Short Sharp Shock

the movie is about a turkish guy who gets out of prison and sees himself tangled up in the same situations that he lived before, with his best friends stealing and dealing, only this time he himself has changed and has a very differentiated view of the daily crime and violence.

the story unfolds with an interesting plot always centering the 3 friends in their daily life and how suddenly their live changes quickly when things go more wrong than they ever did before.

a great job by the director. the pictures are beautiful at the same time very authentic. the story always feels real even though it has a lot of extreme situations in it. the characters move as they are depicted closely and without unnecessary sentiments.

overall an extremly entertaining movie that brings us close foreign cultures from right around the corner.

"Kurz und schmerzlos" means as much as "quickly and smoothly" and is a German underground drama by young Turkish film maker Fatih Akin. Shot in the suburbs and industrial area of Hamburg, Akin's home town, it was a big hit in German repertory cinemas in 1999.

The film shows the life and fate of three young foreigners - Turk Gabriel, Greek Costa and Serb Bobby, all of them dreaming of love and money in the bleak surroundings of social welfare, crimes, industry, unemployment and cultural minorities. Of course it won't take long until the friendship of the three outsiders is about to break apart when Gabriel becomes a henchman for a local gangster boss, and a journey through violence and despair begins for all three of them...

There are no special effects, no visual games, there is just pure "adrenaline acting" - except for Ralf Herforth ("Knocking on Heaven's Door") as gangster boss Muhamer, all actors are unknown newcomers, but with a great impact and brilliant performances. There is much realistic violence in it than can be felt in every second, and you really need to watch out for some contemporary American or Japanese underground stuff to find something similar. And the sound track is very good, too.

But the movie shows also the social milieu and the problems of national minorities in a Western country like in the works of British film maker Hanif Kureishi ("My Beautiful Laundrette"). Watch out for this example for great contemporary German cinema, and although "Kurz und schmerzlos" avoids all the visual styling of "Lola rennt", it has the same impact and power like that international box office hit!

Don't know why somebody wrote this ridiculous Nazi AND Porno thing, but most definitely he hasn't seen or understood the movie. Great actors, intriguing story, great soundtrack. Haven't seen anybody ( including my turkish buddies ) who didn't love this movie.

There are German films that aren't relationship comedies or delve into recent history. This film is a gangster melodrama, set in the Turkish community of Hamburg Altona. We care about the fates of the colourful, not-always-do-goods, emphasise with their struggle against the life they live. KURZ UND SCHMERZLOS manages to reach a rare quality: it feels "real".

I found it by chance in my library. I nearly forgot it, since the time I taped it off from French ARTE channel. Yes, you can compare it with a Marty Scorcese - MEAN STREETS - like tale. Petty hoodlums in Germany, mostly from immigrant descent: Turkish, Serbian, most of them brutal, violent volks. It is not in the Quentin Tarantino style either, it refuses to copy the new fashion of this period, trying to imitate Tarantino's way of story telling or filming at all costs. It sounds very realistic, the acting more real than life. It grabs your attention and the characters, despite what they are, remain poignant, gripping. Excellent social crime film.