Laura Tonke Movies

A handsome but disaffected college graduate unable to deal with the pressures of the ultra-competitive job market in director Christoph Hochhaüsler's dark coming of age comedy. Armin (Constantin von Jascheroff) certainly has the brains to get a good-paying job, but the pressure from his parents to find gainful employment seems to be pushing him strait over the edge. After witnessing a tragic car accident and phoning in a false confession to the local newspaper, Armin finds his darkest impulses slowly taking control as he scrawls obscene graffiti on the bathroom wall, fantasizes about violent crimes, and has forced-sex with a vicious, leather-clad motorcycle gang. The trouble is, Armin can't distinguish where his fantasy world ends and where his reality begins anymore, and the danger that lurks beneath his innocent surface is about to get the best of him. ~ Jason Buchanan, 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

Volker Einrauch directs this wacky comedy about hapless criminals trying to go straight. As demanded by his girlfriend Mona (Laura Tonke), Vincent (Frank Giering) tries to get out of the business by engaging in an ill-conceived poker game. Owing 60,000 Deutschemarks to pimp Siggi, Vincent offers Mona as collateral -- and describes her as a whore named "Natasha." Unfortunately, Siggi in turn owes a stack of cash to sociopath Duvall (Christian Redl), who demands "Natasha" as payment. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Winterschlaefer (Winter Sleepers) is the sophomore effort from German director Tom Tykwer, released a year before Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) won him international acclaim for its unique look and storytelling methods. Winter Sleepers follows a blizzard-filled winter in the lives of a handful of mountain town denizens: Marco (Heino Ferch), a dashing ski instructor; Rebecca (Floriane Daniel), his receptionist girlfriend; Laura (Marie-Lou Sellem), a nurse who is Rebecca's roommate; and Rene (Ulrich Matthes), a mysterious stranger who takes up with Laura. Before meeting them, Rene has unknowingly set into motion a tragedy that will affect the others' lives. While driving on an icy road (in Marco's stolen car), he swerves into the path of a destitute farmer taking his horse to the doctor, flipping the farmer's vehicle and sending his own careening down a snowy hillside. Rene emerges from the wreck unharmed, forgetting what has happened due to an old war injury that has damaged his ability to make short-term memories. When the farmer, Theo (Josef Bierbichler), emerges later to find that his young daughter had stowed away in the truck, and has been left comatose by the accident, he determines to track down the other driver. Meanwhile, not long after beginning his affair with Laura, Rene triggers Marco's jealousy when it seems Rebecca has feelings for him, prompting several tempestuous exchanges. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Social constraints on East Germans were so strong that, right up until the reunification, they tended to result in a certain naivete in those who grew accustomed to them. In this story, a fifteen-year-old former East German lass living in West Germany is trying to survive without much help. She falls in with a petty criminal named Darius, who comes from an Eastern European country. He is harsh with her and wants her help to pull off one of his illegal games. She puts up with him for a while and helps him with the one scheme, but eventually she wises up and has the police haul him off to jail. The film ends by showing Elfie taking another street-kid under her wing. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi