Night Shapes (1999) User Reviews

A finely executed kaleidoscope of big city life and how it determines people's actions.

[libertyvalance · 7/10 · 27 March 2001]

Writer/director Andreas Dresen has produced a nice little film with Nachtgestalten. It works on a level where Michael Haneke's Code inconnue failed miserably. The people, thrown together in a cold city where it is unwise to lift a finger to help a stranger in distress, are real and believable. Their actions are determined by the logic of their personalities and social position; watching Code inconnue you get the nauseating feeling that it is Haneke's pretentious opinion that is being forced down your throat; again and again. Dresen's stories allow for biting humor as well as moments of painful desperation; especially in my favourite story : that of the homeless couple in search of a hotelroom. Andreas Dresen is one of those new wave of young German directors who are pulling their country out of the oblivion where I for one thought they would be for a long time yet. Together with Tom Tykwer and Roland Suso Richter - to name but a few- Andreas Dresen is a director to watch. His script is fluent and well balanced; the direction never showy but to the point. It's a shame that good European films like Nachtgestalten don't get a general release in most countries while appalling creations like Code Inconnue do.

Pretty good for a film, even a german one...

[judokid · 7/10 · 19 August 1999]

I have just seen Nachtgestalten, and i think it was quite interesting,touching and surprisingly funny. It tolds the stories of three different couples during a night in Berlin. Good actors and a good skript, but there are also some needed clichés as the rain for dramatic tension and the naive farmer for comic relief. But after several years, when light comedies dominated the german cinema, it is refreshing to see it maturing. 7/10

Occasional flaws, but overall successful

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 18 September 2016]

"Nachtgestalten" or "Nacht Gestalten" or "Nightshapes" is a German movie from the last year of the old millennium, which means it will soon have its 20th anniversary. It is one of the career-defining works by East German writer and director Andreas Dresen and he as well as several of his cast members received a pretty impressive deal of awards recognition for their work here. I would not say that they were bead, but all in all it may have been slightly too much praise. I had the feeling on several occasions that the characters (in terms of both writing and acting) came off generic and stereotypical. But then again, there are sequences and moments when they are really interesting to watch, which is also why I overall appreciated the effort by everybody involved here. The background situation is that the Pope is in town, but this is really just side information and, honestly, the film would have been almost exactly the same without this visit. Instead, this film is much more about the not so famous people living in Berlin, such as a taxi driver, a prostitute, a homeless couple and a little African boy. It is actually really three stories in one film I guess, so maybe three short films in one full feature film as the action jumps from one group of protagonists to the next repeatedly. There is no real connection between the main characters, but there does not need to be for this film to work. Almost the entire movie (except the ending that depicts the next morning) takes place on the same evening in several areas of Berlin and we see characters communicate with each other. Violence is a topic here, but also love and friendship. The film, during its entirety, attempts to succeed and deliver with its realistic approach, but as such, it only partially worked as, when the film went into detail, there were occasionally moments and developments and characters' reactions that did not feel too authentic and realistic and put a question mark behind the entire project. It's a solid film, but not an outstanding or even perfect one. As a whole, I still think the good outweighs the bad, which is why I recommend the watch. definitely one of the better films from 1999 and I am not surprised the German Film Awards liked it so much. What I am surprised about, however, is how you can put Gwisdek into lead and everybody else into supporting. This does not make any sense at all and is actually disrespectful to the works of Bormann and Horwitz, who may have been the MVP in this film in may opinion. A certain contender for career-best performance.

A bright spot in a rather dull festival

[k_landsurvey · 15 March 2000]

I just thought that someone who is neither German nor living in Germany should comment on this wonderful film (which I saw as a part of this year's E.E.C. film festival in Prague). The form and content of this movie are very familiar, things that people who are fond of the cinema will have seen a thousand times and more. Life, however, hasn't changed much in a lot of particulars since humans began to walk upright, and the question for me is whether or not the director used these familiar materials to fashion characters that I cared about and a story that engaged me - I say a definite yes on both counts. This film was only 90 minutes long, but could easily have been twice that length without my noticing. This was one of the best German films I've seen in years!...

Strange events happening on a single night.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 10/10 · 7 August 2007]

The Pope's visit throws Berlin completely out of gear.He is unaware of profound changes it will bring in the lives of certain individuals. Hanna and Victor-a homeless couple will have a tough time finding a suitable hotel for a night's stay.Patty-a juvenile prostitute will rob Joachen-a naive farmer of his money.Peschke-an inept business executive will grasp the bitter truth that not all immigrants like Angolan Feliz Kolami steal wallets upon their arrival in Germany. Nachtgestalten is an ingenious motion picture belonging to the post reunification German Cinema.Andreas Dresen earned wide critical and commercial success with his film as it came at a moment when German cinema was inundated with numerous inelegant comedies.It is a highly imaginative film in which various droll events happen in rapid succession.Nachtgestalten takes us on a wonderful tour of night spots in Berlin which average tourists would normally shun.Andreas Dresen has candidly shown sordid aspects like dirt,junk,skinheads,racism, prostitution etc.The storyline appears credible as a result of outstanding acting prowess of its characters.Michael Gwisdek is brilliant as Peschke.Nachgestalten skillfully tackles the plight of homeless people.It proves without a shadow of a doubt how difficult it is to be poor in a rich country.

Gwisdek and the boy

[marchrijo · 5/10 · 1 September 2000]

A film spreading some metropolitan flair upon Berlin. Unfortunately the episodes told have not approximately the same level. The "berber" story doesn't touch, it's too sentimental and incredible. Problems of poor people have to be shown otherwise! But the story about the little african boy is wonderful, especially because of the tension between his silence and the gestures and countenance of the magnificent actor Michael Gwisdek. 5/10

Pretty boring ... even for a German film.

[Olav-7 · 1/10 · 3 August 1999]

I have seen "Nachtgestalten" last week in a sneak preview and I was bored, to say the least. The idea of a movie split into episodes isn't that bad, but jumping from one set of characters to the other without any substance in between leaves behind a very shallow feeling. Three couples, three stories which have been already told a thousand times. The farmer from out of town looking for some sex and trying to help the prostitute from out of her problems. The homeless couple having the opportunity to spend some money in town. The businessman, picking up an forgotten boy at the airport an trying to get him to his friend in the city. Yeah. That's it.

I was not interested at all, how a particular thread in this "story" ended. It was all too obvious.