Off Beat
Rating (MA ds)
Synopsis
“As visceral an experience as is possible.”
Cam Lindsay EXCLAIM
The sense of urgency implicit in the German title Kammerflimmern (ventricular fibrillation) heralds the fast-paced life of Crash, the film’s central character played by Matthias Schweighöfer. Crash is a young paramedic who struggles to understand human nature as he picks up wasted youths and alcohol soaked vagrants from city streets. Director Hendrik Hölzemann’s German spin on Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out The Dead pulls no punches in its examination of a paramedic’s day-to-day dealings with misery and death.
Nicknamed ‘Crash’, and working in a job where he is surrounded by wounded and dying people, it’s ironic how extraordinarily lucky he is in avoiding physical injury. Destiny seems to have favoured him since an early age, when he survived a fatal car accident that left him without parents. Seeking to protect himself from the sadness of the world, he avoids life and relationships by throwing himself into his work. Crash meets gorgeous and vulnerable November (Jessica Schwarz), the pregnant girlfriend of a junkie he was unable to revive from an overdose. Unexpectedly, amid the pain and suffering of his work, Crash discovers the love he was destined to find. Hölzemann’s portrayal of German youth culture employs abstract surrealism and a stylishly hip soundtrack and good-looking cast, create a conspicuous mood of German cool.
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