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Such a frustrating disappointment

Fantastic!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

What would you do or rather what would you not do to protect your kid if faced with the situation that she or he has done something very wrong? When do mistakes that everybody makes at the teen ages turn into something very different and very abhorrent? Is the line of demarcation between sanity and insanity, between being a normative person and a monster that clear? These are some of the questions one keeps asking while watching 'We Monsters' ('Wir Monsters' in German) directed and co-written by Sebastian Ko. I knew nothing about this film maker, according to IMDB this is only his second full feature film, and it's quite good.It's a thriller, and a good one, so I will avoid telling too much about the story. Two separated parents come together to help their daughter in a critical moment of her life. There are enough surprises and changes of perspective to keep the interest of viewers alert from start to end. There is also a quite serious collection of subterranean themes like responsibility, borders of parental love, teenage revolt and communication between generations. All these come together in a more than satisfactory manner.The film is supported by solid acting by the whole team of actors, but especially by Mehdi Nebbou in the role of the father and Janina Fautz as the teenage daughter. A slightly higher dose of cinematographic effects would have turned this film into a horror movie, but film director Sebastian Ko seems to have chosen to stay within the limits of a realistic psychological thriller. I found it good as it is. The horror version can be left for the American remake.

Paul is driving his 14 year old daughter Sarah. They pick up her best friend Charlie. The girls go off into the woods for a bathroom break. After awhile, Paul looks for the girls to find Sarah standing on the edge of a dam. She tells him that she pushed Charlie to her death. Sarah seems shocked and unaware. She is still angry at her divorced father's absence and his new girlfriend Jessica. Paul tells his ex-wife Christine and they struggle to handle the revelation. Charlie's volatile recovering alcoholic father comes looking for his missing daughter.This is a nice indie noir. It's a nice morality ride down. It starts off with an interesting psychopath daughter which turns into a fine teenage rebellion. It would be great to have more intense thrills and I don't understand what they're doing with the backpack. It seems obvious to dump the backpack at the dam especially since they go back there anyways. Did she think that it would dissolve? The filmmaking needs more style to increase the intensity. Otherwise, this is a great little noir.

"Wir Monster" or "Kalte Tage" or "We Monsters" is a German(-language) movie from 2015 and it is the so far most known work by writer and director Sebastian Ko. I cannot say I am familiar with him or with any of the actors in here really, even if I may have heard the names Nebbou, Tscharre and Hammelstein already on one or two occasions. But the main character is played by Janina Fautz. She plays a teenager who struggles with her parents' divorce and commits a horrible crime as a consequence. This is really only the first few minutes though as everything afterward is about how the girl and the parents deal with what happens while we also get to see a touch of police work and find out about the parents of the deceased girl. So you can definitely call it a psychological crime thriller. The film runs for slightly over 90 minutes and there is a major plot twist briefly after the 50-minute mark or so I think.I personally enjoyed the watch here. I was impressed with Fautz and I think she can have a solid career in the industry. It is obvious she is really experienced already despite her young age. Mehdi Nebbou was really good too and also gave a physically convincing performance that reminded me of Dominic West at times. Makes me curious about more stuff from him. The other actors were pretty convincing too and made the most of their material, the ensemble cast is easily the film's most positive aspect. As for the action and the plot, I have some criticisms. I liked it for sure for the most part, but the longer the film went, the more absurd it became I have to say. And the way the movie ends with yet another shocking plot development is really nothing to be proud of. Quite a shame. With a better second half and maybe more subtlety instead of showy dramatic sequences that did not really work for me, this could have been one of the best German movies from last year. It is still good to let me recommend it, but it is not as great as it could have been. In my opinion, there were a couple parallels to the more known film "Benny's Video", only that it is not as graphically violent as the Haneke film. But still, if you enjoyed that one, you will maybe have a good time watching this one here as well. Thumbs-up from me and I hope Ko can build on his success here in the future.

My latest German film about a family with the dark secret. A film that's not so popular, looks like not even in the Germany. But I chose it for the title alone. Followed by reading its synopsis I couldn't just turn away. It is definitely the German version of the Japanese flick 'Suspect X'. That does not mean it is a remake, but based on the similar theme that revolves on an entirely different platform. If you like that film, you should check this out, but it is simple and very interesting tale, not as intelligent as that one and never tried to be one.The film was about a divorced couple with one teen daughter shared custody. It might be a separation by a mutual understanding, but for their daughter, Sarah, it is a pain to watch them apart. One day during a camping she accidentally commits a crime. When her parents learn about it, they join hands and decide to hide it, thinking it might spoil her future. But Sarah uses this opportunity to bring them back together. On the other side, one lie to another and many more, how long they can carry on is revealed in the remaining film.There's no surprise for parents trying to save their child from the legal battle. Anybody would do the same thing in most of the circumstance after examining what actually went wrong. It reminded me 'Papanasam', a similar kind of film, but this narration targets only on the one side. The pursue from the other side was less than ten per cent. So it creates a mystery atmosphere about everything you saw might have another angle to give a different opinion on the situation of the film characters. That's how the focus remained on the family with their every move making them hard to stay strong and face the future troubles."What if everybody knows about it? School, facebook, family, friends, everyone."The suspense remains among the characters, but most of the viewers would know exactly what's going on. The writers did not try to hide anything to save a twist for the end part, they wanted to tell a simple crime-drama involving a family as much possible decently and they did it. People might think they are clever for figuring it out everything earlier or the writing was so weak, but that's a mere diversion for what happens in the final quarter. I think the film ended strongly than its earlier part. While watching it you might think it is an okay film, but once you watched it, it could change your overall impression.In the old days people hiding crime to escape the punishment, and of course for what family, friends, neighbours think about them. But now the latest addition is the facebook. Going viral on the social media has much impact for ones future than the law punishing them. This where our future is heading. Tracking a criminal through the internet is easier than the outside world. Anyway, this film did not go for those materials, but used it as one of the reasons for making a crucial decision.Overall, it is almost a good film, an above average. But in the end, what and how much we expect from it is directly involved with for the final result. So I'm saying if you go for it with an open mind, you could enjoy it better. This story is not something you see regularly, at a time not the best film of the year, yet worth a try. I would have said it should have been better in a few parts, but that changes nothing because of the theme and I totally appreciate the filmmakers for making a decent film than anything worse. So I think you understood me that I'm indirectly recommending it.7/10