Barbara (2012)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Barbara (2012) – C. Petzold

As suggested by the title, the film is a character study of Barbara (played by Nina Hoss), a doctor who has been transferred to “the provinces” in East Germany from a prestigious position in East Berlin.  She keeps herself closed off from her new colleagues, seemingly unsure of whether they are in league with the Stasi or not -- and the Stasi _are_ regular visitors to her “allocated” dingy flat, searching everywhere, including in personal places with rubber gloves. However, Barbara really _is_ considering escaping to the West to be with her boyfriend in Denmark, but things get complicated when she starts to open up to another doctor (Ronald Zehrfeld) who has warmly supported her (and likely has a crush). She also becomes involved in the lives of the pediatric patients of the hospital, showing some empathy. Director Christian Petzold (who followed this up with Phoenix, 2014, and Transit, 2018 – both great) keeps suspense going and doesn’t really let us guess the plot, allowing Hoss to provide small glimpses of her feelings, if not her intentions. In the end, this is much less Cold War thriller, and much more personal melodrama that happens to take place under highly unusual circumstances.   

 

Sinister (2012)

 ☆ ☆

Sinister (2012) – S. Derrickson

Terrifyingly awful – the kind of film that makes you feel you need a shower just for having watched it.  Ethan Hawke is a true crime writer who moves his family into a house where some shocking murders have taken place (they don’t know).  He finds a box of snuff films in the attic.  I should have turned it off at that point.  Soon, he’s haunted, the house is haunted, and we have to keep seeing these snuff film images (shot on Super 8), as he tries to figure out whether he is onto an elderly serial killer or a Babylonian demon-worshipping cult.  Potentially abducted children play a key role.  Hawke is no match for the script that sees him walking around in the pitch black house doing things that no sane man would do.  Sure, it is scary and tense but in a gruesome unpleasant way.  Perhaps I have reached the bottom of the barrel of supernatural horror films…

The Killing III (Forbrydelsen, 2012)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Killing III (Forbrydelsen, 2012) – S. Sveistrup

I thought I should see the show through to the end, so I teed up the 10 episodes of Series 3 of this police procedural which mixes detective work with coalition politics (and personal drama).  True to form, it was compulsively watchable; I’m not sure, however, if you watched the third series first (without having seen the first two) that you could get the same out of it.  The show was a big hit in its native Denmark (and also in the UK) but star Sofie Gråbøl has vowed that this was the last outing for intense (and awkward) Detective Sarah Lund. Certainly, the ending of Series 3 leaves only the slightest chance for a Series 4 (but writers have certainly found ways to move forward with even the most emphatic finales – it could all be a dream!).  Here, Lund and her teammate from PET (e.g., the Feds) Mathias Borch (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), also a former lover, struggle to find a kidnapper who seems to have a vendetta against the local shipping magnate, a big donor to the current government. When the kidnapper also kills the deputy district attorney, the detectives find they need to solve an old case that was possibly closed as part of a cover-up – which leads straight to the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition who are neck-and-neck in the current election campaign.  As before, viewers need to keep track of numerous plot threads at the same time – but that’s the fun of this series.  The acting and plotting remain strong.  It’s a good time to quit while they are ahead – but whoa that ending!

Drug War (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Drug War (2012) – J. To

Johnnie To achieved international stardom as a director (after a long varied career) with Election (2005) and Election 2 (2006), Hong Kong gangster films that followed in the wake of the success of Infernal Affairs and its sequel earlier in the decade (not to mention John Woo’s 1980s films).  Drug War follows in the same vein, giving equal attention to the cops and the criminals:  Honglei Sun as the wily police captain who excels at undercover stings vs. Louis Koo as the drug manufacturer forced to work for the cops to take down the kingpin.  The plot is tight with little fat, a great deal of suspense is built up by the various twists and turns, and it all culminates in a massive shoot-out outside a primary school. Of course, there is very little depth here but there are character quirks and eccentric choices enough to make this more than a routine actioner.    

El Cuerpo (The Body) (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆

El Cuerpo (The Body) (2012) – O. Paulo

Slick Spanish thriller that takes the Hitchcockian path of revealing who the killer is from the start and then creating suspense as the police close in on him.  I can’t remember Hitch using flashbacks however (except perhaps in Vertigo) but here they add to the tension because we can see moments when even the victim may have discovered the plot to kill her.  This is a key part of the plot because, you see, the victim’s body has gone missing and all signs point to the possibility that she is still alive and leading the police to clues that identify her “killer” (and, of course, tormenting him psychologically along the way).  The whole film takes place in the morgue (more or less). Belen Rueda (from The Orphanage, 2007) plays the victim, a successful but emotionally cruel businesswoman, and Hugo Silva plays her younger husband with the incentive to kill his wife arising due to her large fortune and his much younger mistress (Aura Garrido) who wishes to have him all for herself.  Jose Coronado plays the stereotypic seedy police detective with problems of his own.  So, in many respects, El Cuerpo is straight genre film-making with no aim except to thrill and to entice viewers with a hard-to-anticipate twist ending.  The cinematic style is noirish (rainy nights, dark medical rooms) but nothing special.  Whether the ending is earned or not is up to viewers to judge – but, as with many pictures of this type, thinking back over the film after the ending is known does highlight its improbabilities.  But don’t let that spoil your fun.