Age of Cannibals

Johannes Naber's 2014 German film takes place almost entirely in hotel rooms. Öllers and Niederländer have spent six years travelling the world's most troubled countries as management consultants, hunting resources for their clients, calculating labour costs and seeing the politics of the places they enter as a line in a table. They never leave the room, learning what is happening outside from the television and the front desk. The register is close to theatre: three actors, one space and constant talk. The humour is black and merciless; while the two men calculate their promotions an uprising grows outside, and they care about it only insofar as it affects their flights. The final section turns to violence. Naber presents the global consultancy business as the present form of colonialism. Who it's for: viewers who like black comedy and single-location films. Who it's not for: anyone looking for a sympathetic character; the film leaves no room for one.