04/11/2010

Thomas Arslan’s In the Shadows [+see also:
trailer
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film profile] is a subtle heist caper which relies on a dramatic atmosphere much more than on dynamic action scenes.

Trojan (Misel Maticevic) has just gotten out of jail and immediately starts looking for a new gig. Of course, he wants a quick way to make a lot of money. His previous partners are out to get him, but Trojan is smarter, faster and, above all, more careful than your average bank robber and won’t accept just any job.

Then his lawyer and sometime lover Dora Hillmann (Karoline Eichhorn) tips him a money-transport heist that security worker Kruger (Martin Scheller) wants to pull but has no one to work with. Trojan invites his old partner Nico (Rainer Bock) to be the driver and they execute an almost perfect crime. Almost, because unbeknownst to them, they are being followed by Meyer (Uwe Bohm), who will turn out to be something quite different than expected.

Downplaying genre conventions, Arslan crafts a straightforward, walking tempo thriller with powerful tension. Reinhold Vernschneider (The Robber [+see also:
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Norwegian composer Geir Jenssen, best known for Erik Skjoldbaerg’s masterpiece Insomnia, contributes with a dissonant, rhythmless soundtrack that tonally fits with the sound effects track to create a disturbing atmosphere. Editor Bettina Blickwede, who also cut Arslan’s Dealer, keeps the tempo down and fuses scenes together to accentuate subtle increases of tension in key moments.

In the Shadows is one of those rare films that uses its magnificent cast as a storytelling tool rather than an emotional anchor. Maticevic, mostly known for TV work, as well as for Dito Tsintadze’s much-awarded 2000 comedy Lost Killers, is excellent as the quiet, perfectionist, no-nonsense criminal.

Bock, a living legend of German cinema who received international acclaim in The White Ribbon [+see also:
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film profile], appears in only three scenes and steals each one of them. Bohm, one of the biggest film and TV stars in German-speaking territories, does an excellent villain whose character develops through Arslan’s intricate, finely woven dramaturgy.

The rare action scenes actually defy the term “action”: the shoot-outs are low-key, almost real-life scenes miles away from the razzle and dazzle of similarly themed Hollywood fare, or even French and British crime thrillers of recent years. In this way Arslan achieves a simultaneously refreshing and disturbing effect.

After its world premiere at Berlin and outings at festivals in Buenos Aires, Athens, and the Viennale, In the Shadows now heads to Estoril, Ljubljana and Gijon. It’s currently playing in German cinemas.