Downward (1984)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Down |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl Schenkel |
| script | Carl Schenkel , Frank Göhre |
| production | Matthias Deyle , Thomas Schühly |
| music | Jacques Zwart |
| camera | Jacques Steyn |
| cut | Norbert Herzner |
| occupation | |
| |
Downward is a German thriller from the director Carl Schenkel from 1984.
action
On a Friday evening, the elevator in a Frankfurt office tower gets stuck. In the cabin are the supposedly successful advertiser Jörg, his attractive colleague Marion, the non-conformist Pit and the staid accountant Gössmann. Since the incident apparently goes unnoticed, those trapped have to come to terms with the unfortunate situation. Tensions soon develop between Jörg and Pit, which eventually turn into open hostility. This is also because Marion, who until recently had a relationship with Jörg, and Pit feel drawn to each other. Despite their rivalry, the two men make a concerted effort to break free from the elevator. However, these are unsuccessful. During a fight between the two men, Pit falls from the car roof and slides down the elevator shaft, where he gets stuck seriously injured. After it turned out that the briefcase of the inconspicuous and passive accountant is full to the brim with money stolen from his company, the doorman of the high-rise finally registers the alarm and notifies the technical emergency service. Marion, Pit and Gössmann can be released. Jörg, on the other hand, falls to his death because he does not want to leave the accountant's suitcase in the elevator.
The police and rescue services have now arrived. Pit is taken to the ambulance on a stretcher. When Gössmann is approached by the porter when leaving the building, he drops his suitcase in shock, which pops up and contains laundry, not the money. Meanwhile, the coffin with Jörg's body, on which there is a second suitcase, is carried out. Gössmann goes home without the money.
background
The interior shots of the film were shot in the European Patent Office in Munich. The high-rise recordings take place in the Silberturm , the former headquarters of Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt am Main .
The Dutch Renee Soutendijk was dubbed by Hannelore Elsner .
The film was also shown in GDR cinemas in 1985 .
The game that Pit plays in the film is Variety from Vtech . The module shown in Variety is the Game & Watch game Fire from Nintendo . But this was not offered for the Variety. In the style of the film, the words "Abwärts" can be read at the bottom right of the game.
The elevator was partly rebuilt for the shooting. For this purpose, the stairwell in an old building on Dachauer Strasse in Munich was removed and an elevator shaft 15 meters high and with an aspect ratio of 3 meters by 4 meters was built.
criticism
Down was well received by the audience as well as by large parts of the film critics. Although it was sometimes criticized that the drawing of the characters was clichéd and did not go very deep, the impression prevailed that we were dealing with a technically solidly crafted thriller, which was quite in the tradition of the corresponding, from the US Cinema-influenced genres.
The lexicon of international films describes Abwärts as a "mixture of action film and psychological thriller that cleverly reveals human behavior under extreme conditions" and is well-versed in terms of craftsmanship and well-played, "also fulfilling more sophisticated formal and content-related requirements."
Awards
- 1984 - Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya : “Caixa de Catalunya” film award in the Best Director category and special mention by the international jury of film critics for C. Schenkel
- 1985 - German Film Award : Film tape in gold for the best leading actor (George) and for the best camera work
- 1985 - Fantasporto (Portugal): Prize in the category Best Director , nomination for the International Fantasy Film Award and special mention by the audience jury
- 1985 - Bavarian Film Award in the Best Director category
- The German film and media rating in Wiesbaden gave the film the rating of particularly valuable
DVD
The film was released twice on DVD: the first version in 2007, the second release with a different cover, in 2009.
book
The book about the film as a thriller was published by Heyne Verlag in 1984. The authors were Frank Göhre and Carl Schenkel.
literature
- Frank Göhre and Carl Schenkel: Downward 1984, ISBN 9783453020054
Web links
- Down in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Down at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.filmposter-archiv.de/filmplakat.php?id=6233
- ↑ Information from the making of, which can be found on the DVD of the film
- ^ Downwards in the Lexicon of International Films