Zoom

"Taxi Driver" variation in the chilly city climate of Berlin: Wanda (Oana Solomon) works as a call girl in Berlin. She has no idea that Waller (Florian Lukas), the introverted tenant in the apartment next door, is keeping a constant eye on her. But there’s more she doesn’t know: Waller has been blackmailing her clients with his videotapes. That’s where the money she finds in her mailbox comes from. Waller and Wanda finally bump into each other in front of their apartments. Waller knows Wanda‘s got a dark secret, but she refuses to let him in on it. She tries to shake him off. What Waller doesn’t know is that Wanda’s husband is blackmailing her, holding their son hostage and forcing her out on the streets. But Waller finds out and sets himself up as her guardian angel. Promising her a new, better life, he kidnaps her and takes her out on one final »tour«. They visit all her clients, blackmailing each of them again along the way. This time, though, the last time, the price is higher. Because for a new, better life, Waller and Wanda will be needing lots of money… When "Zoom" premiered at the Montreal Film Festival and was screened at Berlinale, Otto Alexander Jahrreiss' stylistically ambitious thriller won over international critics. As a gloomy thriller-romance, the setting of Berlin is presented in monochromatic, washed-out colors. Jahrreiss repeatedly incorporates stylistic inconsistencies into the staging and skillfully avoids all the clichés that present themselves with relaxed composure. "A dark, often creepy seriocomedy that's as cold as gun metal. Essentially an offbeat caper movie beneath its elaborate dressing, story of a lonely geek who forces his way into a hooker's life reps an interesting twist on the slew of German crime movies produced during the past few years. (Derek Elley, in: 'Variety')