Reviews

"Kleine Haie" is hands down one of the best movies to come out of Germany during the nineties. At the time it quickly earned a cult following. The story is simple, as it follows a group of three very different characters attending auditions at a Munich acting school. Aptly, the title derives from a book of speech practices, "Der Kleine Hey". KH was the sophomore feature film of director Sönke Wortmann and introduced several young actors that would become well known in Germany during the years to come, most notably Jürgen Vogel. Armin Rohde appears in a notorious supporting role as muscle car driving "Bierchen".

It seems that How It Ends as a title spurred everyone's expectation that this is exactly what the film is about to tell them. The way How It Ends eventually ends is really not that important. Nor is the ending unusual. What everyone seems to be expecting here, would be tantamount to a voiceover slapped onto the ending of Hitchcock's The Birds, telling what happened after that Aston Martin drives off with the birds looking on. And why they went mad in the first place.

How It Ends avoids explanations beyond what the characters know and see. While some aspects of the disaster are shown, they do not take center stage. How It Ends is more about atmosphere and how the protagonists cope. It is generally well acted, with some beautiful cinematography. The action sequences appear somewhat rushed and repetitive though. Overall, How It Ends is not a cinematic masterpiece, but I think it is far better than the numerous one star reviews portray it.

September is OK if you're in the right mood for watching several characters walking around a house, doing lots of earnest talking, generally feeling sorry for themselves. I guess such moods don't come too often, but I just watched it to its very end and I didn't feel disappointed. The only disappointment comes with reading the booklet (for the German edition of the DVD) which obviously has been written by someone who did not even bother to watch the movie. According to this bizarre piece of writing, the fragile Lane (Mia Farrow) recovers from a nervous breakdown in Vermont, where she gets to know and love her neighbour Sam (!) (Sam Waterston). Their understanding relationship finally gives her the strength for a new beginning. But her high spirits do not last for long because Sam's feelings, err actually Peter's, inexplicably cool down and her mother has shocking news for her. Lane suddenly finds herself entangled in a web of passion, betrayal and manipulation, which is threatening to destroy her emotionally ... well, simply put and if one gets the names right, the film is about Howard who loves Lane, who loves Peter, who loves Stephanie. Their misplaced feelings are accompanied by Lane's mother who loves herself.

The sloppiest Bond I've ever seen. It would have left a good impression if I had left the cinema after the opening sequence, which contained nearly everything one can expect from a Bond movie. What followed was more of the same, only less convincing. Towards the end the sound system was the only thing that kept me from falling asleep. I noticed that some other people in the audience had less problems with the noise though.