Jerichow

A tight character driven thriller that revolves around three people Jerichow reunites Yella director and star Christian Petzold and Nina Hoss. The plot resembles the novel The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain except Petzold only takes the characters and situations from the first part of that book. In other words we observe an immigrant husband whose cheating wife and their best friend plot to kill him only Jerichow switches gears when the time for the murder rolls around.
Jerichow, a section of Germany bordering the Atlantic, holds interest in part by the way the triangle is framed. There's constant repetition of certain visual motifs, mainly the character's framing when they're verbally berating each other, hugging each other or sitting next to each other in cars. Although this would suggest scenes are pleonastic in fact with each new arrangement so much has occurred emotionally that each person has the added weight of a guilty conscious bearing on their shoulders.
Hoss as Laura has married the Turkish Ali (Hilmi Sözer) himself a savvy businessman who uses brute force to keep his underlings in line. When Ali has car trouble the resourceful Thomas (Benno Fürmann) comes to his aid and winds up Ali's right hand man. A unexplained opening sequence shows Thomas being slighted and knocked unconscious in a family squabble.
Jerichow, playing exclusively at the Angelika, slowly shifts the viewers expectations throughout. At any given moment you're rooting for a different character to come out on top. The brilliant seaside juxtaposition involving the shore and a nearby cliff are a plus.