NEVER LOOK AWAY

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Germany, 188, R

Screenwriter: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Cast: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl, Oliver Masucci, Cai Cohrs.

 

In 2007, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others, a movie about informers in Communist East Germany, took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. His epic new film (also Germany’s official entry at the Oscars) opens in 1937, as a young boy named Kurt and his beloved Aunt Elisabeth attend the Nazi’s notorious “Degenerate Art” exhibit condemning modern artists. Soon after, he meets his lifelong nemesis: SS doctor Seeband (Sebastian Koch, of The Lives of Others) After the war as the Berlin Wall divides the country, Kurt grows up to become a painter (Tom Schilling), loosely based on Gerhard Richter, who falls in love with the daughter (Paula Beer) of the still-dangerous doctor. Thirty years of art, war, and love unfold in a film that reminds us to never look away from the past., no matter how painful.

“There is horror and beauty in this film, and sometimes both at the same time…” Peter Howell, Toronto Globe.