The Films of Götz Spielmann

The Neighbor

The Stranger

Spiel im Morgengrauen

Antares

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Revanche

Oktober November (July 9/17)

An almost prototypically slow and uninvolving European drama, Oktober November follows famous German actress Sonja (Nora von Waldstätten) as she returns home to visit with her sister (Ursula Strauss' Verena) and ailing father (Peter Simonischek's Vater) - with the reunion ultimately bringing a whole host of family secrets bubbling to the surface. Writer/director Götz Spielmann delivers an encouraging opening stretch that revolves almost entirely around Sonja's exploits, with the filmmaker detailing the character's day-to-day minutia as she shoots her latest picture - thus ensuring that Oktober November, at the outset, comes off as an unexpectedly intriguing behind-the-scenes glimpse at a successful performer's existence (eg Sonja meets a costar for dinner, Sonja asks her director for another take, Sonja attempts to rebuff a married paramour, etc). And although Sonja's initial arrival at the aforementioned family home holds some promise, Oktober November, past that point, begins a slow but steady descent into irrelevance that only grows more and more problematic as time passes - with Spielmann offering up a midsection that's almost entirely lacking in any real instances of dramatic heft. The pervasively uneventful vibe is compounded by a pace that couldn't possibly be more deliberate, and it is, as a result, increasingly difficult to work up any interest in or sympathy for the characters' various problems - which, in the end, confirms Oktober November's place as an earnest yet wholly ineffective piece of work.