Sebastian Schipper Movies
- 2006
Tom Tykwer protégé Sebastian Schipper details the burgeoning friendship between an introverted corporate drone and a mischievous motor-mouth while taking the audience for a wild ride in a series of formidably powerful street machines. Conscientious Karl (Daniel Bruehl) was on the fast track to success when his boss Fernandez (Peter Kurth) assigned him the thankless task of spying on the head of a questionable car rental service. Though the exercise was more a test of Karl's reaction to provocation than an outright necessity, the depressive suit and tie guy voices no objection to the job and soon makes contact with fast-talking garage employee Hans (Juergen Vogel). While reserved Karl and hyperactive Hans couldn't be more different, the pair soon finds common ground in their mutual love of fast cars and beautiful women. When Hans introduces Karl to his beautiful girlfriend Stelle (Sabine Timoteo), Karl gradually begins to emerge from his shell and try his luck with the local ladies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Brühl, Jürgen Vogel, (more)
- 2000
The story of a Russian man's attempted journey to England, this film opens in Kiev in 1986 just after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, where the carefree Valeri Sikorksi (Ivan Shvedoff) pals around with his friend Victor (Dennis Burgazliev). Several years later, Valeri is on a bus from Kiev to pick up Victor in Berlin on his way to England. En route to Berlin, Valeri becomes acquainted with the attractive Yelena (Chulpan Khamatova), who is traveling to Hanover to meet her German husband. Once in Berlin, Valeri meets Pavel (Merab Ninidze), an icon-painter, and eventually learns that Victor has died. After he gets a job at the Russian guest house where he's staying, Valeri begins a friendship with Maria (Anna Geislerova), the wife of his new boss, Schurig (Maxim Kowalewski). They eventually enter into an affair, even though Valeri is becoming increasingly ill with the same disease that killed Victor. As Valeri's sickness grows, so does his pessimism, and his entire world threatens to collapse. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivan Shvedov, Merab Ninidze, (more)
- 1999
In the port town of Hamburg, Germany, Floyd (Frank Giering) disappoints his sanctimonious boss by announcing that he's shipping out to South Africa and Singapore now that his two-year probation for an unspecified juvenile offense has been completed. When he shares the news with his devoted friends Chubby (Antoine Monot Jr.), a mechanic, and Ricco (Florian Lukas), a fast-food cook and would-be b-boy, they can't comprehend their thoughtful friend's willingness to trade camaraderie for a wider view of the world. Overcoming their anger and bewilderment, the guys decide to spend one last night with Floyd, but the problem, as always, is how to find some fun. A succession of fast-food restaurants, parking garages, and local watering holes chronicles the inherent boredom of life in the provinces. But a run-in with a convention of dragster-racing Elvis impersonators sends the boys and their friend Telsa Julia Hummer on a series of adventures that veers from the farcical to the almost-tragic. Absolute Giganten was screened at the 1999 Flanders Film Festival and thereafter received limited international distribution. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Giering, Guido A. Schick, (more)
Tom Tykwer directed this German thriller in which Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) handled a smuggling job, delivered the loot, collected the payment, left the bag on the subway, and now has 20 minutes to gather 100,000 deutsche marks or confront the wrath of his boss, local criminal Ronnie (Heino Ferch). Desperate, Manni phones his girlfriend Lola (Franka Potente) who immediately runs downstairs and through Berlin streets to the bank run by her father (Herbert Knaup). However, she's rejected and leaves minus money. When she goes to meet Manni, he's holding up a supermarket, and she's shot by the cops. In a destiny device familiar to readers of Ken Grimwood's acclaimed novel Replay, the story begins anew with different outcomes. In one version, Lola robs the bank and takes her father hostage; in another, there's casino cash to be won. All Lola-Manni scenes were in 35mm, while scenes without them were shot in video. Other cinematic techniques on display here include whip pans, jump cuts, slow and fast motion, split-screen, intercut color and black and white, segment titles, and animation. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Montreal, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, (more)
Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this award-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel about a doomed and tragic romance set against the backdrop of World War II. In a field hospital in Italy, Hana (Juliette Binoche), a nurse from Canada, is caring for a pilot who was horribly burned in a plane wreck; he has no identification and cannot remember his name, so he's known simply as "the English Patient," thanks to his accent. When the hospital is forced to evacuate, Hana determines en route that the patient shouldn't be moved far due to his fragile condition, so the two are left in a monastery to be picked up later. In time, Hana begins to piece together the patient's story from the shards of his memories; he's actually Count Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), of Hungarian nobility and an explorer working with a group mapping uncharted territory in North Africa. An Englishman, Geoffrey Clifton (Colin Firth), soon joins Almasy's team; travelling with him is his lovely and spirited wife, Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Katherine and Laszlo soon fall in love, which leads Laszlo to betray his friend, his country and all that is dear to him. Meanwhile, Hana and the Patient are joined by Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh with a gift for defusing mines, and Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), an intelligence agent who knows some of Laszlo's most shameful secrets. The English Patient won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, (more)
