Central Europe Review find out about advertising in CER
Vol 2, No 19
15 May 2000
 CER INFO 
front page 
overview 
sponsor us 
advertising 
classifieds 
submissions 
jobs at CER 
internships 
CER Direct 
e-mail us 
 ARCHIVES 
year 2000 
year 1999 
by subject 
by author 
kinoeye 
books 
news 
search 
 MORE 
bookshop 
music shop 
video store 
conferences 
diacritics 
FreeMail 
papers 
links 

 

Klaus Kraemer's Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass (Three Chinamen with a Double Bass, 1999)
Friendship and dead bodies
Dumping the Girlfriend
Klaus Krämer's Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass
Elke de Wit

Klaus Krämer's Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass (Three Chinamen with a Double Bass, 1999) is not a feature remarkable for its originality. However, despite being more than a little reminiscent of Shallow Grave, it is well produced and directed, competently acted and supported by a witty, entertaining script.

The story starts off with Paul, played by Boris Aljinovic, going out with his mate Max and his colleague Rieke (Claudia Michelsen) to celebrate their first proper commission. His girlfriend Gabi (Anna Maria Ondra) in the meantime stays at home and proceeds to "entertain" her boss Heribert, played by Ilja Richter. Their sexual romp ends with his trousers halfway down his legs. He continues to dance with her but loses his balance and they both fall over. Unfortunately Gabi knocks her head against a chest and breaks her neck. This apparently tragic demise is actually something of a relief to the audience, since she is such an unlikeable character that we are glad the sweet mummy's boy Paul is rid of her.

Klaus Kraemer's Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass (Three Chinamen with a Double Bass, 1999)
Partners in crime
Heribert wastes no time in crying over Gabi but escapes to save his reputation. When Paul returns he is so inebriated that he goes straight to bed without noticing Gabi at all. The next morning he finds her body and, thinking that he has killed her, enlists Max's help to dispose of the body. Being a medical assistant, Max is not that squeamish about the method they finally choose.

The comedy is derived from the continued harassment the two receive from a very nosy neighbour, and the inevitable messiness of the method they have chosen to dispose of the body. The suspense mounts as various people, including Gabi's mother, boss, and neighbour gain access to the flat. Eventually however, more and more people find out that Gabi is dead. Luckily there is a final twist at the end of the film to spice up the plot.

Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass is a classic entertainment movie. It is a cocktail of light-hearted and macabre comedy held together by a fun script that never lags and an acting team that really works well together. Jürgen Tarrach (Max) is one of the up and coming talents of the German Cinema and he steals the show.

Even the opening titles of the film are enchanting. All characters within the plot are represented by their animated double and each of these looks upward to the actual start of 88 minutes of escapism in the best sense of the word.

Elke de Wit, 15 May 2000

Elke de Wit reviews other Neue deutsche Filme shown at the 50th Berlinale:
Warning: Football Can Damage Your Health
Tomy Wigand's Fussball ist unser Leben
Just Good Friends?
Anne Høegh Krohn's Fremde Freundin
Romanticising Misogyny
Egon Günther's Die Braut
Sensual Passion, Nazi Terror
Rolf Schübel's Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod
Ossies on Ice
Pepe Danquart's Heimspiel
Sex=mc2
Rosa von Praunheim's Der Einstein des Sex
Wasted Lives in Changing Times
Andreas Kleinert's Wege in die Nacht
Dreaming in Colour
Veit Helmer's Tuvalu
One Last Lunge at Freedom
Sebastian Schipper's Absolute Giganten
Pricking Germany's Racist Conscience
Frieder Schlaich's Otomo
Devilishly Bad
Bernd Eichinger's Der Große Bagarozy
Chance at the End of the Millennium
Thorsten Schmidt's
Schnee In Der Neujahrsnacht
Growing up Late
Doris Dörrie's Erleuchtung Garantiert
The Sunnier Side of East Germany
Leander Haußmann's Sonnenallee
Broken by the Streets
Maren-Kea Freese's Zoe

Click here for the Berlinale website

Moving on:

 

THIS WEEK:

Focus: Croatia
Dejan Jović
Tuđman's Convenient Death

Dragan Antulov
Regionalism

Sharon Fisher
EU Hopes

Đurđa Knežević
Gender Politics

Mirjana Domini
Minorities

Zoran Ferić
New Literature

Jurica Pavičić
Cinema

Sue Bagust
Ballet

Borko Špoljarić
Music Days

Ivo Goldstein
The Yugoslav Conflicts

Zoran Pusić
Ideologies

Igor Nobilo
Students

Mladen Vedriš
The Economy

William A Everett
Contemporary Music

Anna Maria Gruenfelder
The Church

Interviews:
President of Croatia
Stipe Mesić

Croatian Deputy PM
Goran Granić

Vesna Pusić, Croatian People's Party leader

Vlado Gotovac, Liberal Party leader

Comment:
Brian J Požun
Tito Revival

Oliver Craske
UK Looks East

Jan Čulík
Roma and TV

Mel Huang
Latvian Victory

Kinoeye:
Elke de Wit
Klaus Krämer

Arts:
Culture Calendar:
UK | USA

Debate:
Ustaša Legacy

PR and Extremism

News:
Austria
Belarus
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Germany
Hungary
Kosovo
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine