morrison-dylan-fan Talking to a family friend over the weekend,I found out that he had caught the ending of a wonderful sounding Neo-Noir from Germany on BBC4.Taking a look on BBC iPlayer,I was pleased to find that the title would be kept on for a week,which led to me getting ready to find out how silent things could be.The plot:1986:Driving round, Peer Sommer and Timo Friedrich spot 11 year old Pia riding her bike home.Whilst Friedrich sits in the car,Sommer gets out to rape and kill her.After witnessing the act,Friedrich disappears from Sommer's life,as police officer Krischan Mittich tries (and fails) to find much evidence over who the murderer might be.23 Years later:Shortly before the anniversary of Pia's death,missing 13 year old Sinikka Weghamm's bike is found at the spot where Pia was killed. Grieving over the death of his wife,police officer David Jahn is given the task of finding missing Sinikka Weghamm.During his investigation into where Weghamm is,Jahn begins to break the silences on a similar unsolved missing person/murder case that took place 23 years ago.View on the film:Making his (feature) film debut,writer/director Baran bo Odar reveals that the best way to make an entrance is not with a bang,but a sinister,silent scream.Opening up Pia's murder in flashbacks,Odar and cinematographer Nikolaus Summerer soak the movie in an evil under the sun Neo-Noir atmosphere,where the sun-kissed fields and neatly cut parks are a cover for the foreboding "ghosts" and blood covered hands which have not faded over the passage of time.Placing everything on a knife edge, Odar digs into a rich Neo-Noir mood by pulling Pas de Deux great score back,and treading on the stench of death on Friedrich,by brilliantly lingering on Friedrich pass a comfortable point,and also subtly placing a wide "gap" between Friedrich and everyone he meets. Taken from the pages of Jan Costin Wagner's novel,the screenplay by Odar makes sure to not approach the killers in an apologetic manner,with Odar instead making sure that Friedrich's lingering memories of death are always bubbling just under the surface.Suspecting a link between the two murders, Odar makes Jahn's search for the links one that brings up no easy answers,from former lead cop Mittich putting a brick wall up against any of Jahn's ideas,to Odar bringing up the silences to deliver a devastating Neo-Noir final note,as Jahn discovers that his fellow cops are more interested in putting a false bow of hope on the Neo- Noir doubts,and not breaking the deadly silence.

Eric_Cubed If you have seen the excellent French Thriller "Tell No One" and was captivated as I was, then you will enjoy this movie. The subject matter, though, is very, very hard to swallow. I actually had to fast forward for a few merciful seconds in a few parts. I just can't stand seeing kids raped and murdered, no matter how artistic or ambiguous the scene is. So, you should fast forward too, and then enjoy this awesome and endlessly engaging movie. The ambiance, the script and the acting make you feel as though are there, in it, as it is happening. Unlike prisoners, which was good, no doubt about it, this movie takes the genre to a whole new level (a side-note: why is it that Hollywood always rips away the gritty realism of the thing into a showcase for superstars and formula? European films are not like this). This movie takes the relationship to time with respect efficacy, you are never confused about what is then and what is now. A great film, I would give it a ten, but that is reserved for a The Godfather.

Coventry "Das Letzte Schweigen" a.k.a. "The Silence" is a sleeper thriller that genuinely shocked and dumbfounded me, but mainly AFTER it was finished! It's the type of film that slowly gets under your skin and the true horror of the plot only hits you afterwards, because you are subconsciously analyzing and re-processing the agitating events over and over again. It was quite a harsh confrontation for me, especially because I'm into dark and devastating horror & cult cinema for nearly two decades now and I have seen numerous of allegedly controversial movies. But "The Silence" is largely different to anything I have ever seen before. It's an extremely slow and moody tale full of totally messed up characters (not a single one qualifies as even remotely normal) and horrifying events & themes that are depicted in a nihilistic and almost everyday fashion. The plot gradually unfolds and the viewer absorbs everything that is coming at him/her, but the truly evil nature of the denouement and the injustice of the climax only hit you – and quite hard, I may add - once the end credits are rolling over the screen. The story starts in a remote little German town in the summer of 1986. Two young men, who share the disgusting passion of watching child pornography (it's not explicitly shown but clearly suggested), are driving around in their red Volkswagen when they spot an 11-year-old girl bike-riding on a dirt road. One of them, Peer Sommer, viciously rapes and murders the defenselessly screaming girl while his pal Timo remains motionless and petrified in the car. Shortly after the incident, Timo flees away from Peer in an attempt to forget everything that has happened and start a new life elsewhere. 23 years later, on the exact same day and on the exact same place, the bicycle and a couple of blood stains of 13-year-old Sinikka Weghamm are discovered. The disappearance of the girl is a nightmare for her parents, but also for the mother of the still unsolved previous murder case as well as for the police officers – retired and incompetent new ones – that are charged with the case. Is it the work of a copycat killer or has the original killer returned? The truth is even more nightmarish than anything you can think of. "The Silence" benefices from a continuously foreboding atmosphere and the gradually revealed details of the case make you uncomfortable. At several points during the movie, you'll find yourself cursing and screaming at the screen in an attempt to speed up the slow police investigation. Themes like child murder and pedophilia automatically make any thriller disturbing, but the sober tone and bleak characters in "The Silence" are almost unbearable. Young director Baran Bo Odar maintains the nail-biting ambiance throughout the entire film and all the acting performances, particularly those of Ulrich Thomsen and Wotan Wilke Möhring, are deeply impressive. There are definitely some plot holes to detect regarding the police investigation and the involvement of the media, but somehow it feels like a factual murder case really could be as ineptly led as this one. The total absence of music, humor and certain background explanations only make the film more haunting. This definitely isn't viewing material for everyone, but highly recommended to thriller fanatics in search of a mature and complex story.

paul2001sw-1 'The Silence' is a dour, multi-perspective thriller, telling the story of a murder investigation and its links to another killing twenty years before. The film effectively conveys a strong sense of a contemporary German environment, making the mundane seem very particular, but somehow the whole thing doesn't quite gel: there are too many points of view to make the viewer care about any one, and the mystery depends on an unlikely motive, with a deliberately inscrutable ending. For me the real problem came in the scene where two policemen fight over the hunch that one of them has: it's just not convincing that either of them would care so much. It's a rare case, in my opinion, of a movie that might have benefited from just a little Hollywood showmanship.