Willenbrock

Andreas Dresen's precise touch for achingly realistic East German drama doesn't fail in "Willenbrock". Magdeburg's urban scenery is modern and cold, the characters are hopelessly human, the situations and dialogs are sadly comic at times, and suspense is everywhere.

Axel Prahl (again!) and Inka Friedrich shine effortlessly as the well adapted well-off couple, with all their little and not so little troubles and secrets. Lovely, if it weren't a bit depressing.

After the touching "Halbe Treppe", "Willenbrock" is another hint that Andreas Dresen might just become an East German Mike Leigh. Concerned with small town real people, not always consistent in story and quality, but true to reality and always trusting his actors, which he chooses wisely.