"Distanz" or "Distance" is an award-winning German film from 2009 and almost a decade after its release, it is probably still the most known career effort for writer and director Thomas Sieben. This may also have to do with his lead actors Duken and Weisz, who are admittedly fairly well-known. At 80 minutes, it is not a long film at all. It is a look into the world of a gardener who seems to be living a normal life, but hides terrible secrets and aggressions. These do not keep a colleague of his from falling in love with him, but can he really lead a normal life? Or will it be back into the dark abyss for him eventually? Watch for yourself. It was a decent character study from start to finish and I was always undecided between **/***** and ***/*****. Admittedly my personal bias that I never saw a lot in Duken and that I am not too big on Weisz either, may play in here and have a negative impact from my perspective. But I still felt Duken did very little with the character. On a side-note, he reminded me a bit of Dexter at times, but without the sovereignty and control of course. Before the final sound, I was ready to give 3 stars out of 5, but honestly the eventual suicide is a moment that was included to make the film desperately more shocking and impactful. You know you can close a movie without closing a case right? Anyway, I somehow managed to look at all the unrealistic moments about Weisz' character, but I cannot accept the ending. He never seemed self-destructive and it didn't fit. Have him sit on the bench and live, or have him shot by cops in an assisted suicide and I may have given a thumbs-up. But I just can't. To end the film on a positive note though I do like the title as it refers to distances from both directions. But yeah, still skip it. Not memorable or satisfying enough from any perspective.
Review of Distanz
