Michael's Movie Grade: A+
An incredibly intelligent and captivating film from Germany.
Though there are no big action sequences or deaths here, this is a movie that will truly keep you on the edge of your seat. Like most great suspense films, the storyline starts off quite small. In this school where a new teacher has just started, money from various facility members is being stolen. At the start of the film, this is something that is simply happening in the background, while we watch this teacher simply go through her day-to-day job. However as the film goes on this becomes more and more prevalent. I wish to not give away anything more than this because it is best you come into this movie with no prior knowledge of just where this story is going. I will say that you will be on the edge of your seat in a way you might not expect from a movie about a teacher at her job. Much of this is due to how well this film, puts you inside the mind of our main character. You completely feel her anxiety mounting as the film goes on. This is done very effectively in many ones. Marvin Miller's score is not only wonderful to listen to, but it also always perfectly reflects what is happening in the character's mind. In many of the most anxiety inducing scenes, the music is appropriately very intense. There are also a few wonderful moments in which we fully see things from her point of view, including one where we see the images her anxiety is creating in her mind. Our connection to this character also comes through Leonie Benesch's wonderful performance that truly captures even the smallest inflections of this character.
This movie also benefits from incredibly smart script by director, Ilker Çatak and his co-writer Johannes Duncker (the two previously worked on I Was, I Am, I Will Be (2019)). The story masterfully builds its suspense. Everything here elevates in a completely believable way, that feels completely real to us. The elevating suspense also keeps the movie from ever getting boring and therefore keeping the audience truly on the edge of its seat. The story takes a view at not only school but at society as a whole. Yet it does this in an unpretentious way, that never preaches to its audience. Instead, this is simply a story that works on multiple levels. It can be taken at face value or as a look at society today and either way it works perfectly. The script also does a great job of letting us know even the most minor characters. While some characters are better fleshed out than others, each has at least a little bit of personality. This makes the whole movie feel much more real to us. This is a script that pays attention to even the smallest details. That is a major reason for the film's effectiveness as it makes the whole movie feel more real to us.
This is simply a must see,
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