"Nimmermeer" or "Nevermore" or "Träume & Schatten" is a German live action movie and here we have the first full feature film by writer and director Toke Constantin Hebbeln. This film is from 2006, so it had its 10th anniversary last year already. It is a pretty short film as it barely makes it past the 1-hour mark, but it is okay I guess, not a problem at all. The problem, however, is that in my opinion the film never managed to deliver through anything except the atmospheric take which makes it basically an outcome with spectacular wrapping, but very little inside. A bit of drama, a bit of family, a bit of thriller, a bit of crime and probably also a bit of horror, but enough in terms of quality in any of these fields. The most known cast member is definitely Sylvester Groth who worked with Hebbeln on other projects too. Proxauf is also somewhat known today here in Germany thanks to his Oscar-nominated Haneke film, but back then he was still pretty much a nobody. In addition I would say that it's still an okay work if we take into account it is the filmmaker's first and he was still in his 20s at that point. It's not a failure and a great deal for why I found it underwhelming probably has to do with subjective dislike. For example I thought the little guy was not really a good narrator and the film is definitely style over substance, which, however, is more objectively again. Overall I am glad it was this short as it had zero memorability to me. I suggest you watch something else instead, for example Hebbeln's truly brilliant GDR-centered second full feature film.
Review of Nimmermeer
