Review of Der Samurai

Der Samurai (2014)
9/10
Surprising film from Germany, not the first place to expect horror, fantasy, humor and thriller elements merged into a single plot
5 October 2014
I saw this film at the Imagine (sf/horror/fantasy) filmfestival Amsterdam 2014. The title may attract the wrong audience, but that is the only problem I have with this movie. It focuses on the Samurai sword that is carried all the time by the transvestite, who is the primary trigger of all events following. He and local policeman Jakob are the obvious main characters that carry the story from start to finish. But the sword is far from the lead weapon, due to very prominent roles of confusion, surprise and deviant behavior to augment the proceedings. The latter three story elements make it difficult to tell much about the story, fearing literally spoiling all the inherent fun of this movie.

Nice are some interwoven plots. A perfect example is the motor gang, seemingly appearing in the beginning as a side issue. This group unexpectedly gets an important role later on, when grouping around the transvestite in an obvious attempt to mock him. Little do they know what disaster is before them. There is a second interwoven plot around Jakob's mother, but I better confine myself to hinting that it is useful to keep an eye on her too.

All in all, very good entertainment full of unexpected events, perfectly capable to keep our attention throughout. In the Q&A we learned that it is "just" a master thesis project, still more reason to admire the end result. This film ended 23rd (out of 43) for the audience award, with average score 7.20.
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