A dilapidated, practically empty apartment in the Berlin district of ‘Mitte’. This is where Nina and two young actors named Hans and Marie have come together to leave behind the winter cold for a few days and do some screen tests for a film. Nina is a searcher; she wants her film to make feelings visible and intends to portray love by showing real sex.
But the more blurred the borders between fiction and reality become, the less Nina seems inclined to make the film at all. Hans, who knows Nina from a brief encounter a long time ago, senses that she is searching for something else. Nonetheless, he and Marie both agree to go along with the play-acting. So far, each is convinced that they are pulling the strings. But Nina’s strategies of seduction weave an ever-tightening web around her protagonists.
Nina’s credo that they should not play themselves or anyone else soon becomes a trap for Hans and Marie. No wonder that it becomes almost impossible to decipher where the acting ends and reality begins. The further Nina sets off down a path to an unknown destination, the more the actors shield themselves from each other and keep their feelings to themselves. Their longing for the outside world is a palpable force, but each attempt to open up to each other ends in an emotional blow below the belt. Without a script, communication becomes balancing act; coolness and distance would seem to be the only adequate means of protection. In this world, failure can only lead to a bittersweet happy ending. –Berlinale
RP Kahl was born in 1970 and studied Acting the Ernst Busch School of Dramatic Art in Berlin/Rostock. He then founded the production company Erdbeermund Filmproduktion and made his first short “Ausgespielt” (1995). In 1997, he produced and starred in “Silvester Countdown”, directed by Oskar Roehler. Angel Express was his feature debut as a director. In 2002, he produced (and directed episodes of) the cycle of shorts 99euro-films, followed by Europe – 99euro-films 2 in 2003. He has also created several commercials and music clips, including the video to “Freie Liebe” for the band “2raumwohnung”, together with Anne Retzlaff. —german-films.de
The music was cool - at least Sissimetall, the scene their singer dances - the sex was interesting in its overt unsimulation, but it seems all too easy to have actual sex on set and fail to have any coherent story surrounding it. A lot of interesting things here but in the end it comes off as a half-assed meshing of "9 Songs" and "Sex is Comedy." Worst of all, they utilize Arno Frisch for less than five minutes!!!
