Berlin Syndrome (2017)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Blistering performances.

A good psychological thriller for an overused story-line. the "abducted" plot has been around for decades, and will continue to do so. however the 'Stockholm syndrome' aspect of this film provides a breath of fresh air and ensures it stands out from the crowd. 6 stars

A German guy with serious mommy abandonment issues takes a fetching Aussie tourist home in the new movie "Berlin Syndrome". Only he has no plans for her vacation abroad to continue.It's about a half hour too long, there are baffling scenes that don't take us anywhere, others rife with heavy-handed foreshadowing and the ending is disappointing. But look at it this way.It's nowhere near as unsatisfying as the unpleasantness this poor lass endures as the permanent guest of an unhinged host.

I had to break this movie up into three separate viewings mostly because it was lumped in with 'Funny Games' which I HATED and because I had read a deposition from the mass murderer Gary Hilton that mistakenly got posted online and then took down, in which he details the kidnapping and murder of his last victim before getting caught. I was convinced we were heading toward a bad ending. As it was it was interesting.The movie delves deeply into what happens to a victim when they are in a hopeless situation and that was very hard to watch.Teresa Palmer is EXCELLENT. She can really act and is fearless in this role to be so emotionally raw, while she's subjected to what can only be termed psychological torture. The male lead, Max Riemelt was chilling and very subtle as her sociopathic captor.There are some really beautiful shots in this as we get to see the world through Clare's eyes. It's very poignant as you know she has to be thinking her days of looking at anything are numbered.The movie successfully avoids Hollywood clichés of the captor/captive dynamic and lets you figure out what happens after the credits roll. Like I said, I couldn't get the deposition out of my mind, which contained a few events that correlated with this movie.All in all a good movie but very difficult to get through. Not light entertainment at all. Some really good acting if you can maintain your objectivity which I found hard to do.

I wasn't that impressed. Kind of felt like Fifty Shades of Grey with an Australian Kristen Stewart but less sexy and mostly in German. It kept my attention mainly because I was waiting for something unpredictable to happen...which it didn't. The female lead was excellent (much better actor than Kristen Stewart even though they look alike) and the male lead was good as well but I felt like the character could have been stronger. Good to watch if you are bored but not a top pick by any means.