SteinMo
What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.
Roy Hart
If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Bessie Smyth
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Celia
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
sborstar
very nice thoughtful scenes and love-story of two foreigners. The inspector "Christoph Waltz" had a roll which remembers to Colombo. And the trist scenes when bringing the "food" to the skuril people make enough impressions without loud action. The action and content follows in the construct and fantasy of the spectator. The actors play their longing-full scenes authentic. I've seen it at night, tired, before going to bed on German TV some week ago. The best situation to watch it. It is no action film. The problem: I fell asleep at the last maximum 20 seconds of the film. I just heard but didn't see it the last seconds. If someone has seen it, please eMail me, what happened to whom at the end. And if it was a happy end or not?
Camera Obscura
GUN-SHY (Dito Tsintsadze - Germany 2003).I've seen this surreal mixture of comedy and drama twice now, once at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2004 and recently on television and liked it even better the second time I saw it.Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs) is a quiet loner who refused to join the army because of his pacifist beliefs, and is employed in the Civil Service instead, delivering meals to the elderly in some anonymous former East-German town (the film was shot in Halle). One day he encounters the mysterious Isabella in a local tram, where she leaves him a note saying "Help me!". After this encounter they develop a platonic and somewhat awkward relationship, making Lukas feel even more estranged than before. Lukas spends many of his nights rowing at the local river and one night he kills a man by accident and decides not to report it. But soon a local police officer/detective questions him because he was the only person present at the river when the body was found. The film is not just a dark comedy and has some strong and violent scenes in it, but the tone remains light. I think the murder mystery is one of those crucial plot elements that keeps the story going. The police inspector Beckmann (great role by Rudolf W. Marnitz) - a very "German Krimi" kind of name - bares some resemblance to Peter Falk in Columbo. He is a bit shabby, he already knows all the angles from day one, is unmarried and always has a cold. I just loved this odd little film, not because of the great story or ingenious plotting, but for all the colourfully sketched characters with some truly wonderful vignettes. There is a very old one-eyed former WW II sniper, to whom Lukas delivers his meals, and a Turkish arms dealer who keeps on telling Lukas how he learned German through citing the works of Goethe! Could be corny, but it works wonderfully, thanks to a great cast and Georgian-German director Dito Tsintsadse. A cast of unknowns, especially Lavinia Wilson, really carry this home. I found this a touch weird but nevertheless a very pleasant experience on both viewings.Camera Obscura --- 9/10
snoozer1
Here we have the story of Lukas - a young man doing community service (delivering meals-on-wheels) as his penance for avoiding compulsory national service. Early in the film he meets Isabella, a rather troubled girl, on a bus. She hands him a note that simply says "Help Me". Why she needs help is not immediately clear, but during the course of their relationship Lukas does indeed discover the meaning of her 'note'. This sends them both on a downward spiraling course that neither of them could foresee....I quite enjoyed "Schussangst". It's a story of how society has lost its sense of 'community' .. that even in a large city, we are essentially all alone. Much like a Hal Hartley film, we meet a number of interesting, sometimes quirky, characters along the way -- all of who contribute something to the final outcome. There's also a thriller undercurrent to it (as the title would suggest) that is very reminiscent of Claude Chabrol.One of the better German films i have seen. Worth a look.
hans kauf
This is a lightweight movie, which doesn´t take itself too serious. I saw it at the Guadalajara festival "muestra", where it was well received.As a more serious intention, it gives a portrait of an insecure and inexperienced young man, who works as a "Zivi" in the social service, delivering food too senior citizens. He meets a girl he can't really catch up with. Simple-minded as he is, he feels he has to protect her, so in the end we see a gun go off.From the point of view of filmmaking, a problem is that the lead character is quite shallow, so the movie does not work very well as a psychological study. Neither could the actor convince me totally of his dark sides as a nice boy loosing contact with reality.On the other hand, the film depicts quite well some scenes of everyday life in Germany, and it deals with a fine sense of humour intoducing some very funny contemporanean citizens, so that in the end you might like it.