Brilliant and touching

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This wasn't a bad movie but the first part of it moved really slow. I was also able to see what was coming and I would've liked to have been surprised by the twists that lay ahead. The actors played their parts well and the atmosphere was really tense throughout the movie. While a lot of focus went towards the tension between the immediate family members, the location of the filming helped. The reservoir looked like and represented just how big their problem was. I also loved how the caterpillar was used to represent the unfolding of lies. One other thing that really bugged me was the scene at the police station. How long did Dad stand outside holding that backpack? No one saw that? That was just a weird moment for me. Overall this is a decent film and not a bad watch.

"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

Saw this at the Leiden (NL) film festival 2015. Interesting to see how a blatant lie came about, gave rise to more lies, and how it all escalated into something that nobody really wanted yet proved inevitable. The premise that Sarah pushed her friend Charlie from the bridge, may seem unrealistic, but it came forth from reasons deemed logical by Sarah from her viewpoint. It could have been a stolen boyfriend, or spreading lies about her, or some other reason important enough for her to make this push an easy solution. When Sarah's parents hear about the accident, they go at any imaginable length to hide the awful truth and to protect their daughter against the outer world. Later on we learn that what really happened is all very different from what we got presented from the outset. That being precisely the core business of a thriller, it is very commendable that we did not outguess it until very late. In other words, the story was well built and kept us in tension all the time, eagerly awaiting the next turn of events to surprise us.