Horst_In_Translation Review of Transit

Transit (I) (2018)

Not among the director's very best, but still worth seeing

[6/10 · 6 April 2018]

"Transit" is a new German 2018 movie and this one was written and directed by Christian Petzold and like almost all his other works, it has a one-word title. I cannot deny that I am a bit of a fan of Petzold and his works and this one here adds more quality to his body of work. There is always some kind of raw authenticity to his filmmaking efforts. At 100 minutes roughly, it is among his longer movies and it is loosely based on Anna Seghers' old novel with the same name like the movie. The main character is played by Franz Rogowski, who is turning into one of Germany's most successful actors now and I have seen him in lead parts in several new German films. It's also not the most usual for Petzold as most of the time there's female protagonists at the center of his works, usually played by Nina Hoss or earlier by Julia Hummer too. So maybe it is not so surprising really that I found Paula Beer's portrayal here perhaps the most memorable aspect about this film. She feels like a dark-haired Nina Hoss at times for sure and also for her it is another strong addition to her career. She is definitely up and coming now. The rest of the cast are all decent too and while this includes Rogowski, I am still not really impressed or sold by his turn here or his craft in general. He may be a bit of a fresh breeze, but if he really has the talent to lead films like this one, I think it is a no at this point. Nonetheless, the movie works well most of the time. The only thing I found a bit confusing was the political and historic background combined with these modern references. It was a creative decision obviously, but for me it may have been a bit too abstract. Other than that, it was a good watch and it felt easy to care for the characters and their fates. Maybe the concept of transit was not as memorable or impressive to me as I hoped it would be, but still as an essential component and not just a bureaucratic term at the very center of the film, it is working solidly. I was curious what would happen next and surprisingly the song used during the creadits eventually, which was really different compared to the tone and style of everything before that. was working as well and it takes quite something to succeed there. I myself would say that as a character study the film manages nicely most of the time and you will probably be curious about what happens next to the characters. It is never really showy, never really something that will have you scream from excitement at the edge of your chair, but if you have seen other stuff by Petzold, then you won't expect that. And you don't need to expect it as he succeeds with a completely different approach in general and also here in this particular case. I give Transit a thumbs-up, even if I must say that there was something missing compared to his career-best efforts, but obviously this was far from a bad watch let alone a failure. I suggest you watch one of the director's older movies and then decide if you want to check this one out, maybe also one of Rogowski's older/better movies in order to make a final decision. I think Transit is worth seeing as it was exuted pretty competently. Go check it out.