune for the girl waiting in the rain. She is eloping with a young man who is to pick her up. Alas, he does not appear. Feverish with pneumonia, she is rescued by another young man who takes her back to her father's house. She recovers from her illness, and the attentive young man replaces her former lover in her affections. What the girl and her new lover don't know is that her first lover did not stand her up; he was killed in an accident en route to their rendezvous. The new boyfriend suffers from tremendous guilt when he discovers that he had an accidental hand in her previous love's death, and shortly after that he dies in a suspicious air crash. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This German language suspense film is based on a quite long best-selling novel of the same name by Johannes Mario Simmel and condenses the novel's complex story using flashbacks and rapid movement between locations. When a young man (Alain Noury) goes to Vienna to try to solve the mystery of his industrialist father's assassination, his investigation leads to events that took place in Vienna in 1939. It also infringes on secrets important to all the Allied Force secret services (French, Russian, American and British), so much so that they forget their natural antagonism and join forces to try and stop the young man in his quest for answers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Love starved women flock to the male brothel known as the "yellow house." Run by a retired military man, the General keeps strict rules for the studs in his corral. No unwanted pregnancies, and absolutely no falling in love with the female clientele. On of the young men of the brothel falls for a pretty young woman outside the yellow house. Comedy ensues when the woman turns out to be the daughter of the rigid General. Faced with a moral dilemma, he considers selling the house when the young man's intentions turn out to be honorable. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, the trouble begins when a computer whiz tries to explain to the cops that his car was wrecked by an elephant. The cops naturally think he is looney, a suspicion confirmed when he frantically demands they let him go because his duck will be ringing at seven-thirty and he must be home to answer it. Despite his protestations, they immediately squire him to the local nut house. Unfortunately, the hacker is perfectly sane. There really was an elephant; it really did sit on his car, and his "duck" is his computer. Now the only way the hapless nerd can get home is to feign insanity so that the shrinks will free him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A group of students at a posh private school spend the majority of their time heckling their instructors and frequenting a local prostitute. In a shocking discovery, the father of one of the students is found brutally murdered. Shortly afterward, two more people, an instructor and the son of the murdered man, are found dead as well. As terror grips the small but affluent community, a detective investigates the crimes. The prime suspect is a medical instructor at the school who was involved in Nazi experiments. The first murdered man recognized the man and foolishly confronted him, giving him a week to turn himself in, hence the title. Not wanting to face a war-crimes tribunal, the medical maniac decides to take matters into his own hands. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide