I love movies like this. Where there are very few locations (most of the time all the action set in one room) and two or three main characters. This is something in-between the movie and the theatre play, which makes it even more fascinating. No special effects, stunts, breath-taking shots and locations, everything fully relies on the dialogues and actor's performances. And this is why sometimes it is quite a hard task to make that kind of movie dynamic, grab viewer's attention at keep it till the very end.
However, the debutant Daniel Brühl did it immaculately. "Nebenan" is funny, intriguing, tense and sad. I can't say it is a comedy or thriller or drama, it is everything and anything of that at the same time. It is a movie about love, family, people, their mistakes and sorrows, their lies and secrets, it is also a movie about uneasy past of the country, of never ending conflict of interests and views, it's about social inequality, fame and wealth and poverty, it slightly touches almost every aspect of life, showing different prospects of view on the themes.
The main character of the movie Daniel, played by the one and only Daniel Brühl, is a very successful actor, who needs to go for an important audition for a super-cool-very-expensive-very-big-and-popular superhero movie (hmm, what that can be about?). Big money is at stake with the mind-blowing wave of popularity and recognisability and thousands of new fans. He is very nervous (obviously), so he decided to go and wait for his flight at not very luxurious (more accurately very not from high class) bar. There he meets another visitor of the bar (played by Peter Kurh), who is become to be not just a random stranger. Not to spoil anything let's just say he is a little bit rude and knows too much about Daniel. The whole movie is just a verbal confrontation between them with some unexpected twists. But it made in a way you will be wanting to be invented with the story it tells you
The acting is unconditionally good. Both actors did a great job, the main characters have chemistry between each other, which is vital, when you have nothing, but dialogues too keep audience interested. Speaking about directional part, I also have no claims. I really liked the cinematography of the movie. Even though there are only three or four different locations, the shots are very aesthetic, colourful and quite creative at times. The ending scene (the one that is at the bar) is my favourite, the music, camera movement, exposition creating very moving and memorable ending of a story.
So, if you are also a fan of this Chekhov-style small movies, you will definitely enjoy this one. The only reason I did not give 10/10 to it, is the fact that it is not something extraordinary, this movie is good, but it is very loyal to its genre and not trying to be revolutionary, which is not a bad thing. For Daniel Brühl it is a solid directional debut, confirming his versatility and talent in the field. And I am really looking forward to seeing his development as a director in the future.
