Jasmin Tabatabai

A holiday celebration with the extended family gets stretched to the breaking point in this comedy from Germany. Sara (Martina Gedeck) is happily married to Jan (Heino Ferch), though this wasn't always the case -- Sara is Jan's second wife, while Sara has three ex-husbands, Gunnar (Andreas Windhuis), Andi (Roeland Wiesnekker) and Erich (Rainer Sellien), and she and Jan are raising children from each of their previous marriages. Jan is less than thrilled with the prospect of spending the holidays with Sara's mother (Petra Kelling), but things get worse when he learns his wife has planned a surprise for Christmas eve -- they'll be joined by Gunnar, Andi and Erich, as well as Erich's new wife Pauline (Meret Becker), Andi's current spouse Rita (Jasmin Tabatabai) and his own ex-wife, Eva (Rosa Enskat). To call the atmosphere uncomfortable is an understatement, and things only get worse when Sara announces she's pregnant, which is quite troubling for Jan since he's been waiting for the right time to tell her he had a vasectomy several months before. Directed by Vanessa Jopp, Meine Schoene Bescherung (aka Messy Christmas) is a remake of the 1999 Swedish hit Tomten ar far till alla barnen (aka In Bed With Santa). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

With his bittersweet, German-language tragicomedy The Elementary Particles, writer-director Oskar Roehler brings to the screen Michel Houellebecq's popular seriocomic novel of two ill-adjusted siblings. Christian Ullmen and Moritz Bleibtreu portray, respectively, Michael and Bruno, half brothers who have each adjusted poorly to adult life, thanks in no small part to a cracked upbringing by their eccentric, social dropout mother. As the story opens, each brother experiences a personal crisis. Geneticist Michael returns to his work in cloning after an extended period away from his Irish laboratory, but suffers in quiet desperation from his intense inner loneliness; he must soon leave the lab once again and head back to his hometown, where his grandmother's corpse is being disinterred from a cemetery. Upon arrival, he reencounters Annabelle (Franka Potente of Run Lola Run), an adolescent crush to whom he was never before able to express his romantic yearnings; they consummate an intense erotic affair, and remain together, but a troubled pregnancy renders her infertile and makes family conception an utter impossibility. Meanwhile, high school teacher Bruno (a married husband and father) is driven completely around the bend by sexual yearnings for his female students, and consequently suffers from a nervous breakdown; he checks himself into a sanitarium, then heads off on a bender at a swingers' retreat with a new lover, Christiane (Martina Gedeck} - but their pleasure is all too short-lived. Nina Hoss and Uwe Ochsenknecht co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Popular German actress Nicolette Krebitz makes her directorial debut with the largely improvised feature Jeans. Set in Berlin during the summertime, the story concerns Oskar Melzer looking for a girlfriend and Marc Hosemann looking for a place to stay. They encounter many other attractive young people, including Angie Ojciec, Jana Pallaske, Mavie Hörbiger, Katja Weilandt, Benno Fürmann, and Nicolette Krebitz herself. Shot in digital video in both black-and-white and color, Jeans features a soundtrack by German dance music trio Shapemod, Fetisch and Meister. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A group of friends attempt to enjoy a carefree summer in the Swiss Alps while a conspiracy of hatred sweeps their homeland in this historical drama. In the early 1930's, Kurt (Ulrich Noethen) is a German journalist who, under the pen name of Ignaz Wrobel, has published a series of articles attacking the Nazi party as they steadily rise to power. Kurt and his girlfriend Lydia (Heike Makatsch) are growing wary of the shift in political tides in their country, and when a Swiss baron invites them to spend a few weeks watching his estate while he's away, they agree, thinking a vacation is just what they need. Kurt and Lydia take to the carefree Swiss atmosphere like ducks to water, and Kurt begins to wonder out loud if it's worth returning to Germany to keep up a doomed fight against fascism. Karl (Marcus Thomas), a pilot and friend from Berlin, makes a stop in Switzerland to visit the couple; while Karl is cordial, he also warns Kurt that his writings have been outlawed in Germany, and that he's been publicly declared a "traitor" for his anti-Nazi stance. Kurt, Lydia, and Karl are soon joined by Billie (Jasmin Tabatabai), a close friend of Lydia's who is a nightclub chanteuse. As Billie and Lydia bond, Kurt finds he's becoming increasingly wary of Karl, who displays an uncomfortable degree of sympathy for Nazi policies. Gripsholm is based on the novel Schloss Gripsholm, a semi-autobiographical account by Kurt Tucholsky, a German writer who was exiled to Sweden in 1929 and lost his citizenship during World War II. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Oskar Roehler directs this bleak look at a down-and-out writer's alcohol-drenched final days. Though the central character is named Hanna Flander, the film basically tells the real-life story of noted author Gisela Elsner, who threw herself out of a fourth story window in 1992. Elsner is also the filmmaker's mother. Given the film's highly personal subject matter, Roehler lends the film a remarkable emotional remoteness along with a breathtaking visual style, shot in stark black and white. It opens with unrepentant Leninist Hanna (Hannelore Elsner, no relation) drunken, depressed, and chain-smoking as she watches the Berlin Wall collapse while in her Munich abode. She sells most of her belongings and moves to Berlin, hooking up with old flame Jaochim Rau (Michael Gwisdek) in the process. She suffers one setback after another, ultimately ending up in a scuzzy tenement in East Berlin, which she gives to a kind Eastern German woman (Claudia Geisler). A long admirer of Communism and East Germany, she has difficult time believing the realities of that repressive police state. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Nightlife in Berlin is the backdrop for this psychological drama about love, desire, obsession, fear and the lust for life. Young reporter Natasha (Jasmin Tabatabai) lives with Gary (Richy Müller), a sensitive artist who runs a club called "Risk." They are great partners except for the fact that they don't have sex. Gary's dream is to have Natasha sing in his club, but she is not ready. One day, Natasha meets an attractive boxer, Sugar (Gregor Törzs) who is training for a comeback. The two begin to have an affair. Meanwhile Gary, who is dying from a brain tumor, deliberately falls from a diving board into an empty pool and later dies in Natasha's arms. Finally, Natasha stands on the stage of Gary's club and sings. Grieg was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

This German comedy examines the relationships among four outwardly liberal, narcissistic West Germans. They live in a large, unnamed city. There is Robin, who believes everything she reads and wants no children; Leo who wants a kid but only has sex with women he doesn't love; Jost, a friend of Leo and fellow lover of Robin; and Jost's sister Anna, a single mother of 6-year old Benjamin. She is attracted to Leo. Much of their time is spent talking about sex and bitching about their lives. They call themselves "meds" (meaning mediocrities) and have no life goals. The story gets going after they suspect that one among them is really an East German with Nazi or Stalinist proclivities. Leo is the suspect and together they travel to his East German house. Their conversations provide the bulk of the humor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide