Stereo

Erik runs a motorcycle workshop in a small town. His life is quiet; he has a relationship with a woman and a good bond with her daughter. One day a man appears outside the shop. The man talks to him, calls after him, follows him, and nobody else sees him. Only Erik sees him. In the same days other people arrive in town and ask for Erik by an older name. The life he left behind is coming back, and the man in his head tells him what to do. Maximilian Erlenwein writes and directs. Jürgen Vogel plays Erik and Moritz Bleibtreu the man in his head. It is a German production. The narrative joins two genres: provincial drama and crime thriller. The idea at the centre is who is real; whether the figure in his head is a symptom or a suppressed personality is kept open to the end. The character Bleibtreu plays enters the frame at the same level of reality as the other actors, and the film never emphasises it. The violent scenes are sudden and short; the narrative builds tension not through duration but through abrupt transitions. It is an attempt not often seen in German genre cinema and was shown at festivals. Its limit is the second half; as the explanations arrive the narrative turns into a familiar crime film. Who it is for: viewers who like psychological thrillers and German genre cinema. Who it is not for: the plot is familiar, the solution lands where expected, and some characters are functional.