Such a frustrating disappointment

Sorry, this movie sucks

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Let's put this into perspective, it's not nearly as horrific as 'Taken' but still this presents a perfectly plausible scenario. A young Australian woman travels to Berlin where she encounters a German school teacher. The two have a night of passion which consequently leads her to become trapped in his apartment. I have to get this off my chest immediately, this guy is absolutely insane. Not the psychopathic type (although we see glimpses of psychotic behaviour), but a very creepy controlled man who's natural personality blends in with the general public. It's not a case of "oh, I can tell he looks like woman kidnapper who likes to take pictures of them naked and then store them in a secret photo album", it's his ability to camouflage that truly frightens. I mean the setup in his apartment that seemingly replicates a lavish prison cell is somewhat unnerving. Teresa Palmer gave an extremely delicate performance. Being locked inside an apartment for eternity will slowly have detrimental effects to the mind, and she conveys that wonderfully. Small little traits like randomly spinning around on a chair shows how her sanity is deteriorating. There is plenty of psychological analysis in this thriller, a splash of Stockholm Syndrome and paranoia keeps the viewers enthralled in a suspense driven narrative. Shortland's direction and the cinematography enhanced the artistic style, where snow falls in slow motion to represent her yearn for freedom. The backstories of the two characters are casually explored, tiny glimpses into their lives. I appreciate that the story consists of just this scenario, but a deeper look into these characters would've created a richer emotional connection. The conclusion (if you could call it that) was slightly underwhelming with a few too many plot conveniences. Considering I went into this knowing nothing about the story, I was captivated throughout its entire runtime. A small suspenseful psychological thriller that is definitely worth checking out.

This movie is brilliant for many reasons: 1) Acting - I really like Theresa Palmer as an actress, she might be one of my favourite actresses. In this movie she has proven herself again and did an amazing job. I have not seen many movies with Max Riemelt but he was in Sense 8 and he is a very good actor. 2) Story line - without giving out any spoilers. Gripping, unpredictable, emotional. 3) Directing - well directed, definitely not boring. Strongly recommend if you like movies that are a bit different and not like standard Hollywood movies.

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.