Sixty Minutes

An action film set in Berlin that runs almost in real time. Octavio is a mixed martial arts fighter. He has a bout that evening and it is his daughter's birthday the same day. A custody case is under way. The lawyer speaks plainly: if he is not there today he will lose his daughter. He walks out on the fight. He has one hour. But money has been laid on the bout. The gamblers were expecting him to lose and now they come after him. From there the film is a chase. Streets, roofs, a car park, a bar and a metro. His closest friend Paul is also his manager. The man's part in all this is the narrative's turning point. What the narrative is interested in is not fighting but time: the countdown is set out openly and every scene is tied to the minutes left. The action is at close range. The lead performs most of the fighting himself and the camera pulls back to show the blows in long takes. The cutting uses phone screens. Location, time and messages are printed into the image. The production was made for Netflix and went out in January 2024. Emilio Sakraya, Dennis Mojen and Marie Mouroum are in the cast. Oliver Kienle directed and wrote the screenplay with Philip Koch. Who it is for: anyone who likes short, fast action films that take place in one night. Who it is not for: anyone looking for depth; the characters are thin and the plot leans on a few coincidences.