Michael Gwisdek Movies

This lavish, broadly scaled feature from director Kai Wessel dramatizes the life of Hildegarde Knef (1925-2002), arguably the most popular actress and chanteuse in post-WWII Germany. Yet in lieu of presenting a chronological and all-inclusive account of Knef's decades-long career, Wessel and screenwriter Maria von Heland use Knef's 1966 concert at the Berlin Philharmonie as a narrative framing device from which they exclusively flash back to the years depicting the performer's early ascent to stardom; the film thus ends as Knef is just beginning to achieve acclaim and recognition as a vocalist. The backstory commences in 1943, when 17-year-old Knef (Heike Makatsch) aspires to show business life. She applies for a job at Babelsberg Studios, under the aegis of casting director Else Bongers (Monica Bleibtreu) who becomes her lifelong mentor. Knef finds it relatively easy to break in to the industry; unfortunately, her political leanings reflect great naïveté, and these are the years of The Third Reich, when Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels supervises all German art and culture -- and the actress falls into Nazism without hesitation. Hilde soon grows smitten with Third Reich film head Ewald von Demandowsky (Anian Zollner), then -- after the war ends with the loss of the Nazi party -- catches the eye of genial producer Erich Pommer (Hanns Zischler), a man appointed to rebuild the German movie industry. Shirking past Nazi ties, Knef ventures to America at the invitation of mogul David O. Selznick, and spends the next several years repeatedly shuffling back and forth between the U.S. and Deutschland as opportunities surface in both countries. Following a scandal involving a nude swimming scene in the movie The Sinner and a marriage to actor David Cameron (Dan Stevens), Hilde fixes her sights on a singing career and finally achieves the breakthrough of which she has long dreamed. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

With his bittersweet, German-language tragicomedy The Elementary Particles, writer-director Oskar Roehler brings to the screen Michel Houellebecq's popular seriocomic novel of two ill-adjusted siblings. Christian Ullmen and Moritz Bleibtreu portray, respectively, Michael and Bruno, half brothers who have each adjusted poorly to adult life, thanks in no small part to a cracked upbringing by their eccentric, social dropout mother. As the story opens, each brother experiences a personal crisis. Geneticist Michael returns to his work in cloning after an extended period away from his Irish laboratory, but suffers in quiet desperation from his intense inner loneliness; he must soon leave the lab once again and head back to his hometown, where his grandmother's corpse is being disinterred from a cemetery. Upon arrival, he reencounters Annabelle (Franka Potente of Run Lola Run), an adolescent crush to whom he was never before able to express his romantic yearnings; they consummate an intense erotic affair, and remain together, but a troubled pregnancy renders her infertile and makes family conception an utter impossibility. Meanwhile, high school teacher Bruno (a married husband and father) is driven completely around the bend by sexual yearnings for his female students, and consequently suffers from a nervous breakdown; he checks himself into a sanitarium, then heads off on a bender at a swingers' retreat with a new lover, Christiane (Martina Gedeck - but their pleasure is all too short-lived. Nina Hoss and Uwe Ochsenknecht co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

One of the key political events of the late 20th century fails to distract a man who is having a row with his parents in this comedy from Germany. The film takes place in the fall of 1989 in SO36, a neighborhood in West Berlin adjacent to the Berlin Wall, shunted into a corner and largely ignored. It is home to an oddball community of Bohemians and outsiders who pay little mind to the world around them. Frank Lehmann (Christian Ulmen) is a bartender who serves beer at nights to the motley citizens of SO36 and is oblivious to most everything except his lackadaisical pal Karl (Detlev Buck) and his ill-tempered girlfriend Katrin (Katja Danowski). A visit from Frank's parents throws his simple life into disarray, especially since his letters home led them to expect a far grander life than he's leading, and with this sudden chaos in his life, Frank barely notices that big things are happening on the other side of the wall. Herr Lehmann, also titled Berlin Blues, was screened as part of the "German Cinema" series at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two lonely people find each other without meeting face to face in this romantic drama. Gregor (Ben Becker) is a disc jockey at a radio station who has never quite gotten over his breakup with his former girlfriend; they played together in a rock band, and she's since gone on to stardom, while he's stuck in an on-and-off relationship with co-worker Lily (Catrin Strieback), though they both know there's no future in it. Somewhere else in town, Mai (Isabella Parkinson) is in love with Nick (Nicolas von Wacherbarth), but Nick only has eyes for Mai's roommate Anne (Nele Muller-Stofen), leaving Mai depressed and at odds about what to do. One night, while Gregor is playing a song that has always reminded him of his ex, Mai is listening as she narrowly avoids an auto accident that could have easily taken her life. Mai finds that the song is stuck in her memory, and she sends an e-mail to him asking for details about the tune, claiming she knew the former girlfriend that he mentioned. Soon the two are sending each other messages on a regular basis, and they find themselves wondering if you can fall in love with a person you've never actually met. Frau2 Sucht Happyend is a remake of the South Korean hit Cheob-sok. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Peter Fratzscher directs this slick, ironic werewolf movie. Likeable struggling novelist Thomas (Jan Josef Liefers) is looking for his big break while working at a sound-synch studio which specializes in horror flicks. One day, after checking out a roadkill accident, he is bitten by something large, smelly, and hirsute. After his grandmother (who lives in a cottage in the woods) is discovered torn to bits, and other people start turning up dead, Thomas begins to wonder if his recent lycanthropic nightmares weren't something more than dreams. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Oskar Roehler directs this bleak look at a down-and-out writer's alcohol-drenched final days. Though the central character is named Hanna Flander, the film basically tells the real-life story of noted author Gisela Elsner, who threw herself out of a fourth story window in 1992. Elsner is also the filmmaker's mother. Given the film's highly personal subject matter, Roehler lends the film a remarkable emotional remoteness along with a breathtaking visual style, shot in stark black and white. It opens with unrepentant Leninist Hanna (Hannelore Elsner, no relation) drunken, depressed, and chain-smoking as she watches the Berlin Wall collapse while in her Munich abode. She sells most of her belongings and moves to Berlin, hooking up with old flame Jaochim Rau (Michael Gwisdek) in the process. She suffers one setback after another, ultimately ending up in a scuzzy tenement in East Berlin, which she gives to a kind Eastern German woman (Claudia Geisler). A long admirer of Communism and East Germany, she has difficult time believing the realities of that repressive police state. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The heroes of Andreas Dresen's metropolitan elegy become dreamers when confronted by harsh reality. A farmer dreams of romantic love in a red light district; a homeless man and woman dream of finding a room for the night; and an aging businessman dreams of a big career, unaware that it is too late. All this happens on the night when the Pope arrives in Berlin! The film was shot in 47 night shifts and countless winter outdoor shoots, yet improvisation was always part of the action, such as the scene with actor Oliver Bassler, who was not forewarned he would be entering a sleazy hotel room. The hand-held camera and grainy film stock give the film authenticity and a tragi-comic touch. An example of radical cinema which blends passion and political awareness with a sincere approach, Nachtgestalten succeeds in delivering on the promise of the director's first feature, Silent Country (1992). Michael Gwisdek received the Silver Bear for Best actor for his role as Peschke, the aging businessman, at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival in 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

This German drama is centered upon the conversation between a grieving widower and a former Stasi (East German secret police) agent. It is set in former East Berlin. Heiner was a scientist. Now he is retired and spends his lonely days mourning his late wife Agnes. One night there is a knock upon the door. Heiner opens it to discover Stefan, a young man who claims to be an ex-Stasi agent who has an extensive file on Heiner. He comes in and begin sharing intimate details of the scientist's life. These details are only ones that Agnes would have known. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This drama appears to have been oriented to citizens of the former East Germany and other former Iron Curtain countries. In the story, set in the 1970s, a girl has been learning the ropes at a newspaper job. However, under the communist regime, this was considered to be a particularly politically sensitive job and she is seeing a young man who is considered to be "unsuitable." After receiving a warning against seeing him, she complies with the wishes of the authorities for a time. However, she is unable to stay away and receives further threats. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In the old East Germany, all sorts of otherwise innocent activities could earn the unwary a prison term. In this story, Hans-Peter Dallow (Michael Gwisdek) was sentenced to two years in prison for acting as a substitute pianist for a tango group in a cabaret when the original pianist became ill. Was his charitable act illegal because the tango symbolizes freedom, because he broke union rules, or because students were present at the cabaret? Any one of these offenses could be the reason for his arrest. Now this puzzled history teacher is back out of prison, and he has become an outcast, unable to get a job, shunned by his old friends. It is 1968, and events in nearby Czechoslovakia have convinced everyone that the totalitarian chill they are experiencing will be permanent. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

It seems like a good thing when Philip (Mathias Freihof), a high-school teacher, bumps into Tanja (Dagmar Manzel), starts a relationship with her, and eventually moves in with her. But Philip has a secret he hasn't even told himself. He attended a transvestite ball and met a man named Matthias (Dirk Kummer) there, with whom he also has been having an affair. He can't bring himself to tell either one about the other one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The time is the French Revolution; the place is the village of Travers, ensconsed in neutral Switzerland. Prussian aesthete Herman Beyer is on the verge of divorcing wife Corinna Harfouch. Radical writer Uwe Kokisch, Corinna's lover, hopes to find a way of smoothing out animosities. What follows, however, is a nonstop drinking binge. The film subliminally addresses the then-prevalent issue of a divided Germany. Whether or not it succeeds is unimportant; Treffen in Travers (Reunion in Travers) has proven to be a crowd pleaser wherever it has been shown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide