User reviews

In the light of Faith Akin's 2004 'Gegen die Wand', 'Kurz und Schmerzlos' is relatively The most impressive point of the movie is the grim poverty which penetrates into the close friendship between Gabriel, Costa, and Bobby. Even though these three members of the Greco-Turkish-Serbian gang have sufficient amount of goodwill and mutual respect for, their inferiority complexes, combined with poverty, have detrimental effects on all of them.

Bobby, hungry for more street respect, starts to work for an Albanian mafioso, and Costa joins his friend reluctantly as an experienced car thief. Gabriel, fresh from jail, tries to stop his two best buddies from joining the thugs. When Gabriel attempts this in his street-smart way, however, he further pushes his two buddies into the hands of the mafia.

As Faith Akin recently reconfirmed with his 2004 movie 'Gegen die Wand', the Turco-German director applies his knowledge about marginal immigrant societies in Germany to his movies. The result is a fascinating, modestly grim, and interesting movies which continue to bring Akin worldwide acclaim and admiration.

There are German films that aren't relationship comedies or delve into recent history. This film is a gangster melodrama, set in the Turkish community of Hamburg Altona. We care about the fates of the colourful, not-always-do-goods, emphasise with their struggle against the life they live. KURZ UND SCHMERZLOS manages to reach a rare quality: it feels "real".

It is truly a shame that this film was overshadowed by the overhyped Lola Rennt. I really enjoyed this film, which has a grit to it that can only be present with realistic characters. Watching this film, it was easy to identify with the characters, whose feelings and emotions are real (unlike many a Hollywood flick).

Ralf Herforth is convincing as the Albanian gangster Muhamer, and the other unknown actors do a great job portraying their characters.

Kurz Und Schmerzloz (or Short, Sharp Shock for the English title) from the Turkish writer/director Fatih Akin is a German drama that takes place in Altona, a well known neighbourhood of Hamburg, the westernmost urban borough to be more precise. I've been there several times so I recognized some places which is always enjoyable. The story was also recognizable at times, reminded me my youth years when friendship was the most important thing in the world. It's an interesting drama, easy to follow, and well acted. All foreign and unknown actors to me but they were all very convincing. It's not a high budget movie but it's well made, which proves that you don't always have to have a high budget to make a good movie.

Why this movie was a failure at the German box-office will always be a mystery to me. Fatih Akin, the director, was obviously influenced by Martin Scorsese's and Brian DePalma's first movies but he didn't try to imitate them. Instead he made one of the first movies which truly celebrates the 'Multikulti'-society that Germany has become (At least in the larger cities).

You can't help but like the Turkish, Serbian and Greek protagonists albeit they are criminals. The characters are far too alive and three-dimensional to be seen as stereotypes/cliches thrown in to reinforce prejudices.

To me, KURZ UND SCHMERZLOS was the best German movie of 1998 (Even better than LOLA RENNT) and I recommend it to anyone who likes MEAN STREETS, Matthieu Kassovitz' LA HAINE or the films of Lars Becker. 9 out of 10.

I don't think skinheads will love it -- the protagonist is a Turk. There are some unrealistic things in the movie (e.g. when Costas says Gabriel's sister -- who just left Costas -- "is a bitch" and Gabriel nearly does nothing, though it should have indignated his family's honour), but in the whole it is a good study of the milieu. I found my opinion shared by many young immigrants (Turkish, Libanese, Arabian).

"Kurz und schmerzlos" means as much as "quickly and smoothly" and is a German underground drama by young Turkish film maker Fatih Akin. Shot in the suburbs and industrial area of Hamburg, Akin's home town, it was a big hit in German repertory cinemas in 1999.

The film shows the life and fate of three young foreigners - Turk Gabriel, Greek Costa and Serb Bobby, all of them dreaming of love and money in the bleak surroundings of social welfare, crimes, industry, unemployment and cultural minorities. Of course it won't take long until the friendship of the three outsiders is about to break apart when Gabriel becomes a henchman for a local gangster boss, and a journey through violence and despair begins for all three of them...

There are no special effects, no visual games, there is just pure "adrenaline acting" - except for Ralf Herforth ("Knocking on Heaven's Door") as gangster boss Muhamer, all actors are unknown newcomers, but with a great impact and brilliant performances. There is much realistic violence in it than can be felt in every second, and you really need to watch out for some contemporary American or Japanese underground stuff to find something similar. And the sound track is very good, too.

But the movie shows also the social milieu and the problems of national minorities in a Western country like in the works of British film maker Hanif Kureishi ("My Beautiful Laundrette"). Watch out for this example for great contemporary German cinema, and although "Kurz und schmerzlos" avoids all the visual styling of "Lola rennt", it has the same impact and power like that international box office hit!

The best German movie I have ever watched as it is very realistic. It brings back memories, as I too was a member of a three-guys gang. After moving to Jordan and then coming back to Germany after 2 years, I too was out of all the trouble and wanted to stay out of it. This movie reflects my life. Not 100%, but the friendship between me and my friends is portrayed as if I was looking into a mirror.

Don't know why somebody wrote this ridiculous Nazi AND Porno thing, but most definitely he hasn't seen or understood the movie. Great actors, intriguing story, great soundtrack. Haven't seen anybody ( including my turkish buddies ) who didn't love this movie.

the movie is about a turkish guy who gets out of prison and sees himself tangled up in the same situations that he lived before, with his best friends stealing and dealing, only this time he himself has changed and has a very differentiated view of the daily crime and violence.

the story unfolds with an interesting plot always centering the 3 friends in their daily life and how suddenly their live changes quickly when things go more wrong than they ever did before.

a great job by the director. the pictures are beautiful at the same time very authentic. the story always feels real even though it has a lot of extreme situations in it. the characters move as they are depicted closely and without unnecessary sentiments.

overall an extremly entertaining movie that brings us close foreign cultures from right around the corner.

One of the best German movies period!

I grew up in Hamburg and went through similar things shown in this movie and I can relate to it better than to any other movie I've ever seen!

This movie is a drama about the street life in Hamburg, about three friends making decisions that will change their life forever! One coming out of prison and trying to grow up and leave the criminal life behind him, while his two best friends don't let him, as they struggle themselves to find the right way in or out of the criminal lifestyle.

If you like movies such as Mean Streets and La Haine, or if you are just interested to see the other side of Germany, then this movie is for you!

Faith Akin's best movie so far, better than Berlin-Winner Against the Wall. The story is really romantic: three guys with different ethnic roots are best friends and bestow meaning to each other's lives. They are very physical, they kiss and hug their friends and relatives, they live fast and they fight like primates. They have their dreams, their loves and most of all they are ridden by their idea of honor. This honor is very Mediterranean: it is flexible and spares one's ideals even if the deeds one must go through would ruin them. The guys love each other, fiercely, as if they were one person in three bodies. They also behave like one person: quarrels they have are presented as if being some inner wars of someone who is very sensitive and honest. This film, however, lacks all the syrupy sentimentalism we know from American equivalents. The guys are real flesh, their tears are salty and they don't feel sorry for themselves.

I was living in St. Pauli, Hamburg at the end of 1998 when this movie came to a cinema on the Reeperbahn. Then, one evening, I met Faith Akin and the main characters of the movie on this very street, and I congratulated them. I told them I had watched the movie three times already, which was not true, since I had only seen it twice, but decided to go and watch it for a third time, which I did, even though I had little money. But I had to watch this movie over and over again, because I had not expected to ever see anything similar from a Germany-born director. The direct, vital, unpretentious acting and the authenticity of the settings and the language were something that I could't get enough of. Ralph Herforth has never been so convincing. It is one of these movies that reveal new details every time you watch them. At times, the movie seems to become very "turkish" and even over-sentimental, at other times, it is just world-class, as for an example in the post-office scene with Costa and his "awakening". To me, this is maybe THE best movie of Faith Akin so far.

Look,how this film is bewitched. The best character is played by Ralph Herforth as Muhamer: (Wenn dir deine Freundin dumm kommt, hau ihr eine rein. Und jetzt iss.) The film has a perfect music score.

...everybody else will too. Apparently this film manages to unite people who otherwise have very little in common. The main actor, a Turk, won the price for best actor in Saloniki, Greece. BILD, Germany's biggest populistic and rather right wing oriented newspaper, applauds the movie and its makers, only to be joined by many other voices from any other political directions.

One of the strange - and good - things about this movie is to see all these foreign looking people talking perfect german, better german actually than many germans do. As Fatih Akin, the director and author puts it: These are the new germans, this is the new reality. He shows it using a very direct approach, letting his own friends play parts of their own lives.

There is a lot of crime and violence in the movie, but hey, this is Hamburg, a big city, with its load of urban problems like any other big city in the world. And if you really think about it: Two people die, but the story seems to be much more violent than most of these action things where dozens and more do the same. Because here, you feel like you know the people, they are not just somebody, during the course of the story you may start liking, but at least knowing them. This is what makes good story telling, in my opinion.

Because you watch the movie from the view of the main character -Gabriel. And one could easily ask him/herself why do all the foreigners doing illegal jobs. Anyway as a movie it has a good soundtrack with not-so-unfamiliar plot, but still enjoyable for watching

I found it by chance in my library. I nearly forgot it, since the time I taped it off from French ARTE channel. Yes, you can compare it with a Marty Scorcese - MEAN STREETS - like tale. Petty hoodlums in Germany, mostly from immigrant descent: Turkish, Serbian, most of them brutal, violent volks. It is not in the Quentin Tarantino style either, it refuses to copy the new fashion of this period, trying to imitate Tarantino's way of story telling or filming at all costs. It sounds very realistic, the acting more real than life. It grabs your attention and the characters, despite what they are, remain poignant, gripping. Excellent social crime film.