Night Shapes
(Nachtgestalten)
Screening on Film
Directed by Andreas Dresen.
With Dominique Horwitz, Michael Gwisdek, Meriam Abbas.
Germany, 1998, 35mm, color, 104 min.
German with English subtitles.
With Dominique Horwitz, Michael Gwisdek, Meriam Abbas.
Germany, 1998, 35mm, color, 104 min.
German with English subtitles.
This bitter, hard-edged comedy set in contemporary Berlin weaves together three stories over the course of one night during the Pope’s visit to the German capital. A homeless couple tries to find a hotel room in the overbooked city; an office clerk is carjacked as he helps a newly arrived Angolan youth find an address; a provincial farmer spends the night with a young prostitute and tries unsuccessfully to save her. Reminiscent of Scorcese’s After Hours, Andreas Dresen’s Night Shapes is nonetheless much darker in tone. Against the backdrop of the papal visit, we see the darker side of the country’s utopian aspirations as we mingle with the city’s various "night creatures," for whom there is little salvation.