Selbstgespräche (2008) Reviews

• They talk a lot but they are without words

  efi_de2008-08-06

  It is a small film, but it is worth to see it on a big screen. It is co-produced by a German TV network, so it might be shown there in the not too distant future. The characters do telephone marketing, so the people in this film talk a lot, actually they talk all the time, but they have forgotten how to speak with each other. They are like hamsters in a treadmill, confined to small cubicles in a large office hanging on the phone cord like it is their livewire. We know such people working their behinds off to make a living, and so forgetting how to live. The director shows great sympathy for them, none of them is really bad or only good, they all have their moments. They are caught in a web of dreams and promises, and you can't help but wish them all the possible best. Acting is great, lifelike, only the dialog is sometimes wooden. And the colour scheme for the characters is way too obvious – or who has seen in one office someone who sticks to the bluish tones only, another one to the brownish tones, and another to the greyish ones? And one other thing: It wouldn't be necessary to have a string of such close close-ups of guest-starring singer Chris Norman (back in the 70ies front man of UK pop band Smokie), still a great voice, but his looks have paid tribute to the years. Watching the film is definitely not a waste of time, especially on a rainy afternoon, and if you want to hear how someone whose native language is Bavarian (Sascha aka Maximilian Brückner) successfully deals with accentless German.