Andreas Schmidt Movies

The remarkable life of one of France's most influential leaders is dramatized in this stylish historical drama. In 16th Century France, political power walks hand in hand with religion as the Royal Family are devout Catholics and Huguenots (early Protestants) are treated as second-class citizens. Henry (Julien Boisselier) is a Huguenot military leader who has become a hero in Navarre, a territory in Southwest France, and as Nostradamus (Fritz Marquardt) predicts a remarkable future for him, he is introduced to Catherine de' Medici (Hannelore Hoger), the Catholic queen of France. Catherine clearly holds power over feeble-minded King Charles IX (Ulrich Noethen), and she is keen on holding on to her position by seeing her sons go on to rule the nation. But as the Huguenots become restless and Henry looks to be the potential leader of a revolt, Catherine arranges a marriage between Henry and her daughter Margot (Armelle Deutsch), certain the alliance will stop the budding conflict. But the nuptials only leads to the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as Catholics attack Huguenots, leading to the death of thirty thousand people. Henry is captured by the Queen's army but escapes to lead the Huguenots in a war against the throne; while Henry is forced to resort to violent means, his goal is to end the fighting by establishing religious freedom and ending faith-based rule in France. Henri 4 (aka Henry of Navarre) was originally produced as a mini-series for European television; it was also edited into a theatrical feature, and this version was an official selection at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Plenty of teenagers have to deal with bad skin, but one guy is cursed with something worse than acne in this independent coming of age drama. Guido (Jacob Matschenz) is a teenage boy growing up in Germany's Neander Valley, which is famous as the place where the first evidence of the Neanderthal Man was discovered. Guido wants nothing more than to be an ordinary kid who doesn't stand out, but he suffers from a severe case of neurodermatitis, and his irritated skin makes him painfully visible in a crowd. Outcast Guido falls in with a pack of party animals and starts drinking heavily, but when his skin responds badly to his beer swilling, Guido is forced to become a straight arrow. Tired of his schoolmates, Guido begins hanging out with his older brother Martin (Tim Egloff), a slacker who lives with his delinquent pal Rudi (Andreas Schmidt), and Guido makes Rudi his new role model when he learns his father (Falk Rockstroh) has been having an affair with the woman next door. Guido's skin miraculously clears up and he finally is able to win a girlfriend, Katrin (Luana Bellinghausen), but while his love life has improved, he still doesn't know what to do about his troubled relationship with his folks, or their failing relationship with one another. Neanderthal was screened in competition at the 2007 Turin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A lonesome university microbiology lecturer who has failed at gaining the attentions of a handsome male colleague and formed an unusual fixation on a prisoner held in the jail opposite her tiny apartment finds her life taking a sudden and entirely unexpected turn in director Iain Dilthey's intimate chamber drama. Irene (Jule Boewe) is a single college professor whose only pleasures in life come from the occasional drink with her friend Paula (Eva Loebau) and her career as an amateur singer. Most of Irene's time is spent alone in a small apartment that sits adjacent to the local jail. Upon taking notice of a prisoner whom she can see from her window, Irene begins watching the man with a pair of binoculars and writing him letters. Later, after the enraged prisoner kills a guard during a daring escape, he makes his way to his peeping pen pal's apartment and ties her up. As the tensions begin to rise between the two, it becomes glaringly obvious that Paula and the escaped convict are each prisoners in their own unique ways. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A battle for gay rights is fought on a small-time football field in this comedy drama from Germany. Ecki (Maximilian Brückner) is a talented soccer goalie who plays with a semi-pro team in a small German town, but he finds himself on the outs with his teammates when he fails to block a kick that costs the team the league championship. Ecki's relationship with the team goes from bad to worse when they discover he's gay, and they give him his walking papers. Furious, Ecki challenges his former team to a special match in which they'll face off against an all-gay team he'll assemble for the occasion. The homophobic team agrees to the match, but Ecki soon discovers finding ten capable gay footballers is no easy task, and making them into a competitive team is even harder. Making matters a bit easier for Ecki is his sister Susanne (Lisa Maria Potthoff), who introduces him to one of her co-workers, Sven (David Rott), a good-looking male nurse who can play soccer...and happens to find Ecki attractive. Männer Wie Wir (aka Guys and Balls) was written for the screen by Benedikt Gollhardt; it was his first theatrical film after establishing himself in television. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Eoin Moore's domestic abuse drama Pigs Will Fly focuses its attention on the abuser more than the victim. Laxe (Andreas Schmidt) is an emotionally troubled Berlin policeman who, after witnessing a male associate of his wife's flirt with her, beats Manuella (Kristen Block). Afterward she is admitted to the hospital, and he is suspended from his job. Taking a visit to San Francisco to visit his very different brother Walter (Thomas Morris), Laxe is confronted by his family's history of abuse, and must decide if he wants or has the ability to change his violent behavior. Pigs Will Fly screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A visit from an old flame turns a wife and mother's life upside down in a tense psychological drama. Ten years after leaving her native Holland to start over in Ireland, Maria (Ellen Ten Damme) is content with the new life she's made for herself; she's married to a man named Antaine (Darragh Kelly), and they live with their nine-year-old daughter in the small coastal town of Conamara. However, Maria is unexpectedly confronted by a bit of her past when Axel (Andreas Schmidt) pays her a visit. Maria and Axel had been involved years ago when they both lived in Holland, and while she's not adverse to him coming by to say hello, Maria wasn't expecting him to ingratiate himself back into her life. With no place to stay, Axel becomes a guest in Maria and Antaine's home, and persuades Antaine to join him in a new business venture. But as Axel attempts to curry Antaine's favor, he also attempts to renew his relationship with Maria, and soon Axel and Maria are having an affair behind Antaine's back. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This performance of Mozart's opera, Le Nozze di Figaro features the vocal talents of Gerald Finley in the title role. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Kathleen Battle, Francisco Araiza, and Kurt Moll star in this production of one of Mozart's best-loved operas, staged by the Metropolitan Opera of New York with sets designed by David Hockney. In Mozart's witty and whimsical story, the wise but wily Sarastro (Kurt Moll) kidnaps the beautiful but naive Pamina (Kathleen Battle), whose mother is the Queen of the Night (Lucianna Serra). Understandably upset, the Queen commands Prince Tamino (Francisco Araiza) to rescue her daughter, but while Tamino soon falls in love with Pamina, he also comes to believe that the Queen who commands him is the real villain, not Sarastro. This production of Die Zauberflote is presented in its entirety, including the dialogue sequences that are often excised from recordings of the opera. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The US/German co-production The Rose Garden is based on an actual court case. Cast against type, Maximillian Schell plays a shabby old man who, without warning, attacks well-to-do Kurt Hubner at the Frankfurt airport. Hubner presses charges, and it looks like an open-and-shut case. But public-defender Liv Ullmann, who has witnessed the incident, is urged by her daughter to defend the poverty-stricken Schell in court. During her investigation, Ullman learns that Schell is a concentration-camp survivor who lost his sister to a hideous Nazi medical experiment, and that Hubner was commandant at the camp where this and other atrocities occurred. Hubner has been able to legally maneuver his way out of Germany, and was en route to parts unknown when Schell recognized him and attacked him. Even though she is armed with this information, Ullmann cannot be certain that justice will be served to the correct man. The Rose Garden is a provocative, compelling piece, deliberately and methodically raising more questions than can possibly be answered within its 112 minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy thriller, the words of the title Bang! You're Dead! are what anyone with a computer and foolish enough to let the mad scientist in this film gain access to it is likely to see, before something ingeniously awful happens to him. The scientist met an American schoolteacher at the Frankfurt airport as she was arriving to participate in a convention for teachers of German. Almost immediately, she gets embroiled in a series of adventures, beginning with the scientist having a heart attack, being taken in hand by emergency services, and then recovering sufficiently to give them (and her) the slip. She then encounters the doctor's assistant, who knows he is up to no good, and plans to find him and thwart his plan to wreak mayhem via computer. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi