Saturday, May 21, 2022
flickfeast
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Festivals
  • FrightFeast
  • Spotlight
  • Contribute
  • Submissions
    • Advertise on Flickfeast
    • Submit a Film
No Result
View All Result
flickfeast
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Festivals
  • FrightFeast
  • Spotlight
  • Contribute
  • Submissions
    • Advertise on Flickfeast
    • Submit a Film
No Result
View All Result
FLICKFEAST
No Result
View All Result
Home Reviews Film Review

Finsterworld (2013)

Kevin Matthews by Kevin Matthews
June 21, 2014
in Film Review
15
SHARES
1.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Finsterworld is an interesting film, full of some great moments. It just, sadly, doesn’t come together to make anything great. Many will disagree with me, but I feel that Finsterworld fails at what it sets out to do. Mainly due to not being focused on whatever it’s setting out to do.

There’s a man (Michael Maertens) who runs a business providing home pedicures, and his favourite customer is an old woman (Margit Carstensen). There’s a man who lives in the middle of the woods, and seems at his happiest while nursing an ill bird back to life. There’s a young woman (Sandra Huller) growing increasingly frustrated as she tries to make a documentary about someone who doesn’t seem all that willing to provide any information. Her boyfriend (Ronald Zehrfeld) is a police officer who also has a strange fetish that he’s struggling to confess to. A husband (Bernhard Schutz) and wife (Corinna Harfouch) are driving between destinations in a large rental car. And a bunch of schoolchildren (including three played by Jakub Gierszal, Carla Juri and Leonard Scheicher) are being taken on a trip to see a concentration camp. All of these people are interconnected in some way, and all of them will go through some major changes as the movie unfolds.

You might also like

Benediction (2021) — Film Review

The Innocents (2021) – Film Review

Father Stu (2022) – Film Review

Finsterworld-still-1-_MalteWandel_Alamode_Juri_Gierszal_

Despite the solid direction from Frauke Finsterwalder, it becomes obvious that the biggest problem with Finsterworld is the script, co-written by the director and Christian Kracht. It’s not the dialogue that spoils things, but the major shifts from light comedy to dark drama. If the intertwining narrative had been more fractured, and given even a suggestion of the turns coming up, then it might have worked. I’m sure that Finsterwalder and Kracht were hoping to give viewers a punch in the gut. Well, they manage, in a way, but it’s unearned, it’s unsatisfying as a viewing experience, and it’s deeply unpleasant. For me, there’s one moment here that ranks among the most awful things I’ve seen onscreen. Part of me respects that, and the shock that it gave me, but another part of me resents the writers for going down the route of “cheap shocks” when they seemed to have more intelligent points to make.

The performances are uniformly excellent, with Michael Maertens, Margit Carstensen and Corinna Harfouch being the standouts, and there’s plenty here to provoke thought and debate, which makes that major mishandling of the tonal shifts all the more irritating. It’s not that the writers have nothing to say. It turns out, I suspect, that they have so much they want to put across that things get overcrowded and muddled. I think that Finsterwalder then stayed too close to the material while directing, ensuring that the details were lost in amongst the big picture.

It’s a film mainly about identity, national and individual. Which makes it a great pity that it ends up with an identity crisis of its own.

DIRECTOR: FRAUKE FINSTERWALDER
WRITER: FRAUKE FINSTERWALDER, CHRISTIAN KRACHT
STARS: MICHAEL MAERTENS, MARGIT CARSTENSEN, JAKUB GIERSZAL, CORINNA HARFOUCH, SANDRA HULLER, CARLA JURI, RONALD ZEHRFELD, LEONARD SCHEICHER
RUNTIME: 91 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: GERMANY

Film Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tags: bernhard schutzcarla jurichristian krachtcomedyCorinna HarfouchdramaEIFFEIFF 2014festivalfrauke finsterwalderjakub gierszalleonard scheichermargit carstensenmichael maertensRonald Zehrfeldsandra huller
Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews

Kevin Matthews lives in Edinburgh and has done for some time. He loves it there and he loves movies, especially horrors. No film is too awful to pass through his cinematic haze.

Related Posts

Benediction (2021)
Film Review

Benediction (2021) — Film Review

by Jasmine Valentine
May 19, 2022
The Innocents (2021) – Film Review
Film Review

The Innocents (2021) – Film Review

by William Stottor
May 17, 2022
Father Stu (2022) – Film Review
Film Review

Father Stu (2022) – Film Review

by Dallas King
May 12, 2022
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Film Review

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) — Film Review

by Jasmine Valentine
May 11, 2022
The Takedown (2022) – Film Review
Film Review

The Takedown (2022) – Film Review

by Maxance Vincent
May 9, 2022

Recommended

blade runner 2049 dave bautista

Dave Bautista Just Can’t Stop Being Rejected By Star Wars Producers

September 4, 2018

The Hunger Games (2012)

April 11, 2020

Don't miss it

Benediction (2021)
Film Review

Benediction (2021) — Film Review

May 19, 2022
Top 100 Greatest Movies Films
Spotlight

100 Greatest Movies (and 50 Honorable Mentions)

May 20, 2022
The Innocents (2021) – Film Review
Film Review

The Innocents (2021) – Film Review

May 17, 2022
Father Stu (2022) – Film Review
Film Review

Father Stu (2022) – Film Review

May 12, 2022
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Film Review

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) — Film Review

May 11, 2022
The Takedown (2022) – Film Review
Film Review

The Takedown (2022) – Film Review

May 9, 2022
flickfeast

Whetting your appetite for cinema with the best film reviews and features since 2009

© Copyright - flickfeast. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Festivals
  • FrightFeast
  • Spotlight
  • Contribute

© Copyright - flickfeast. All Rights Reserved.

Posting....