Film starts of the week: which films are worthwhile – and which are not – culture

Antlers

Sofia Glasl: A desolate small American town plagued by unemployment, the opioid crisis, abuse and racism. The student Lucas has to take care of the sick father, a meth-dealing worthlessness, the teacher Julia comes across a monstrous family secret. Would have director Scott Cooper made a social drama out of these issues, it would probably have become overwhelming. As a horror film, he can touch on all of this without having to go through it. The indigenous myth of the wendigo, an evil spirit with antlers, becomes an allegory for him that understands social grievances as an inescapable network. Thanks to producer Guillermo del Toro, there are also bloodthirsty moments of shock, but more worrying is the psychological horror that this fatalism leaves behind.

Army of Thieves

Tobias Kniebe: The safe cracker has always been a strange action hero: As criminal as his energy may be, his craft in intimate dialogue with indestructible safes is just as contemplative. For his zombie film “Army Of The Dead”, Zack Snyder invented a German gorgeous specimen called Ludwig, the Matthias Schweighofer played with nerdy exuberance. Now Snyder has written the story behind this character, and Schweighöfer was allowed to direct it himself. The role suits him perfectly, and cracking three super vaults in Paris, Prague and Sankt Moritz results in a straightforward and likeable heist movie that doesn’t want to be more than it is. (On Netflix October 29th)

Borga

Sofia Glasl: Anyone who is self-sufficient goes to Europe and becomes a Borga. That’s what people in Ghana call someone who makes money abroad. Koji from Accra realizes that there is little glamor involved when he arrives in Germany and is one of many migrants. The filmmaker York-Fabian Raabe In his debut film, he consistently tells from Koji’s perspective, avoiding stereotyping between display and gesture of dismay. In doing so, he is setting an important example for representation in German film – even if narrative, with borrowings from gangster films, melodrama and social drama, he cannot completely avoid narrative clichés.

Contra

Josef Grübl: Right down to the last seat, many spectators are currently demanding in Sönke Wortmanns Adaptation of a French hit movie triggers a verbal exchange of blows: the non-German law student (Nilam Farooq) comes too late to the lecture of a very German professor (Christoph Maria Herbst) and is racially insulted by him. This is followed by a shit storm, a near-sacking and a debating competition that is supposed to bring the two together. It’s neatly staged, well acted and incidentally tells something about the unequal opportunities of non-academic migrant children.

Daido Moriyama – The Past is always new, the Future is always nostalgic

Philipp Stadelmaier: Gene Iwama portrays the legendary Japanese photographer and chain smoker Daido Moriyama, who walks through Tokyo and takes snapshots. And he accompanies the elaborate production process of the new edition of his first photo book from 1968. The film is also a silent photo book, in which only subtitles are commented and the pictures tell – a polite film about a polite picture maker, and a sample of Japanese appreciation.

Dear Evan Hansen

Fritz Goettler: One of the big issues in Hollywood, the loneliness of youth: a boy has to walk down these gloomy school corridors … Dear Evan Hansen is supposed to fight his behavioral disorder (he still has an arm cast after he fell from a tree), Write letters to yourself – which goes pretty wrong when the first letter falls into the wrong hands. This is followed by a suicide, an Internet campaign, parents’ consolation, a shit storm, first love. After the stage musical by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Ben Platt in the title role. from Stephen Chbosky Beautifully introverted, without – as would be appropriate for the genre – spectacular show numbers. There are two wonderful mothers for that, Amy Adams and Julianne Moore.

Online for beginners

Anke Sterneborg: Pin, Puk, Sim, forgot password? That is still the smallest evil in dealing with the Internet, which does not forget, neither the bullying videos of the daughter, nor the sextape of a mother. After the perils of the analogue bureaucracy in “Mammoth”, the two French directors take on Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern now in their silver bear winner, the digital communication on the grain and send three lovable losers (Blanche Gardin, Corinne Masiero, Denis Podalydès) in the hopeless fight against the big communication groups. That is not particularly profound, but very amusing, because everyone has been stuck in the loop of the helpline or is desperate about the password madness.

The Outsiders – The Complete Novel

Tobias Kniebe: Fighting as if for life and death, oaths of loyalty for eternity and a melodramatic hatred of the world. This is how you feel life when you are 16 and the big one Francis Ford Coppola has kept this inner teenager. With “The Outsiders” he filmed the classic book for young people by Susan E. Hinton, who was only 16 years old, about two rival youth gangs in Tulsa. And enabled youngsters like Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Matt Dillon and Tom Cruise to start their careers. Now he has restored cut scenes in order to leave this favorite film as complete as possible for young people.

Ron goes wrong

Anke Sterneborg: An AI for the children’s room, conceived with good intent as a “best friend out of the box”, but used by the CEO of the tech company as a data octopus to maximize profits. In contrast to the mass of kids who are in line with the crowd, the robot Barney is the unfortunate outsider who, however, becomes personable, downright human, due to his mistakes. Directed by Sarah Smith, Jean-Philppe Vine, and Octavio E. Rodriguez The debut from the British Locksmith animation studio combines lively adventure, brisk gags and a brightly colored look with criticism of the “anti-social media” and a message about the value of analog friendship. Originally with the voices of Jack Dylan Grazer, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms and Olivia Coleman.

Wagner, Bayreuth and the rest of the world

Helmut Mauró: A detailed attempt to describe Richard Wagner’s impact to this day and to have those involved explain it. In addition to a chatty butcher couple from Bayreuth, experts also have their say, above all Alex Ross and Barry Kosky; Katharina Wagner has surprisingly little to say. The summary of the documentation by Axel Brüggemann As a Jewish artist puts it, who like many voices is not named by name: “We shouldn’t feel safe with Wagner; we should always be accompanied by a certain malaise.”