A film shot in one single long take – when it comes to that, Sebastian Schipper‘s Berlin trip VICTORIA is a classic by now, and ever since the Japanese zombie comedy ONE CUT OF THE DEAD you might have an idea about the logistical effort that it entails. LIMBO is a graduate film from HFF Munich, a rare German thriller that is 90 minutes long without a cut, an ambitious project. One that director Tim Dünschede masters with aplomb. Ana, a young compliance manager, discovers suspicious figures in her company‘s bookkeeping. The boss offers to discuss it and drives with her after work. We lose track of the two during their drive and follow Carsten, who is meant to give petty criminal Ozzy access to the “Viennese,“ one of the big gangsters in the underworld, and in the end they all meet in a club that has it all: alcohol, illegal boxing, human trafficking, and money laundering.

One film, one take: this can easily be an end in itself to upgrade a film on a purely technical level. But the form supports the content in LIMBO. Everything is connected to each other, big business wheelings and dealings with organized crime, and having no cuts shows that very well. Two storylines move towards each other until they collide – this is thrillingly made and you can see the risk that Dünschede took. Many changes in location, scenes, and people had to be juggled without a noticeable mistake. Martin Semmelrogge, the “star“ of the ensemble, was miscast as big mouthed Ozzy, but the rest of the cast is formidable. And moral questions are dealt with on in passing: is an individual‘s greed stronger than the drive for justice?

Harald Mühlbeyer (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy