Snowflake (Schneeflöckchen)
In an anarchic near future Berlin with a new Hitler-like figure, Winter (Gedeon Burkhard), on the rise, Javid (Reza Brojerdi) and Tan (Erkan Acar) are arguing over their doner kebab. But although we see it first, this is their second scene in a doner kebab shop in a labyrinthian tale driven by Eliana's (Xenia Assenza) need to avenge the death of her parents and the mad dentist Arend Remmers' (Alexander Schubert) script which Javid and Tan find in their back seat. Remmers' words are controlling their destiny and will give them a guardian angel named "Snowflake."
Laura's Review: B
This gonzo German import from writer Arend Remmers (not actually a dentist, to the best of my knowledge) and directors Adolfo J. Kolmerer and William James is one wild, meta meta ride. Imagine "Smokin' Aces" crossed with "Pulp Fiction" as written by Charlie Kaufman and you'd be getting close, but even that doesn't take God eating raviolis from a can into account. At two hours, the film runs a little long, but Kolmerer and James have the sense to switch tone for their last lap, some sober minded philosophizing adding gravitas to the loony, witty mayhem. As befitting a film essentially about how revenge equals a never-ending cycle of violence, "Snowflake" is a circular tale, one which goes forwards and backwards with occasional steps to the side. The 'Doner Shop Part 2' which opens the film reveals two dead bodies and a chainsaw as well as that script, but we won't learn just what happened for quite some time. Suffice to say that Elli is paired with her bodyguard Carson (David Masterson), there are two Polish serial killer cannibals Dariusz (Antonio Wannek) and Bolek (Adrian Topol) who wear pig and chicken head masks and a couple of bounty hunters, Fumo (Eskindir Tesfay), who happens to be blind, and Rashid (Selam Tadese). A trip to the Highlands reveals that Carson's dad Caleb (David Gant) believes he's God and while Snowflake/Schneeflöckchen (Judith Hoersch) doesn't have a partner, she arrives on the scene around the same time as Hyper Electro Man (Mathis Landwehr). There's also an android. The film is full of sharp banter, visual gags and self aware goofery, not only commenting upon and rewriting itself as it goes along, but parodying filmmaking tropes and types. Javid and Tan often speak while the other is reading his words from Remmers' pages, the two sounding like bratty kids immitating one another. This darkly comic bloodbath can be enjoyed for its surface thrills or analyzed for deeper meaning - it genuinely works both ways. "Snowflake," or the vastly more appropriate German title "Schneeflöckchen," is destined for cult status. Grade:
