Mercy (2012)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

"Gnade" or "mercy" is a German movie from 3 years ago and the main characters are played by Birgit Minichmayr and Jürgen Vogel. Director Matthias Glasner and Vogel have worked on several projects in the past already, such as "Der freie Wille", in which Vogel's character is the one committing the crime. Here it is Minichmayr's character. And that movie is also very long, even longer than their collaboration here which still almost reaches the 135-minute mark. The screenplay comes from Kim Fupz Aakeson and was translated by Ulla Bay Kronenberger, who also worked on "The Door" for example. The consequence of Aakeson's involvement is that the is not only a Norwegian co-production, but includes a cast and crew that comes from Norway for the most part.The story is about a couple with a son and their marriage is really struggling. They left Germany for Norway and have (or have not) adapted to the lifestyle there in their very own ways. The woman is liked by her colleague and sacrifices her free time for overtime at the job, while her husband defines his way of integration by having an affair with a Norwegian woman. A tragic car accident changes everything for the two and actually lets them bond again and grow closer again. This film received a fair share of awards recognition, especially for lead actress and for the stunning cinematography in the Norwegian winter.I personally really liked Minichmayr and Vogel in here. I have not been too big on other Minichmayr performances, but she did win me over here somehow. A very authentic portrayal. The whole film is slow-moving and bleak, which is certainly not for everybody. But it is for me. Unfortunately, I cannot say I liked the ending too much. In my opinion, their choice of confessing the accident to the girls' parents wasn't a logical or reasonable development I expected. And honestly, the shots at the very end, after that confession had a fairly pretentious note to them and left a sour aftertaste after all the really good execution from the over 90 minutes hours before. I will agree that you could probably cut a couple less significant scenes and keep this film at 105 minutes, but it's also fine the way it actually turned out. It's not really dragging too much. As a whole, I enjoyed the watch and I recommend it.

Life is full of decisions we regret. So while the inciting incident in this case seems a bit stretched (considering who was involved and what the person did after it, held up against the job said character has and what that person is generally doing), it is only human. As is error of course and therefor this should be something you should be able to understand.The movie does not take the usual path in some cases (relationship between Vogels character and his wife and others who are interacting with those two) and you may feel a little but cheated in some situations. Overall the drama is not amplified or enhanced whatever the cost may be. You'll either find that a good strategy or weak. The location is a very big part of it all and it plays into the living and everything else in the movie. A drama that is more subtle that you might think, with great performances

I saw this film at the Berlinale film festival 2012, where it was part of the official Competition section. In the midwinter season with a continuous (night and day) 100% darkness in Hammerfest, a women runs over someone or something when driving home. Rather than leaving her car and going back to see whether someone needs help, she panics. At home she tells her husband, who returns to the spot in question to investigate. He finds no trace of what could have hit the car.It is not until the next day that they hear about a young girl who died due to a hit and run incident at the very same place, but no evidence was found to trace back who caused her fatal injury. From that moment on, events take their inevitable course and each subsequent step makes it more difficult to come forward. Moreover, a confession does not bring the girl back to life.This is where my synopsis stops. I want to prevent wasting an ingeniously constructed script, where all ingredients have their proper place. A handful of human elements and sub-plots are thrown in, though not making it overly complex to follow. An example of a human element is that we observe the woman when at work in a hospital, while terminally ill patients are taken care of. A smaller sub-plot is that we see the husband at work in a "gas factory", where he has a love affair with a colleague.A more important sub-plot (in light of the title) is that the son takes part in pestering an alleged gay schoolmate. It causes the latter to drop school prematurely. The son regrets his part in the bullying, and he visits the victim at home, in search for some form of "mercy". The confrontation does not work out as he would have wanted, however.Is it a drama or a thriller?? Or both?? On one hand it is a drama, because everyone tries to find the best way to cope with the situation, not necessarily the human or moral best thing to do, yet they struggle to find a way out. On the other hand it is also a thriller, because throughout the full 2 hours and 10 minutes you want to know what will happen next.The whole story spans from midwinter (100% darkness, night and day) to midsummer (the reverse), all of that located in Hammerfest, offering a colorful but harsh landscape. We knew of its existence but we never had the chance to see it with our own eyes. It forms a perfect location for the drama that we see developing. And there is the even-so perfect combination of human elements, a few sub-plots and a wonderful collection of actors. Finally, I sincerely hope that above text does not give away too much about the thriller elements, since the built-in surprises were also very important for my appreciation of this movie.

European (or at least German) cinema isn't exactly known for its genre blockbusters. Most of it are silly comedies or dead-serious dramas, often historical. These usually come across (to me) as pretentious and unauthentic, screaming to be taken seriously while mostly failing at visual storytelling.This movie seemed to fit right into that category. Surprisingly, it doesn't. While there were some moments in the movie where I thought it was a bit constructed, it felt very honest overall. It takes itself serious, but also its audience and medium. It is real cinema, gripping and atmospheric, but also not over-styled. Desipite it's substance matter it's not a talking-heads movie, but knows when to let the visuals and music talk for themselves.If you have seen the trailer, you probably already know a bit too much. On the other hand, the movie really isn't about any plot-twists or spectacular effects, and it thankfully avoids those and other clichés completely. It should be noted that it is rather slow-paced, and some plot-points are left open, but that's very likely all deliberate and very fitting. The only real complaint I have is the jarring Apple product placement. That was so out of place I wanted to throw up.One more thing: Note that the title is "Mercy". Some critics talk about forgiveness in relation to the story, but without spoiling anything, that is precisely NOT what it is about.