Sept. 27, 2023: Roter Himmel / Afire

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023
7 pm @ Galaxy Cinemas, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Director: Christian Petzold
Germany 2023
German; 103 minutes

Best friends Leon (Thomas Schubert), an aspiring novelist, and Felix (Langston Uibel), a promising visual artist, retreat to the Baltic coast for the summer to make solid progress on projects they hope will alter the course of their lives. There, however, they encounter Nadja (Paula Beer) and Devid (Enno Trebs), whose passionate and seemingly boundary-less entanglement entraps Leon and Felix, dramatically disrupting not just their routines, but also their sense of purpose. Meanwhile, a looming forest fire draws nearer, threatening to burn all that is beautiful in its path. A gorgeously realized and deeply perceptive exploration of the impulse to create, Afire is a profound powder keg of a film.

Like all of Petzold’s recent pictures, Afire draws you in confidently and prepares its knockout emotional punch with scrupulousness and a vivid sense of surprise. Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com

Throughout this movie, an absorbing, barbed and frequently funny evisceration of artistic ego, Petzold practices a deft and disarming sleight of hand, using key details to keep the viewer off balance and deliver a stinging rebuke to Leon’s myopia. Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Deceptive simplicity makes way for illuminating depths. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter