Current Trends : Germany

In recent years, German filmmakers have increasing dared to try their hand at comedy and satire
- and have been enthusiastically received by the public. Whereas Loriot relied on understated humor in “Odipussi” (1988) to bring out the comedy of everyday situations, the comic Otto Waalkes played up his talent for slapstick and tomfoolery in his four films. Helmut Dietl was extraordinarily successful with his biting social satires: In “Schtonk” (1991) he parodied the ostensible discovery of Adolf Hitler’s diaries by the illustrated magazine “Stern”, and in “Rossini” (1996) he exposed the vanities of the Munich film community’s “beautiful people”.

Comedies revolving around personal relationships have meanwhile become the most popular German film genre. Doris Dorrie kicked off this development in 1985 with “Men”, her frivolous story of a triangular relationship. After experimenting with other genres such as the thriller (”Happy Birthday”, 1991) - she returned to the art of intelligent comedy with “Nobody Loves Me” (1995). In 1994 Sonke Wortmann (”Alone Among Women”, 1990; “Acting It Out”, 1992) filmed Ralf Konig’s comic “The Most Desired Man”, which became one of the biggest box-office hits in the history of German cinema. Detlev Buck has capitalized on the dry humor of his Frisian homeland, entangling his laconic heroes in abstruse situations in “Little Rabbits” (1991), “No More Mr. Nice Guy” (1993) and “Men’s Flophouse” (1995).

The dramatic film, once the domain of German film artistry, has been less strongly represented in recent years. Here too, however, outstanding productions have time and again proved successful, such as Peter Sehr’s new filming of “Kaspar Hauser” (1994), Dominik Graf’s action thriller “The Invincibles” (1994) and Roland Suso Richter’s jailhouse thriller “A Fortnight for Life” (1996). Romuald Karmaker attracted international attention with his feature film debut “The Deathmaker” (1995), in which Gotz George portrayed a mass murderer. George’s impressive performance earned him the prize for best leading actor at the 1 995 Venice festival. In 1996 the film debuts of Caroline Link (”Beyond Silence”) and Thomas Jahn (”Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”) created a sensation. Thomas Stell-mach and Tyron Montgomery were awarded an Oscar in 1997 for their cartoon short “Quest”.

International coproductions are taking on increasing importance for the German cinema. As early as 1985 Bernd Eichinger, the most successful German film producer, relied on an international team and cast of stars in his film adaptation of Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose”. With his film adaptations of Isabel Al-lende’s novel “The House of Spirits” (1993) and Peter Hoeg’s bestseller “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” (1996), Eichinger matched the standards of the great American productions. Wolfgang Petersen and the science fiction specialist Roland Emmerich have meanwhile established themselves in Hollywood itself.