Peter Sattmann Movies
- 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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benno Fürmann, Kathleen Gallego Zapata, (more)
Katja von Garnier (Making Up!) made her feature directorial debut with this German musical comedy-drama about the Bandits, a quartet of female prisoners who rely on music to escape their surroundings. Then they escape for real. During a policeman's ball, they make a getaway and head north to get a hidden cash stash and ship out to South America. Along the way, they take an American hostage and give impromptu concerts. The group skyrockets to fame and cult celebrity status due to the continual airing of their tunes on the radio while they flee the police. Shown at the 1997 Toronto and German film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katja Riemann, Jasmin Tabatabai, (more)
- 1993
This very short student film (55 minutes) was an unexpected commercial success in Germany. The story concerns the man-troubles of two women who are friends with each other. Maischa (Nina Kronjaeger) is man-hungry and knows it. She can't resist a good-looking man and generally gets the ones she sets her sights on. It's just that once she's got 'em, she's not all that happy about it. Her latest conquest is Rene (Gedeon Burkhard), a real looker who is also a thorough-going jerk. On the other hand, her friend Frenzy (Katja Riemann) spends most of her time slaving over her syndicated cartoon strip. She doesn't have much time or interest in dating. However, she has somehow managed to land what seems like the perfect man, a fellow who neither has a self-esteem problem nor goes around puffed up with arrogance, who is amusing and beguiling. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katja Riemann, Gedeon Burkhard, (more)
- 1989
Matthieu Carriere, who once starred in German director Volkor Schlondorff's breakthrough film Young Torless, turns director himself for Fool's Mate. Michael Marwitz plays a once-famous concert pianist and chess whiz. He compromises his talents by casting his lot with a group of self-destructive druggies and gamblers. Marwitz' new circle of friends effectively ruins his marriage to Victoria Tennant, an English architect. Fool's Mate makes no effort to cheer up its audience, but this sort of fare apparently is what the European film-festival circuit thrives on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Tennant, Michael Marwitz, (more)
- 1989
In the Frame was first shown as a 2-hour entry in the syndicated TV anthology The Mystery Wheel of Adventure. The film was one of three mysteries based on the works of author Dick Francis. Ian McShane stars as Francis' most popular character, British Jockey Club investigator David Cleveland. Here, Cleveland comes to the aid of an old friend accused of stealing fine art and finer wine. After its syndicated run in 1989, In the Frame was broadcast over the Disney Channel pay-cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
In this routine story about Carla (Janna Marangosoff) a young teen in search of herself as well as her long-lost mother, her conflicts with her police detective father (Peter Sattmann) set off an unpredictable train of events. After Carla's disagreements with her father become too much to handle (he sees traits in her that he hated in his estranged wife who left him a decade earlier), she leaves home to look for the mother she never really knew. That task is not an easy one because her mother moved constantly from one job to the next. As Carla perseveres she runs into her father's nemesis Rick (Eisi Gulp) and takes a liking to him as the kind of parent she really needs. Meanwhile, her father thinks she has been kidnapped, and when Carla sends him a postcard that provides enough information to figure out where she and her supposed kidnapper are located, it does not bode well for her newfound friend Rick. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janna Marangosoff, Eisi Gulp, (more)
- 1977
In this complex story, set in the late 18th century, two brothers with contrasting principles feud against one another. One, who refuses to knuckle under to authority and militarism, shoots an English military recruiter when he comes to seek men to fight on the British side against the American colonists during the American Revolution. He is forced to take to the hills and adopts the motto of "death or freedom." His efforts are deliberately misrepresented by his dastardly brother to their father. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sattmann, Erika Pluhar, (more)
- 1976
Frank (Klaus Loewitsch) has been making love with his stepmother Rachel (Erika Pluhar) for years. In fact, though he doesn't know it, his step-brother Roman is actually his son. Unfortunately, brother-son or not, the boy hates him, and engineers a plan to kill him which backfires, and instead injures his beloved mother. At the same time, Frank's overly affectionate relationship with his stepmother is revealed for what it is, and he is expelled from the house. Rachel lingers on for some years, paralyzed. Years later, on her deathbed, she reveals to the now-grown Roman (Peter Sattmann) and Frank the secret of their true kinship. Frank, by this time an alcoholic mess, goes on a rampage and then disappears during Rachel's funeral, and Roman teams up with Frank's wife Sandra to find him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erika Pluhar, Klaus Löwitsch, (more)
