Hagazussa
This 2017 folk horror takes place in the 15th century Alps and has the dialect to go with it. Most of the cast are not typically film or TV actors, with few having credits outside…
Die dritte Generation
This 1979 crime drama, directed by the controversial Rainer Werner Fassbinder, focuses on capitalist gain during times of political uncertainty. As a contemporary of Werner Herzog, Fassbinder was also known to have deep concepts as…
Emmas Glück
This 2006 drama romance features well-known German actor Jürgen Vogel. He really hasn’t slowed down since the mid-1980s! The female lead is played by Jördis Triebel. You may recognize her from Babylon Berlin or Dark,…
Der geilste Tag
This 2016 drama-comedy features favourite actors Matthias Schweighöfer, Florian David Fitz, and Alexandra Maria Lara. This is a medical drama where we meet terminally ill patients who, through their differences, decide to have the best…
Kaspar Hauser
This 1993 film adaptation of the famous historical drama/mystery stays well to the original story. Perhaps the most recognisable faces are Uwe Ochsenknecht and Katharina Thalbach. We also see Udo Samel (Mein bester Feind, Die…
Die Geschichte von Brandner Kaspar
This 2008 drama-comedy stars well-known Michael “Bully” Herbig as Boandlkramer (Death). We follow a 70 year old as he begins seeing Death and how he handles interactions with him. Other familiar faces are Lisa Maria…
Club der roten Bänder – wie alles begann
This 2019 drama is a prequel to a TV series following a group of children who are sick in the hospital. Perhaps the most recognizable faces in this film are Tim Oliver Schultz, whom we’ve…
Das Jahr der ersten Küsse
This 2002 film is marketed as a drama comedy. There are pieces in the rom-com category, but in true German film nature, the drama pulls it back to reality. We know Max Mauff from Die…
Kidnapping Stella
This 2019 Netflix film is marketed as a crime-thriller and is rated TV-MA. The first person we see is Max von der Groeben, whom we may recognize from the Bibi und Tina series and the…
Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.
This 2014 social drama is available on Netflix. It covers the events of 1992 in Rostock, during which xenophobic riots attacked Vietnamese refugees. Using a variety of film art techniques, this film can be analyzed…
Driven Crazy
This 2020 film, currently available on Amazon Prime, is rated 16+ there. It would easily be rated R, were it to be rated in America. Robin Czerny is a face we may recognize from Kokowääh…
Krabat
Taking place during the 30 years war in Germany, this 2008 Thriller starring Daniel Brühl is a German remake of a Czechoslovakian film from 1978, where a boy learns of the dark arts from a…
Steiner – Das eiserne Kreuz, 2. Teil
Although this 1979 film is originally in German, English, and French, carries an original German title, was produced in West Germany, and stars several German speaking actors, it is obvious with the dubbing quality that…
Der Untergang
This 2004 film starring Bruno Ganz shows the final days of Hitler as reported by his last secretary. It is important to remember the 1955 film, Der letzte Akt, which also used Traudl Junge as…
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
This 1997 Til Schweiger film is billed as a criminal comedy, but could just as easily be labeled a drama-comedy. It centers around two terminally ill men and the choices they make before they die.…
Das Boot
The story of life in an U-Boot during the war, this 1981 film explores the psyche and trials of the men serving their country under the sea. Giving a different view of the war from…
Die Nibelungen (Siegfried; Kriemhilds Rache)
These Fritz Lang films from 1924 follow the famous stories of Siegfried, beginning with the sword that he forged to slay the dragon. The actor playing King Etzel in Kriemhilds Rache probably goes down in…
Die Fälscher
Based on Operation Bernhard, this 2007 war film with August Diehl and Karl Markovichs is the story of a Jewish man whose skills in counterfeiting become well known among the Nazis. This film shows various…
Lore
This 2012 WWII film focuses on the survival of children and the struggles they must go through to make it happen. The truths of the war are slowly becoming clear to them as they travel.…
Das Leben der Anderen
This 2006 film is based on the lives the Stasi watch – and of course, the lives of the Stasi members themselves. East German actor Ulrich Mühe plays our Stasi main character. Mühe died the…
Jetzt oder nie – Zeit ist Geld
Jetzt oder nie: Zeit ist Geld, otherwise known to my students as “old ladies robbing banks,” is a drama-comedy released in 2000. There are serious dramatic points – the senior citizens needing money to accomplish…
Honig im Kopf
Haven’t gotten enough Til Schweiger posts yet? Good, because here’s another. And this one also features his daughter, Emma, and son Valentin (credited here as Florian) plays a bit part as well. In fact, Til…