La sala professori

Modern German cinema haven't been on my radar as while there are a few good German flicks coming around time to time, I haven't been fully wowed by them for some time. I had no idea what to expect going into this movie but this movie was frustrating but in a good way.

It's an interesting character study that explores themes of racial profiling, unauthorized searches, and the school system. Throughout, the camerawork use of 4:3 lens felt purposeful to surround the settings and tone and the direction is pretty strong. The directing, setting, sound designs and pacing help to capture the uncomfortable and intense atmosphere that is being surrounded around the environment and within the characters and the movie does a really good work on capturing the essence.

The characters can be frustrating and unlikeable to an extent but instead of being unbearable, the portrayal of the unlikeable and frustrating characters felt purposeful because of the themes and writing concepts that were explored. Not often where movies are able to have many characters unlikeable, yet, managed to still be emotionally investing and engaging. All of the performances are amazing especially the lead performance from Leonie Benesch as Benesch is absolutely amazing. Even the child actors are great as well.

Many of the social dynamics were well-explored within the simple setting, the pacing is great, and there are some good dialogue moments that genuinely helps to build the intense situations and realism it portrays. There are a few issues I had with the movie which is that I felt certain dialogue moments from the child performances felt a little too fake or staged and there are certain choices I thought could have been approached differently.

Overall, a fascinating and frustrating movie.