Starring Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, and Hilmi Sözer
Written and Directed by Christian Petzold
Written and Directed by Christian Petzold
I had read The Postman Always Rings Twice earlier this year and loved it quite a bit (it's currently sitting at #5 on my favorite books read this year). A modern reworking of the tale, Jerichow changes enough of the story to keep it interesting, but still maintains the gist of the plot to not be sacrilegious to the source material.
Thomas (Benno Fürmann) is a German guy who, after returning home from the war, finds himself jobless without any money. He soon meets Ali and Laura (Hilmi Sözer and Nina Hoss), a married couple who offer him work helping with their fast food supply business. Thomas soon realizes that Ali and Laura don't have the best marriage and he begins to fall for the battered wife. When the feeling is reciprocated by Laura, the two begin a secret affair and soon decide that they need to get rid of Ali in order to live happily together.
In some respects, I'm happy that I found out immediately prior to the movie that the flick was based on Postman. It was certainly interesting to see a modern take on the 1930s pulpy novel. On the other hand, I did find myself thinking as the movie was wrapping up that there was so much left to cover in the movie that was in the book. Sure enough, they end the movie quite differently from the novel, but in some respects, this knowledge hampered my enjoyment of the pretty darn interesting final 20 minutes. (Don't misunderstand...that isn't a criticism of the movie at all. It's a criticism of my mind for thinking about the book while watching the movie. I really liked the changes that they made, however, knowing the book, I kept expecting things to happen...when they didn't, I wasn't disappointed, but I was surprised).
The flick is short -- under 90 minutes -- and, while it doesn't necessarily move quickly, it certainly kept my attention the whole way through. In the movie, there's essentially only the three characters mentioned above and I was definitely interested in all three of their arcs, in part because all three of the actors were pretty darn good. Fürmann's Thomas is essentially emotionless throughout the entire movie and you would think that would be boring for a main character, but he sells it.
The film's final scenes are actually moderately exciting and tension-filled and, knowing the way the book concludes, I loved the way the movie changed up the ending. The book certainly doesn't end in a happy way, but in some respects, I think the movie has an even unhappier ending -- I actually really loved the final shot and last line of the movie...a real sense of despair and hopelessness was felt by me as the credits began to roll. As I look back on the flick now, I feel like this is the kind of movie -- a suspenseful character-driven drama -- that Hitchcock would be making today were he still around. And if that's what I'm thinking (with Hitchcock being one of my favorite directors of all time), kudos to the makers of the flick for making me feel that way.
Thomas (Benno Fürmann) is a German guy who, after returning home from the war, finds himself jobless without any money. He soon meets Ali and Laura (Hilmi Sözer and Nina Hoss), a married couple who offer him work helping with their fast food supply business. Thomas soon realizes that Ali and Laura don't have the best marriage and he begins to fall for the battered wife. When the feeling is reciprocated by Laura, the two begin a secret affair and soon decide that they need to get rid of Ali in order to live happily together.
In some respects, I'm happy that I found out immediately prior to the movie that the flick was based on Postman. It was certainly interesting to see a modern take on the 1930s pulpy novel. On the other hand, I did find myself thinking as the movie was wrapping up that there was so much left to cover in the movie that was in the book. Sure enough, they end the movie quite differently from the novel, but in some respects, this knowledge hampered my enjoyment of the pretty darn interesting final 20 minutes. (Don't misunderstand...that isn't a criticism of the movie at all. It's a criticism of my mind for thinking about the book while watching the movie. I really liked the changes that they made, however, knowing the book, I kept expecting things to happen...when they didn't, I wasn't disappointed, but I was surprised).
The flick is short -- under 90 minutes -- and, while it doesn't necessarily move quickly, it certainly kept my attention the whole way through. In the movie, there's essentially only the three characters mentioned above and I was definitely interested in all three of their arcs, in part because all three of the actors were pretty darn good. Fürmann's Thomas is essentially emotionless throughout the entire movie and you would think that would be boring for a main character, but he sells it.
The film's final scenes are actually moderately exciting and tension-filled and, knowing the way the book concludes, I loved the way the movie changed up the ending. The book certainly doesn't end in a happy way, but in some respects, I think the movie has an even unhappier ending -- I actually really loved the final shot and last line of the movie...a real sense of despair and hopelessness was felt by me as the credits began to roll. As I look back on the flick now, I feel like this is the kind of movie -- a suspenseful character-driven drama -- that Hitchcock would be making today were he still around. And if that's what I'm thinking (with Hitchcock being one of my favorite directors of all time), kudos to the makers of the flick for making me feel that way.
The RyMickey Rating: B+
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