Josef Bierbichler Movies

Two very different people find out they have more in common than they imagined in this emotional drama from Germany. Elaine Richter (Corinna Harfouch) is a middle-aged woman who approaches artist Max Hollander (Josef Bierbichler) with an unusual commission -- she'd like a dual portrait of her two children, but while 22-year-old Lili (Karoline Herfurth) will be able to model for him, her son Alexander (Cyril Sjostrom) died a year ago at the age of 19 and the artist will have to work from photos and videos. Max agrees to the assignment, but he discovers that Lili isn't very enthusiastic about posing for him at first, especially after she informs him that Alexander's death was a suicide. With time Lili and Max begin to bond and come to understand one another's emotional crises. Lili is a gifted dance student who has lost a major role after an argument with her teacher and mentor, and she's sought solace in her relationship with Aldo (Misel Maticevic), an artist whose controlling nature is strangling her freedom. Meanwhile, Max finds himself drawn to Lili just as he's trying to come to terms with having romantic and sexual feelings for another man for the first time. Im Winter Ein Jahr (aka A Year Ago In Winter) earned Caroline Link "Best Director" honors at the 2009 Bavarian Film Awards. ~ Mark Deming, 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

This German psychodrama looks into the events that lead an introverted woman into taking extreme action against her oppressors. Poor Maria has spent her life being ignored and pushed around by men. First there was her invalid father whom she waited on hand and foot. Then there was her cold and emotionally distant husband. Maria has been internalizing her rage for years. Her anger finally erupts when her husband takes the little bit of money she'd been secretly saving over the last few years. She kills both her husband and her father. The film ends with her new boyfriend's distressed facial expression as he learns of her murders. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Several comedy situations are strung together for this offbeat satire. An unassuming businesswoman is discovered to be the mastermind behind a terrorist organization, and a disgruntled waitress has looks that can kill, literally and not figuratively speaking. In another tacky passage, played as a reoccurring gag, an official is infected with the AIDS virus after suffering a bite from the businesswoman. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This is the tenth film in eight years from writer and director Herbert Achternbusch and is radically out on its own limb. The premise is that Jesus Christ has returned as a fairly palpable ghost behaving in a slightly less than saintly manner, and no one knows how to react to him. He lives on bread and wine, teases the Mother Superior, and has a crown of thorns that nettles him at times. Achternbusch aficionados will readily enthuse about this latest creation though other reactions may vary from amusement to objection. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Heart of Glass (Herz aus Glas) is essentially a treatise by Werner Herzog on the power and importance of art. Director Herzog was known to put his actors through the wringer to get the results he wanted. In this film, Herzog decided that the best way to get his people to dance to the crack of his whip was to actually put them under hypnosis! The dazed, zombie-like performances certainly fit the subject matter. This is the story of an 18th-century Bavarian glassblower who by virtue of his delicate work virtually casts a spell over his neighbors. When the glassblower dies, the townsfolk discover that he failed to leave behind the secret for his special ruby glassware -- and will do literally anything to find the answer. The word usually used to describe Heart of Glass is "haunting"; some viewers have gone beyond haunted and into "possessed." Watch carefully and spot director Herzog in a bit as a glass carrier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi