Karger

He´s divorced from his childhood sweetheart, redundant after company downsizing, and his father has suffered a heart attack... 30-something Karger's thus far pleasantly dull and predictable life has now reached a crisis point. This burly, easy-going individual, who has never left his native town, turns his back on his problems, however, ignoring them with disarming stoicism. Short-term and perhaps overly simple solutions can only provide temporary solace, and Karger is increasingly confronted with the need for a radical change in his life. In her debut film, the director was inspired for her story by a school reunion, during which she discovered that her former classmates, like the hero of the film, had spent the first half of their lives shuffling between the factory and their poky flats. The intensity with which the film probes into the life of a single individual in order to reflect the grim destinies of the director's contemporaries is reinforced not only by the detached, objective documentary-style approach, but also by the fact that all the protagonists come from the given region and social environment. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)