Fabian Busch Movies

Adapted from the novel of celebrated German writer Ingrid Noll, Kalt ist der Abendhauch bounces back and forth over a span of 50 years to tell the darkly comic tale of a destructive love affair between two people. When the film opens, octogenarian Charlotte (Gisela Trowe) has just received a letter from Hugo (Heinz Bennent), an old friend who is coming for a visit. The news of Hugo's impending arrival takes Charlotte back to the year 1936, when she was 16. One of four children born to middle-class parents, young Charlotte (Fritzi Haberlandt) carries a torch for handsome stud Hugo (August Diehl), and is understandably put out when he marries her older sister Ida (Georgia Stahl). An even deeper pall is cast over the couple's union when Charlotte's brother shows up at the wedding dinner wearing a dress, then proceeds to hang himself in the attic. A few years later, Charlotte enters into an unsatisfying marriage with Bernhard (Andre Hennicke), a dull schoolteacher with whom she has two children. Bernhard disappears during the course of World War II and is presumed dead, making it easy for Charlotte to consummate her long-simmering lust with Hugo when he drops by one day after the war. However, on a proverbial dark and stormy night, Bernhard reappears at Charlotte's doorstep, wet, unkempt, and hungry for sex. Hugo's arrival fifty years later exposes -- literally -- five decades of family secrets and dysfunction, thanks in part to the gruesome discovery of a body buried in the cellar. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Hans Christian Schmid directed this fact-based German thriller about computer hackers who find inspiration in The Illuminatus! Trilogy, the popular Robert Shea/Robert Anton Wilson cult novel series probing Atlantis, conspiracies, Discordianism, dolphins, drugs, and the mystical meaning of the number 23. Interest in the Shea-Wilson book can be found on numerous websites throughout the Internet. Two members of the Shea-Wilson cult are young Karl Koch (August Diehl) and his buddy David (Fabian Busch). They find countless references to the book everywhere they look. Sitting at computer keyboards, they relate the theories to current events, and through their pal Pepe (Dieter Landuris) they sell their research to Russians in East Berlin. However, the Russians want military data. To elude authorities, Karl and David work from hotel rooms, and one day they accidentally access a United States government database. The pressures take a toll on Karl, who suffers a mental collapse. Shown at 1998 film fests (Locarno, Munich, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi