Peter Genee Movies

Ingo (Jurgen Vogel) is a moody fellow, much given to dark looks and long silences. In his personal life, he is a writer, but his "day job" is as a dishwasher at a restaurant. One day, an actor at one of Germany's eight major acting schools leaves a stool from the school at the restaurant, and Ingo must go to return it. Since the only people who ever darken the school's doors are actors, the people there immediately assume that Ingo is one, too - especially since he has so much beautiful "attitude." One thing leads to another, and before long he has made the acquaintance of Johannes (Kai Wiesinger), a very dedicated actor, who has flunked out of all seven of the other acting schools due to his pathological fear of auditions. He persuades Ingo to join him in a jaunt to Munich to try for a role on the professional stage, so that he won't have to constantly audition for school productions. For a lark, Ingo, whose girlfriend just jilted him, agrees to go along. Before long the two intrepid aspiring actors are joined by a third, a smooth ladies' man named Ali (Gedeon Burkhard), and their adventures have just begun. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this non-story of the mentally and emotionally impaired inhabitants of a clinic for the insane, the medical profession along with humanity is distorted into a long, filmic exhibition of sado-masochism, urination, and ample nudity for its own sake. Critics that support the avant-garde might feel that the lack of apparent purpose in each "idiot's" (the title is "Day of the Idiots') physical and emotional problems is a form of high art. The viewers will have to decide for themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Albrech Berblinger (Tilo Prückner) is an inventive young man who is working as an apprentice tailor in 18th-century Ulm. He discovers how to make a sailplane which will enable him to fly. As his discovery coincides with France's bloody revolution, this causes him to become a pawn in the political machinations of the rulers of his portion of Germany. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Wrong Move and The Wrong Movement were the English-language titles for German director Wim Wenders' Falsche Bewegung. Made for television, the film is an update of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. Ruediger Vogeler plays aspiring writer Wilhelm Meister, who goes on a long odyssey in the woods in search of truth. His companions on this journey are pragmatic Therese (Hanna Schygulla), bisexual Mignon (Nastassja Kinski, billed under her real name, Nakszynski), Mignon's hippielike boyfriend Laertes (Hans-Christian Blech), and artistically bankrupt poet Landau (Peter Kean). The foursome accept the hospitality of an industrialist (Ivan Desny), who unbeknownst to all but himself is a deeply troubled ex-Nazi. Novelist Peter Handke wrote the screenplay for Wrong Move. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wim Wenders' The Scarlet Letter (German title: Der scharlachrote Buchstabe) may well be the most fascinating of the many screen versions of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 19th-century novel. Though the story is set in 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, the film was lensed in Spain. Senta Berger is surprisingly well cast as Hester Prynne, whose sexual indiscretions have compelled her to wear the letter "A" (for adultery) on blouse--a symbol of shame to her neighbors, but a strange source of pride for Hester. Lou Castel plays the tortured Reverend Dimmesdale, the man who impregnated Hester but whom has been sworn to secrecy by the self-sacrificing heroine for the "good of the community." Hans Christian Blech portrays Hester's long-lost husband, whose reappearance sets the stage for the wrenching climax. Wenders' interpretation of the customs, behavior and inbred bigotry of the early American immigrants is eye-opening, as only an "outsider's" perception of what we take for granted can be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This dry, sarcastic humorous satire concerns two couples. One is a married couple where the workaholic husband has little time for his wife and child. The wife has an affair with a former teenage flame while her husband is off on a business trip. Director Ulrich Schamoni plays the busy husband, whose wife has the fling with the man of the unmarried couple. Music is provide by Xhol Caravan. Hella (Sabine Sinjen) is the neglected wife who takes comfort in the arms of another man. Christoph Bantzer, Corny Collins, and Blandine Ebinger also appear in the film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide