Winterschläfer

Winter Sleepers was my first encounter with the extraordinary German director Tom Tykwer. Around one car accident, he managed to unfold an interesting psychological game, but even then I realized what was later confirmed to me in his other films. Watching his movie means meeting a beautiful girl, arranging a date with her, and later finding out that she is a transvestite. In other words, the form in Tykwer's works definitely means more than the content. The drama that Tykwer unfolded did not have a dignified ending from my perspective. Overall impression: 65%. (17.04.2009)

I think it's just a phase a lot of young filmmakers are going through. I mean, the need to tell the story of a few characters brought together by an unbelievable coincidence to demonstrate our inability to control unfathomable destiny and ironically accept our position in the universe's ineffable plan. Or something like that; it’s just not a theme I care for. Winter Sleepers at least enriches it with the motif of transferred guilt, which is quite an interesting theory, but still rationalization to the point of misery. It's no wonder the film has to chew its way through the moronic character of Marco, who seems to have fallen out of some 80s slasher movie where he’d be playing the role of a high school football player. The cinematography, however, is once again magnificent. (25.10.2020)