FanFare

Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service. Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain. Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history. [more inside]
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol on Sep 15, 2023 - 3 comments

The wonderful German tv series about 20s Berlin is back. Things come to an apotheosis. Try it out: it's on Netflix in US, CA & AU. Average 9,5 score on Rotten Tomatoes
posted by jouke on Nov 17, 2018 - 7 comments

Gereon Rath is the enigmatic new inspector who joins Berlin’s vice squad. He is a First World War veteran from Cologne, but appears to be entangled in the capital’s criminal underworld. Episode one’s opening scenes show flashes of Rath’s life both past and future: cavorting in nightclubs, fighting on the front lines, drowning underwater. In present-day Berlin, he is charged with closing down a pornographic film set with his chief inspector, Wolter – a gruff, untrusting man. Guardian Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes 100% IMDB 8.4 On Netflix in US, CA and AU.
posted by jouke on Oct 20, 2018 - 7 comments

A thriller screened at the Berlinale shows the murder of a prostitute, of which the details are identical to Rubin and Karow's newest case. What happens when film becomes reality? [more inside]
posted by mrcrow on Feb 19, 2018 - 2 comments

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
posted by Fizz on Jan 9, 2018 - 10 comments

Starting with a corpse found in a burned out delivery truck, Berlin duo Nina Rubin and Robert Karow discover similar murders stretching back several years. What links the victims? [more inside]
posted by mrcrow on Dec 13, 2017 - 2 comments

A day in the life of a family in their cramped Berlin apartment. Described by writer/director Ramon Zürcher as a "horror movie without any horror." 70 minutes. [more inside]
posted by nom de poop on Jul 1, 2016 - 0 comments

Filmed in black and white, A Coffee in Berlin is a tragicomedy centered upon a fateful day that pushes an aimless college dropout (Tom Schilling) to stop wasting his time and finally engage with life.
posted by gemutlichkeit on Apr 15, 2016 - 1 comment

After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Feb 27, 2016 - 30 comments

Red tips the FBI off about a bank that handles the accounts of numerous criminal enterprises without any paper trail, but it turns out he has ulterior motives.
posted by Small Dollar on Sep 30, 2014 - 8 comments

Some months after the plane crash, Elizabeth is living in a hotel room with a conspiracy board about Tom on the ceiling, and Red is in Cameroon extracting information from a warlord employing child soldiers. Back in the US, Berlin hires Lord Baltimore, a legendary data miner, to find and kidnap Red's ex-wife. Also Red gets detained by Mossad for some reason.
posted by Small Dollar on Sep 23, 2014 - 11 comments

People are shot! Elizabeth learns she cannot learn things. Tom is somewhat upset over their separation. People in New York are very chill about a crashed plane and terrorists. Alan Alda doesn't do a good job.
posted by viggorlijah on May 14, 2014 - 16 comments