"Zeit der Kannibalen" or "Age of Cannibals" is one of the most talked about German films from 2014. It won third-best film of the year at the German Film Awards and also took home the award for Best Screenplay, which is by far the biggest career achievement so far for Stefan Weigl, who enjoyed a fairly unconventional writing career before his triumph here. The director is Johannes Naber and for him this film is so far the biggest success too. It deals with a duo of ruthless managers trying to get the best for their clients in Nigeria when a woman joins the team.
The film's biggest strength were the dialogs for me, from start to finish a joy to listen to. Apart from that, I felt Sebastian Blomberg was really great to watch with the sleazy character he creates here. Katharina Schüttler is solid as always too and of course easy on the eyes. Devid Strieso did not impress me too much and I feel most of his roles look very similar, no matter if good or bad guys in terms of his mannerisms. Maybe he just does not have the greatest range.
The screenplay could have been better in terms of the story and plot developments. These are certainly not on par with the acting and dialogue writing I have to say, even if there were a couple good moments. But there were bad moments too, for example a female character who is oh so disgusted by the male characters and then still sleeps with one of them? The ending is pretty brave and something that I would not really have expected. I guess the cannibals in this film are the White guys or are they really? Another question you may ask yourself in the end is who may be the most despicable of the trio. It's a very close race. This is probably not a contender for best German film of the year for me, but I still enjoyed the watch, even if it may have gotten a bit too much love from the German Film Awards and other awards bodies. A cautious thumbs up I give these 90 minutes.
The film's biggest strength were the dialogs for me, from start to finish a joy to listen to. Apart from that, I felt Sebastian Blomberg was really great to watch with the sleazy character he creates here. Katharina Schüttler is solid as always too and of course easy on the eyes. Devid Strieso did not impress me too much and I feel most of his roles look very similar, no matter if good or bad guys in terms of his mannerisms. Maybe he just does not have the greatest range.
The screenplay could have been better in terms of the story and plot developments. These are certainly not on par with the acting and dialogue writing I have to say, even if there were a couple good moments. But there were bad moments too, for example a female character who is oh so disgusted by the male characters and then still sleeps with one of them? The ending is pretty brave and something that I would not really have expected. I guess the cannibals in this film are the White guys or are they really? Another question you may ask yourself in the end is who may be the most despicable of the trio. It's a very close race. This is probably not a contender for best German film of the year for me, but I still enjoyed the watch, even if it may have gotten a bit too much love from the German Film Awards and other awards bodies. A cautious thumbs up I give these 90 minutes.