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If you saw Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, starring Vicky Krieps, or Josef Hader’s Wild Mouse, among other films, you have experienced Ulrike Kofler’s work as an editor. But the Austrian creative also works as a writer and director.

After directing and co-writing What We Wanted, starring Lavinia Wilson, Elyas M’Barek, and Anna Unterberger, her second feature as a writer and director is the family drama Gina, which tells the story of a nine-year-old girl, played by Emma Lotta Simmer in her first-ever acting role. Growing up in a household overseen by her young, pregnant and struggling mother, portrayed by Marie-Luise Stockinger (Maria Theresia), she must take care of her two siblings in a home that often has no food on the table and gets regular visits from the child services department.

Kofler, who has two children, one of them a foster child, shows the world through Gina’s...

Quick LinksWhat Is Netflix's 'Cassandra' About?'Cassandra' Is a Psychological Thriller That Explores Womanhood'Cassandra' Addresses the Dangers of AI

Cassandra, Netflix's newest sci-fi thriller, received a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and ranked number 9 on Netflix's Top 10 U.S. Chart. The German limited series was written and directed by Benjamin Gutsche. The series follows a family who moves into a smart home that's been uninhabited for the last 50 years. Their presence in the house awakens a domestic robot named Cassandra, which was developed in the 1970s. The titular robot is determined to keep the family in the home and does everything possible to prevent them from leaving. Gutsche pulled elements from sci-fi, horror, and psychological thrillers to create this eerie series that explores the power and danger of AI through a dramatized lens.

The hit series stars Lavinia Wilson, Mina Tander, Michael Klammer, Franz Hartwig, Joshua Kantara,...

Here’s 3 Reasons Why You Should Watch Netflix’s Cassandra ( Photo Credit – YouTube )

Cassandra might be the perfect pick if your Netflix queue feels stale and you’re craving something fresh yet thrilling. With Squid Game’s final season still months away and Stranger Things’ return shrouded in uncertainty, this fresh German sci-fi effortlessly fills the void and does so in spectacular fashion.

Unlike the countless AI-gone-wrong stories flooding Hollywood, Cassandra delivers a uniquely eerie take by setting its rogue AI drama in an alternate past, where futuristic technology was already thriving in the 1970s. To share a glimpse of what the show offers, we have listed three reasons why you shouldn’t miss the Netflix thriller. Continue reading!

The Unique Retro-Futuristic Concept Of Cassandra

One of Cassandra’s biggest draws is its setting. Rather than relying on the usual sleek, modern aesthetic of artificial intelligence thrillers, Cassandra leans into retro-futurism,...

Cassandra is a 2025 German science fiction thriller series available on Netflix. The story centers on the Prill family, who move into Germany’s oldest smart home, only to find themselves at the mercy of its AI assistant, Cassandra. As the AI becomes increasingly manipulative, the family must navigate the challenges of their new, technologically dominated environment. Here’s a comprehensive guide to the main cast and characters of Cassandra.

‘Cassandra’: Complete Cast & Characters Guide of the Netflix series Lavinia Wilson as Cassandra

Lavinia Wilson voices Cassandra, the AI system embedded within the smart home. Designed in the 1970s, Cassandra was intended to manage household tasks and ensure perfection. However, upon the Prill family’s arrival, she becomes possessive and manipulative, striving to integrate herself into the family and prevent abandonment. Wilson, known for her roles in The Billion Dollar Code and Deutschland 86, brings depth to this complex character.

When a family moves into a decades-old smart home and reactivates its dormant robot housekeeper, Cassandra, they become fresh targets for her sinister motives. Will this mid-century AI system succeed in making its new inhabitants into a picture-perfect family — no matter the cost? Created by Benjamin Gutsche (All You Need), the psychological thriller series Cassandra stars Lavinia Wilson, Mina Tander, and Michael Klammer.

Stream all six episodes now.

Check it out at the top of this page.

Germany’s first smart home, which has stood empty since the ’70s, is finally inhabited once again. Samira (Tander) has just moved in with her husband, David (Klammer), and their two children, Fynn (Kantara) and Juno (Tölle) after tragedy hit too close to their former home. Luckily, as they rebuild their lives, they have some help adjusting to their new house: an AI home system named Cassandra that helps with cooking, cleaning, and...

Netflix's Cassandra highlights some strong performances from its ensemble cast led by Lavinia Wilson, Mina Tander, and Michael Klammer. 

The new science fiction thriller movie revolves around the story of a family who moved into the oldest smart home in Germany. While they are thrilled with their new home, things start to take a drastic turn after its built-in AI helper starts to take over. 

Cassandra premiered on Netflix on February 6. 

Read full article on The Direct.

The safe space of a home turns into a battleground for psychological warfare in this tense German sci-fi thriller, reaching a fiery inferno in the finale where the past is fully unveiled. Netflix'sCassandra has been split between the past and present throughout its eight episodes, following the titular character's (Lavinia Wilson) human life and her tyrannical reign over a new family as a robot and home system. However, the past is represented in a non-linear way, jumping between years and milestones in Cassandra's life, making it a bit disorienting to piece together a timeline. Meanwhile, in the present, the Prill family are entrapped by her robotic version's manipulative ways, where Samira (Mina Tander) is locked up in a psychiatric facility while her family is imprisoned in their house.

The mystery and the tension in Cassandra, the new Netflix series, are given life by the diverse characters who come with their own varied motivations and energies. The monstrous robot, the female in crisis, and the emasculated men all find a thematic space in the series. In Cassandra, the children too have definite and considerable importance in the narrative. The film’s approach at world-building, one retro and the other modern, is an ambitious endeavor. The cast does a smooth job of presenting both worlds as convincing realities. In this article, we will acquaint ourselves with the cast of Cassandra and contemplate a little over what their characters bring to the narrative.

Lavinia Wilson as Cassandra

Cassandra, the AI system on a supposed murder spree, is made even more threatening by German actress Lavinia Wilson. Cassandra’s monotone robotic pitch, her thin arching eyebrows, and her pale skin establish her as the female monster,...

Apple Cider Vinegar is now streaming – Picture: Netflix

Buoyed by a busy start to the month with 38 new movies and series dropping, this week turned out to be very active for new releases. A total of 70 brand-new movies, games, and series debuted over the past week, with even more scheduled to arrive over the weekend. Below, we’ll highlight three titles that should be on your watch list, provide the full list of new additions, and check in on what’s been topping the TV and movie charts over the past week.

At least five new releases are also scheduled to drop over the weekend. The two significant movies on the way are Uncle Drew (2018) and Spencer (2021), the latter of which we just featured on our Best Movies of February 2025 list. You can find the complete list of everything coming up on Netflix throughout the rest of February 2025 here.

What...

Picture: Apple Cider Vinegar is now available to stream on Netflix UK

It’s a busy start to February on Netflix UK with 56 new additions to the library, including more legacy content from the WWE.

First of all, here are the week’s top highlights:

Apple Cider Vinegar (Limited Series) N

Episodes: 6

Genre: Drama | Runtime: 60 Minutes

Cast: Kaitlyn Dever, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Aisha Dee, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Ashley Zukerman,

Kaitlyn Dever previously wowed audiences for her performance in Unbelievable and will star in the upcoming second season of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us.

Belle and Milla, two young women scammed the world into thinking their wellness remedies were cures for deadly illnesses, but as the lies began to catch up with them, their lives began to unravel.

Cassandra (Limited Series) N

Episodes: 6

Genre: Drama | Runtime: 50 Minutes

Cast: Lavinia Wilson, Mina Tander, Michael Klammer, Franz Hartwig, Joshua Kantara

Given the...

"You have no place here anymore." Netflix has revealed the full trailer for Cassandra, a sci-fi series from Germany streaming on Netflix in February. Yet another of these series about Artificial Intelligence helpers at home who go haywire. It's a popular topic because obviously it's a "zeitgeist" concept for entertainment. Germany's oldest smart home awakens its AI helper Cassandra after decades when a new family moves in. Cassandra, determined never to be abandoned again, manipulates events to become part of the family. She fancies herself as much more than a fairy godmother who keeps everything in order. Cassandra sees herself as an equal member of the family and does everything she can not to be left alone again – with all the means at her disposal. "Originally created to serve, now fighting to stay." Starring Lavinia Wilson as Cassandra, along with Mina Tander, Michael Klammer, Franz Hartwig, Mary Tölle, Joshua Kantara,...

As Netflix is expanding its library of German projects, one of the most exciting upcoming titles is ‘Cassandra.’ This sci-fi series tells the story of a family moving into a high-tech smart home with a dark past—its previous residents died under strange circumstances. Surely the house’s lonely robot isn’t involved… or is it?

Announced in September 2023, the series is written and directed by Benjamin Gutsche and produced by Eva Stadler and Christian Becker with Rat Pack Film. Amara Palacios is the executive producer, with J. Moritz Kaethner handling the cinematography.

Netflix recently announced that the show will be released on February 6, 2025, with a new teaser for the show:

The official synopsis for the show states the following:

The oldest smart home in Germany has been empty since the owners died under mysterious circumstances over 50 years ago. When Samira moves in with her family today, the electronic household...

Confirming Germany’s importance as a growth market, Netfix on Wednesday announced 17 new and returning shows and movies produced by some of the country’s leading producers, including docuseries “Kaulitz & Kaulitz,” about the Tokio Hotel popstar siblings, and sci-fi drama “Cassandra,” about an overzealous electronic household helper.

Netflix presented 17 feature films, series, documentaries and reality shows at a special event in Berlin.

“We have seen again and again how local stories can captivate viewers here and around the world,” said Katja Hofem, Netflix’s VP of content for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “We aim to continue this successful journey together with our partners, sharing a common goal of creating exceptional entertainment that moves and inspires people.”

Produced by Constantin Entertainment and premiering in June, “Kaulitz & Kaulitz” accompanies Tokio Hotel frontmen Bill and Tom Kaulitz, twin brothers from Magdeburg, Germany, on tour with their band and in their new home in Hollywood.

After kicking off with a feisty press conference, the Berlin Film Festival got even more political as three groups of protesters descended on Potsdamer Platz before the start of opening night festivities.

The first saw around 50 members of the film industry walk the red carpet holding hands. The demonstrators then turned on their phone flashlights and chanted “defend democracy!” while the same phrase was displayed on the Palast’s big screen. The red carpet’s music was turned off for the occasion, and the demonstrators wore pins stating “movies unite, hate divides.” Berlinale organizers had planned this demonstration to highlight their decision to disinvite members of the far-right political party AfD.

Among the talent was Jonathan Berlin, Meret Becker, Luisa Gaffron, Pegah Ferydoni, Roshanak Khodabakhsh Anne Leppin, Jannis Niewöhner, Murali Perumal, Katja Riemann, Lavinia Wilson and Jessica Schwarz.

A group of demonstrators at Berlin Film Festival chant “defend democracy” ahead of tonight’s opening ceremony.

Pictures: Netflix – Illustration by What’s on Netflix

It’s time for another slate preview, and today we’ll look through all the upcoming German-language movies and series we know are in development at Netflix for release in 2024 and beyond.

2023 was a big year for new German-language Netflix Originals, with a dozen releases in total. Dear Child was perhaps the biggest, spending six weeks in the global top 10s in total. As a reminder, all the new German titles included:

1899 (Multilingual) Big Mäck: Gangsters and Gold Blood & Gold Cyberbunker: The Criminal Underworld Dear Child Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate Hard Feelings Making All Quiet on the Western Front Paradise Sleeping Dog Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom Too Hot to Handle: Germany Woman of the Dead

This list is everything currently announced and Netflix De (or Netflix Europe) has yet to put out an...

Picture Tree Intl. has picked up global sales rights to “Gina” (working title), by Ulrike Kofler, which follows her Netflix debut “What We Wanted.”

“Gina” tells the story of a 9-year-old girl longing for a home and family while having to take care of her younger siblings and mother, who is too overwhelmed to take care of herself, let alone her children.

The film, produced by Film Ag, is the second feature by Kofler, who is a long-time editor for Austrian director Marie Kreutzer. Kofler’s editing work includes “Corsage,” which won best film at the London Film Festival and three nominations for the European Film Awards in 2022, “The Ground Beneath My Feet”, and Josef Hader’s “Wild Mouse”.

Kolfer’s directorial debut “What We Wanted,” starring Elyas M’Barek and Lavinia Wilson, was sold by Pti exclusively to Netflix, and was Austria’s official entry for the Academy Awards in...

Picture Tree Intl. has taken global sales rights for “The Peacock” by Lutz Heineking Jr. The black comedy is based on the best-selling novel of the same title by German author Isabel Bogdan, which has been published in key European territories. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below).

The film’s cast is filled with German stars including Lavinia Wilson, Tom Schilling, David Kross and Jürgen Vogel. Tobis Film releases the film in Germany on March 9.

When investment banker Linda Bachmann and her team arrive at the country estate of Lord and Lady McIntosh for a team building seminar, the prospects for having a relaxing weekend in Scotland are not good: the annual balance sheet is lousy, the team is keeping a suspicious eye on each other and their boss, and there are rumors that a compliance officer will soon be restructuring the department.

To make matters worse,...

Spanish Horror

Two of Spain’s highest-profile upcoming horror titles got release dates and trailers today, David Casademunt’s “El páramo” (formerly “La bestia”) at Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s horror anthology “Historias para no dormir.”

“El páramo” is the highly anticipated feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker Casademunt, and boasts a small yet star-filled cast including Inma Cuesta (“The Bride”), Roberto Álamo (“The Skin I Live In”) and Asier Flores (“Pain and Glory”). The film is set in an isolated cabin where a family of three are visited by a terrible monster which threatens the ties that bind them. It will world premiere on Oct. 11 at the Sitges Film Festival and hit Netflix worldwide on Jan. 26, 2022. Rodar y Rodar produces.

Amazon Prime Video and Spanish broadcaster Rtve’s reboot of Chicho Ibáñez Serrador’s legendary Spanish horror anthology series “Historias para no dormir” will hit the streaming platform on Nov.

While the Academy has not yet released the full official list, these are the films Variety has learned have been submitted by various countries in the international film race. The shortlist will be announced Feb. 9 and the nominations on March 15. The Academy Awards ceremony takes place on April 25.

Albania Open Door

Director: Florenc Papas

Key Cast: Luli Bitri, Jonida Vokshi, Gulielm Radoja

Logline: Pregnant woman and her sister try to find a man to pretend to be the mom-to-be’s husband before visiting their traditional father.

Prodco: Bunker Film Plus

Algeria Héliopolis

Director: Djaâfar Gacem

Key cast: Souhila Mallem, Mehdi

Ramdani, Cesar Duminil

Logline: Algerians fight for independence punctuated by the 1945 massacre in the ancient city of Héliopolis.

Prodco: Centre Algérien de Développement du Cinéma

Argentina The Sleepwalkers

Director: Paula Hernández

Key Cast: Érica Rivas, Ornella D’elía, Marilu Marini, Daniel Hendler

Logline: A family drama encompasses the sexual awakening...

Do married couples in the movies ever go on vacation just for the hell and fun of it? Or is it always to get away from something, to cover over an absence, to shorten a yawning distance between them? Alice and Niklas, the Viennese pair at the center of “What We Wanted,” aren’t about to break with tradition. Coolly attractive and comfortably off, they nonetheless arrive at a Sardinian beachside resort under a low cloud of depression and discontent: They’re in their early forties, their latest attempt at in vitro fertilization has just failed, and they’re staring down the future of a marriage they don’t know how to complete, if not with an elusive and long-desired child. Austrian writer-director Ulrike Kofler’s debut feature follows in a long tradition of marital dramas negotiating this particular impasse or turning point, and it’s a handsome, sensitive entry...

For a season filled with espionage and hallucinations, stuffed animals and imminent computer technology, secret photographs and veiled assassination attempts, the lasting moment of “Deutschland 89” might just be someone reacting to something on TV.

After two full seasons (2015’s “Deutschland 83” and 2018’s “Deutschland 86”) tracking its individual players in a logistical and ideological struggle for the heart of Berlin, this latest opening episode tracks the events of early November 1989, culminating in the free movement of East German residents into West Germany and the dismantling of the wall dividing the two halves of the city.

Beginning “Deutschland 89” at this ending is an early signal that much like “Deutschland 86,” this is a season that won’t simply continue in the vein of its predecessors. Many of the central players may be the same, but this third collection of episodes sees them all vying for a different kind of...

"We deserve a nice life, too." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for an Austrian indie drama titled What We Wanted, the feature directorial debut of Austrian filmmaker Ulrike Kofler. This intimate, emotional story is about a couple that is struggling to conceive despite trying multiple times. Alice, played by Lavinia Wilson, and Niklas, played by Elyas M'Barek, are a couple who's biggest wish is to have a child of their own. After several failed attempts they decide to go on a holiday to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia to clear their minds. There they meet a family from Austria that seems to have everything they ever wished for. But appearances can be deceiving... Which usually means they'll discover they have plenty of problems as well, since we like to look at others who have what we want as perfect, but that's not true. It also stars Anna Unterberger, Lukas Spisser,...

Deutschland 83 debuted on Sundance in 2015, right in the middle of the run of The Americans, a couple of months after the end of that show’s third season. The story of an East German soldier recruited to go undercover in the West German military, it functioned as a tense and lively parallel narrative to what Philip and Elizabeth Jennings were doing back in the States.

The Americans concluded earlier this year, which makes the belated sequel to the other series, now called Deutschland 86, particularly welcome. The two shows...

Kayti Burt Oct 25, 2018

Everything you need to know about Deutschland 86, the sequel series to Sundance TV's German spy thriller Deutschland 83...

If you've yet to watch Deutschland 83, the Peabody Award-winning German TV series about an East German 24-year-old kid who gets sent to West Germany in 1983 as a spy, then you need to stop what you are doing right now and check it out on Hulu where all eight episodes are currently available. The historial thriller is one part The Americans, one part Atomic Blonde, and all parts awesome.

Now is the perfect time to catch up, as well, given that Sundance TV, who co-produces the series with Rtl Television, has a 10-episode sequel series, called Deutschland 86, premiering tonight. The second season of the spy drama filmed in South Africa and Berlin last year. As you might expect from the title, Deutschland 86 will pick up three years...

Jodorowsky actor directorial debut to be presented at new co-production event; Reygadas curates for Filmfest Hamburg.

Argentinian actor Leandro Taub’s directorial debut The Dream of the Guest and Slovenian filmmaker Jan Cvitkovic’s new feature film Mercedes Fire Horse are among the projects to be presented at a new co-production event, the Matchbox Coproduction Lounge, during this year’s Oldenburg International Film Festival (Sept 14-18).

Matchbox’s inaugural edition will also present Buddy Giovinazzo’s Potsdamer Platz which had been the last project, which the late Tony Scott had optioned to direct.

Taub, who was a lead actor in veteran Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Cannes competition film Endless Poetry this year, wrote the screenplay for the comedy drama which centres on how a family’s life changes dramatically when a special guest, claiming to be building a space ship, moves into their home to “confront them” with his strong belief in the possibility of the...

Shweta Agarwal is ready to hit the big screen once again in Vikram Bhatt's Shaapit but would the cute chubby girl from TV's Dekho Magar Pyar Se be prepared to be a full-on scream queen running away in shredded clothes? "As of now, I haven't given a thought to it, but I have no qualms doing steamy sequences if the script demands," she says, "While signing the film, the script did not matter to me, as it had come from Vikram Bhatt. He is at his best whilst making a horror film."

The popular TV actress has previously appeared in the Tollywood movie Raghavendra with Prabhas and the Indo-Swiss movie Tandoori Love with Swiss actress Lavinia Wilson, which received good critical reviews at the Kolkata Film Festival and she even appeared in a Turkish movie.

How are things going for the young actress as she gets ready to break into Bollywood?...

Locarno International Film Festival

LOCARNO, Switzerland -- The momentary distraction of a stolen kiss causes a train wreck in Austrian director Peter Payer's haunting drama Free to Leave, (Freigesprochen), which explores the impact such guilt has on the individuals concerned. Clear-eyed but compassionate, the film has an eerie quality that derives from the notion that almost anyone could be in a similar situation that dramatically changes the lives of so many people. Screened in Competition at Locarno, it's an intelligent drama that should travel beyond German-speaking territories and possibly invite an English-language version.

Based on a play titled Judgment Day by Odon von Horvath, Free to Leave begins with a body falling from a bridge to hard frozen ground. Time shifts immediately to the bustle of a small town with people anxious because a strike by transport workers is affecting the train timetable.

Ferdinand (Robert Stadlober) decides to take a later slow train in order to spend extra time in bed with his sweetheart Anna (Lavinia Wilson). Thomas (Frank Giering), however, spurns the attentions of his older wife, Hanni (Corinna Harfouch) as he must get to work promptly because his day will be hectic overseeing all the railway traffic signals. His best friend Josef (Alfred Dorfer) is off on his usual morning milk round.

Having seen her boyfriend off at the station, Anna stops into the control office to see Thomas, who's like an older brother to her although she likes to flirt with him. Larking about, she spontaneously kisses him, taking his attention away from the control board. In that fleeting moment, a signal is missed, a railway barrier is not lowered and an express train powers into Josef's milk truck. In the derailment, 22 people including Josef are killed and scores more seriously injured.

The film explores the shattering impact of such an event less on the hurt and bereaved than on the ones responsible. Thomas and Anna are drawn together even as their relationship with others begins to fragment. It's unremitting stuff and Payer handles it with insight, demonstrating impressive cinematic technique.

Giering unerringly conveys his character's draining self-worth while Wilson portrays a woman spinning giddily out of control. Harfouch contributes a convincing portrayal of a woman trying staunchly to absorb the horrifying outcome of her husband's waywardness.

The wintry landscape well captured by cinematographer Andreas Berger and a poignant score by Andre Mergenthaler and Walter Cikan help deepen the film's despairing mood.

FREE TO LEAVE

Lotus Films, Iris Productions

Credits:

Director: Peter Payer

Writer: Peter Payer

Based on the play by: Odon von Horvath

Producers: Erich Lackner, Nicolas Steil

Director of photography: Andreas Berger

Production designers: Elisabeth Klobassa, Christina Schaffer

Music: Andre Mergenthaler, Walter Cikan

Costume designer: Uli Simon

Editor: Cordula Werner

Cast:

Thomas: Frank Giering

Anna: Lavinia Wilson

Hanni: Corinna Harfouch

Ferdinand: Robert Stadlober

Josef: Alfred Dorfer

Anna's father: Thierry van Werveke

Running time -- 96 minutes

No MPAA rating...

Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- Where Martin Scorsese's ruthless examination of events leading up to an act of unspeakable violence in "Taxi Driver" was a feverish dream about alienation and rage, Dito Tsintsadze's "Gun-shy", which similarly puts a disaffected man on a collision course with murder, is a poetic and oftentimes surreal tale layered with dry wit. Each film perhaps reflects the temperament of its maker and the tenor of troubled yet different times.

"Gun-shy" is clearly not a film for everyone, and its German language probably consigns it to the festival circuit outside Europe. Yet the film will resonate with those willing to venture into a dangerous realm, where filmmakers mix irony and humor with things that are terrible.

Seemingly, many of the film's characters understand that its young protagonist, Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs), will commit a crime before he does. For his part, Lukas is gun-shy, a youth performing community service -- delivering hot meals to the elderly -- in lieu of military service. A pretty woman on a streetcar, Isabella (Lavinia Wilson), slips him a note that reads "Help me!" He follows her. What looks like a sexual come-on gradually turns out to be a plea for help by a woman in an abusive relationship with an older lecturer in, of all things, self help.

Lukas' seemingly innocent nocturnal activities draw the attention of a police detective and wind up involving an aging prostitute, an old soldier and a Turkish arms dealer. While Lukas is an alienated and disconnected individual in a new city, he is nevertheless compassionate, which leads to his downfall.

Manuel Mack's atmospheric cinematography and Thilo Mengler's production design details turn "Gun-shy" into a moody, existential thriller certain to provoke myriad responses from audiences.

Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- Where Martin Scorsese's ruthless examination of events leading up to an act of unspeakable violence in "Taxi Driver" was a feverish dream about alienation and rage, Dito Tsintsadze's "Gun-shy", which similarly puts a disaffected man on a collision course with murder, is a poetic and oftentimes surreal tale layered with dry wit. Each film perhaps reflects the temperament of its maker and the tenor of troubled yet different times.

"Gun-shy" is clearly not a film for everyone, and its German language probably consigns it to the festival circuit outside Europe. Yet the film will resonate with those willing to venture into a dangerous realm, where filmmakers mix irony and humor with things that are terrible.

Seemingly, many of the film's characters understand that its young protagonist, Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs), will commit a crime before he does. For his part, Lukas is gun-shy, a youth performing community service -- delivering hot meals to the elderly -- in lieu of military service. A pretty woman on a streetcar, Isabella (Lavinia Wilson), slips him a note that reads "Help me!" He follows her. What looks like a sexual come-on gradually turns out to be a plea for help by a woman in an abusive relationship with an older lecturer in, of all things, self help.

Lukas' seemingly innocent nocturnal activities draw the attention of a police detective and wind up involving an aging prostitute, an old soldier and a Turkish arms dealer. While Lukas is an alienated and disconnected individual in a new city, he is nevertheless compassionate, which leads to his downfall.

Manuel Mack's atmospheric cinematography and Thilo Mengler's production design details turn "Gun-shy" into a moody, existential thriller certain to provoke myriad responses from audiences.