Wintersleepers (1997)

Overrated and overhyped

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Definitely not the worst film from the 90s, but it just seems that the one and primary goal of Tykwer was to fill his effort with as much artsiness and stylish camera-work as possible. Making a cohesive and believable plot was supposedly the last of his intentions. The characters in WS are too dumb and under-developed, delivering some brain-dead lines rarely heard in the dumbest horror flicks (as the one about "maybe it's better to live only 3 years", which was said by a character sitting near the 10-years old girl who had just died). Or another artsy moment of bewitching emptiness, when the blonde stopped on her way to the granny's funeral and started to urinate on the roadside with some grief on her face. Also, all these multiple coincidences in the end didn't make any good to the film.Anyway, the setting is quite beautiful and it lends some charm to this lame story. Hence 2,5/5. At least.

The cinematography and art direction of this film were absolutely gorgeous, but a series of "stuff that happened" doesn't constitute a plot. If anything, this film did an excellent job of making me think, "This is just about to pick up and really go somewhere for about two hours straight." It wasn't until the credits rolled that I shrugged and said, "Okay, when is this going to pick up and go somewhere?"All this talk of fate is garbage. If you're a film student who likes to look down your nose at people who expect a beginning, middle, and end to their movies or for a character's actions to be motivated by any kind of logic, fell free to check this out and cluck at those who point out all the flaws for "not getting it." If you're a fan of good movies, check out Tykwer's Heaven or Lola Rennt.

the German response to the french new wave. hardly! this movie follows the true lineage of main stream German cinema, in that while exploring human relationships and human drama it does not get too existentialist about it. the characters and story is grounded in reality and has a little bit of action, a la German TV detective shows, to quicken the pulse. the story is about two women sharing a house somewhere in the German mountains/alps. one of them is in a destructive yet highly sexual relationship with a ski instructor. the other mops around feeling lonely and meets an intriguing new stranger. the ski instructor is well defined in that while he is a cad and cheats prolificly on his girlfriend, he is not too one dimensional. the feeling one gets about him is that he is young and full of his strength and sexuality. although, there are scenes where in typical new wave backlash to the immancipation of the German male, he sits back and picks lint out of his navel while ordering his "woman" around. as in get the coffee, biatch. not to spoil the story, but he gets his just reward in the end. the mysterious stranger who becomes a seemingly rewarding boyfriend for the other female lead is less well defined. he is weird and i kept thinking now he will be a junkie or a serial killer, but he just gets amnesia. although he does steal a car in the beginning with disastrous results for a local farmer, which is one of the plot tangents which is meant to evoke universal human suffering empathy. the two lead females are humdrum boring and seem to get along well, while searching for a good man. personally, a good dog and more masturbation, is what i would recommend to them. the movie also features some good cinematography, especially the shot in the end of the blonde girl in the red sweater, smoking a cigarette, as she looks out of the frosty window at the cloud draped mountains. all in all, twyker delivers an entertaining film, which is perfect for a Saturday afternoon after a heavy meal, when heavy thoughts and philosophies are best avoided. might i also recommend taking your buxom (if your'e lucky) girl toy ;) to this movie in a dark theatre. geocities.c*m/free_love98

I've seen a lot of films. And I'm drawn to this genre, usually. But this film was dull and torturous and definitely not innovative. The characters were each very unbelievable. Realizing I'm in the minority on this one, to the other reviewers, I'm glad it gave you some pleasure. I won't try to change your taste in movies. However, if you're over thirty, and understand the concept of needing to 'like' or identify with at least one character in a film to be moved by it, good luck. Don't say I didn't warn you. PS - one of the biggest DVD disappointments this year.CH 2/5