New in cinema & streaming: which films are worthwhile – and which are not – culture

Ballad of the White Cow

Annett Scheffel: A mistake had been made, the judge says dryly to Mina. It must have been Allah’s will that her husband was executed innocently. Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam – The latter also in the leading role – tell in their drama of immeasurable guilt and the attempt at atonement. After the Berlinale winner “Yet Evil Doesn’t Exist” another haunting film document about the death penalty from Iran. A very political film with little provocations woven into it. Above all, it’s about a woman’s fight against an impenetrable system – and for a few tiny pieces of freedom in a narrow place.

In 80 days around the world

Lisa Opperman: In a gloomy small town and under the overprotection of his mother, monkey Passepartout dreams of voyages of discovery – until the clichéd cool globetrotter Phileas Frog surfs into his life and takes him on the eponymous tour around the world. Told quickly, full of cleverly ironic breaks Samuel Tourneux‘ Animated adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic as the two stumble through whimsical adventures in the desert and jungle.

The Sadness

Fritz Goettler: A zombie virus genre film, people inexplicably start hacking and stabbing at others until a thick gout of blood messes up the whole crime scene. They use everything, umbrellas, hedge trimmers, baseball bats, knives. Rob Jabbaz is Canadian, was shot in sunny Taiwan, the Covid pandemic had disrupted normal film production and made such unpredictable films possible. The wildness is absolutely excessive, but only because the sadness the sadness, in which society has become so vast and condemns people to loneliness. An elderly, slightly uptight gentleman becomes a monster because the girl in the seat next to him on the subway doesn’t want to talk to him. Aggression as the ultimate form of communication.

Dreams are like wild tigers

Anna Steinbauer: Dreams are like wild tigers, if you get closer to them, they get bigger. The girlfriend’s wise advice encourages Ranji to fight for his dearest dream: to be in front of the camera together with his idol, the Bollywood superstar Amir Rosha – even if the family’s move to Germany makes the project more complicated. Lars Mondays Family film is a mix of a modern fairy tale, a funny culture clash comedy with a great cast and a colourful, shimmering music video. Provides a few catchy tunes and a good mood!

Beautiful

Martina Knoben: Too fat, too thin, too old or too wobbly – women almost always have something to complain about their appearance. Caroline Herfurth has made the body fixation of our present and the pressure from unrealistic ideals of beauty the subject of a comedy. She treats the big topic very lightly: with sharp dialogues and a great ensemble of actors, including Martina Gedeck as a frustrated woman in her late fifties and the director herself as a young mother struggling with her body. Almost all the women in this episodic film want to be “prettier” – and almost destroy themselves in the pursuit of it. Despite some clichés, a successful objection (also against the body positivity movement): How bodies look shouldn’t be that important.