50/44
Twelve years after his escape, professional criminal Trojan returns to Berlin. A valuable painting is about to be stolen in the city. But the meticulously planned robbery quickly spirals out of control. Im Schatten (2010) follows. During the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the audience was able to see how professional criminal Trojan (Misel MATICEVIC) from IM SCHATTEN (2010) had to leave the capital for an indefinite period of time. Trojan still acts rather analogically: old-fashioned crimes such as the theft of tangible objects such as watches, money and paintings. No connection to a mafia or clan structure, a lone fighter, only occasionally and out of necessity in the team! When a coup in the Ruhr area does not go as planned, Trojan has to return to Berlin to draw on old contacts (Marie-Lou SELLEM). And indeed: Together with three companions (Tim SEYFI, Marie LEUENBERGER, Bilge BINGÜL), Trojan manages to steal a valuable painting by Caspar David FRIEDRICH. But then the trouble really begins with the mysterious client Viktor (Alexander FEHLING)… At the BERLINALE 2010, IM SCHATTEN by Braunschweig-born director Thomas ARSLAN hit like a long-overdue genre bomb. An exciting genre film made in Germany was told using the cinematic means of the Berlin School. Extremely emotional, with sparse dialogue and explosive moments of violence! ARSLAN follows up with VERBRANNTE ERDE seemingly without interruption. Gangster films are still a rarity in German cinema. With cold precision, the images of cameraman Reinhold VORSCHNEIDER (also IM SCHATTEN) tell of people who live in a shadow version of Germany. Dark places, in the shadow of nearby places, yet far from the perception of the police and the normal population. Berlin appears as a co-protagonist and adversary of the film’s protagonists. The sober music of the Norwegian composer Ola FLOTTUM (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, 2021) contributes a lot to this tense atmosphere. It shows a capital that you know and yet don’t know. Many viewers will be able to recognize this urban sprawl with all its streets from their own surroundings. Spooky places very close to us: scorched earth in the shadows! Misel MATICEVIC (IN THE FACE OF CRIME / BABYLON BERLIN) is once again very convincing in the role of Trojan, of whom we will probably see more (Thomas ARSLAN is planning a kind of Trojan trilogy). GERMAN FILM AWARD nominee Marie Lou SELLEM (nominated for KNOCHEN UND NAMEN / BONES AND NAMES in 2024) is there as an icy mediator. But GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Alexander FEHLING (2019 winner for DAS ENDE DER WAHRHEIT / THE END OF THE TRUTH) is frighteningly good and doesn’t have to hide from classic villains like Klaus KINSKI and Michael FASSBENDER. Thomas ARSLAN doesn’t want to take as long with the third film of his Trojan trilogy as he did between 2010 and 2024. Stay exciting!