Among Neighbors - DVD

Film: When journalist David (Maxim Mehmet) moves from Berlin to Karlsruhe for a new job, he hopes for a completely new start. This seems to succeed him not only in his editorial office, where he immediately with his first article positively noticed, but also in his quiet suburban neighborhood well. David quickly makes friends with his neighbour, the shy nurse Robert (Charly Hübner). But what begins as a light-hearted male friendship is quickly covered by a dark shadow when David runs over young Janine (Katharina Heyer) after a disco visit together. The young woman, with whom David had been flirting heavily shortly before, dies at the scene of the accident. At Robert's urging, the two men flee, but David's conscience is put to the test the very next day when he is assigned to report on his own accident. At the police press conference, he also meets Janine's sister Vanessa (Petra Schmidt-Schaller), whom David grows closer to after some time despite strong reservations. This in turn infuriates Robert, who not only has to fear that David will eventually weaken and confess to the hit-and-run. But much worse is that he is not willing to share his new friend with anyone else. And so Robert leaves no stone unturned to nip David and Vanessa's relationship in the bud. Although David slowly begins to suspect that something is wrong with Robert, he has no idea, however, what danger really emanates from his neighbor...

Unter Nachbarn is a very quiet and restrained psychological thriller that lives primarily from the strong performance of its actors, especially that of Charly Hübner. Especially at the beginning Hübner is convincing, as he transforms Robert from a reclusive hermit into a happy person in the presence of his new found friend. He succeeds in this mainly with small changes in his facial expressions, through which he later turns the initially very sympathetic Robert into a truly threatening figure. Huebner's very strong, but not too forced acting fits very well into the production and lifts the film clearly above the level of many other TV movies.

It is to director Stephan Rick's credit that he has built the love story between David and Vanessa with a very sensitive hand into the story. Because even though the whole thing is quite predictable, the audience is extremely captivated because of the abandonment of many of the clichés that present themselves. It's clear that the relationship between the two can't end well. However, given the joy that appears on Vanessa's face, marked by grief for her sister, when she confesses her love to David, the viewer does hope that the two will somehow manage to salvage their relationship should Vanessa ever learn that David is responsible for Janine's death. Stephan Rick succeeded first-class in building up this dramaturgy and leading it to the sure climax. Even if the big surprises are missing, the whole thing is exciting.

Only the end disappoints a little. Until shortly before the end Rick had the chance to create a finale that could have been on par with George Sluizer's great thriller The Vanishing (the Dutch original, of course) in terms of intensity and sustainability. But then the story takes another turn in the last second, which weakens the whole thing considerably and unfortunately comes across as too ordinary. Nevertheless, Among Neighbors is a very good TV production that can convince both as a drama and as a psychological thriller. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for testing, no rating can be given about the final picture and sound quality at this point. However, the impression here is already, at least in the brighter moments, quite positive, which is why even with the purchase DVD of a decent implementation can be assumed.

Extras: Bonus material has the DVD not to offer.

Conclusion: Under Neighbors is a good TV thriller, which lives in particular from the strong performance of Charly Hübner and can maintain its tension until the end despite minor hangs. Even if the finale itself could have been a bit nastier and more consistent, the film can be recommended to friends of German thriller fare of the somewhat calmer variety. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp