-By Eric Monder
For movie details, please click here.
Christian Petzold’s latest feature is a disappointing follow-up to
his much more interesting
Yella. Though the updated
film noir story has
relevancy
vis à vis the emotional and economic void in the
lives of the protagonists,
Jerichow never quite catches
fire.
In Petzold’s screenplay, Ali (Hilmi Sözer) is a self-made though
abusive businessman who runs a chain of fast-food snack bars in
Jerichow, west of Berlin. Ali hires a dishonorably discharged vet,
Thomas (Benno Fürmann), to help him make his rounds as his driver,
but tensions arise when the handsome loner meets Ali’s attractive
and adulterous wife, Laura (Nina Hoss).
Laura’s seduction of Thomas leads to a secret affair that threatens
Thomas’ job and Laura’s marriage. When the lovers plot to kill Ali,
the only question is: Will they be able to pull it off?
Jerichow is less like Petzold’s last film,
Yella, and
more like Cristi Puiu’s
Stuff and Dough (2001), which is also about a destitute
young man’s willingness to be a driver for a ruthless businessman
without realizing the full implications of the job. Petzold strikes
a much more somber and “realistic” mood and feel here than in the
quirky “Alice in Wonderland” world of
Yella. One only wishes
that in its place the writer-director had applied some of the grit
and immediacy of the Puiu film.
At least
Jerichow is more than competently done. The actors
make the enigmatic and generally unpleasant characters almost worth
your time and trouble. (Sözer is especially good as the cuckold who
is sensitive about his Turkish background.) But, frankly, Nina Hoss
is no match for Lana Turner (or even Jessica Lange!). Hans Fromm’s
cinematography is smooth and elegant (maybe too much so) and Stefan
Will’s sparingly used score is appropriately dark and
dramatic.
But
Jerichow could have (and should have) been so much more.
With a narrative that has been told many times before, it was
incumbent on the filmmaker to create something fresh and original
out of the material. He didn’t.
Film Review: Jerichow
A modern-day, Teutonic Postman Always Rings Twice? Yes, Jerichow is just that, but minus the needed passion or suspense.
May 15, 2009
-By Eric Monder
For movie details, please click here.
Christian Petzold’s latest feature is a disappointing follow-up to his much more interesting
Yella. Though the updated
film noir story has relevancy
vis à vis the emotional and economic void in the lives of the protagonists,
Jerichow never quite catches fire.
In Petzold’s screenplay, Ali (Hilmi Sözer) is a self-made though abusive businessman who runs a chain of fast-food snack bars in Jerichow, west of Berlin. Ali hires a dishonorably discharged vet, Thomas (Benno Fürmann), to help him make his rounds as his driver, but tensions arise when the handsome loner meets Ali’s attractive and adulterous wife, Laura (Nina Hoss).
Laura’s seduction of Thomas leads to a secret affair that threatens Thomas’ job and Laura’s marriage. When the lovers plot to kill Ali, the only question is: Will they be able to pull it off?
Jerichow is less like Petzold’s last film,
Yella, and more like Cristi Puiu’s
Stuff and Dough (2001), which is also about a destitute young man’s willingness to be a driver for a ruthless businessman without realizing the full implications of the job. Petzold strikes a much more somber and “realistic” mood and feel here than in the quirky “Alice in Wonderland” world of
Yella. One only wishes that in its place the writer-director had applied some of the grit and immediacy of the Puiu film.
At least
Jerichow is more than competently done. The actors make the enigmatic and generally unpleasant characters almost worth your time and trouble. (Sözer is especially good as the cuckold who is sensitive about his Turkish background.) But, frankly, Nina Hoss is no match for Lana Turner (or even Jessica Lange!). Hans Fromm’s cinematography is smooth and elegant (maybe too much so) and Stefan Will’s sparingly used score is appropriately dark and dramatic.
But
Jerichow could have (and should have) been so much more. With a narrative that has been told many times before, it was incumbent on the filmmaker to create something fresh and original out of the material. He didn’t.
