The Coming Days

The world is on the brink. The financial crisis was just the beginning. It's all downhill from here on out. Is it still possible to retain one's humanity? Is it still possible to feel something like hope and does it even make sense to cling to the desire for a better future? Lars Kraume explores these and other questions in his bleak vision of the future, "The Coming Days".

The world is actually open to the two sisters Laura (Bernadette Heerwagen) and Cecilia (Johanna Wokalek), who come from good backgrounds. But the world has changed - and not necessarily for the better. Fear and insecurity determine people's everyday lives, the gap between rich and poor is widening, which often ends in violence. While Laura, despite everything, still believes in a future and wants nothing more than to start a family with the love of her life, Hans (Daniel Brühl), Cecilia allows herself to be dragged down into an underworld of terrorism by her boyfriend Konstantin (August Diehl). But the day comes when both sisters have to realize that life in this time can no longer be planned...

Shot in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Wuppertal, in the Taunus and in the Tyrol, "The Coming Days" is convincing above all visually. Kraume creates a picture of the future that is anchored in the present, yet has discreetly futuristic elements. While technology continues to advance and people are ubiquitously sprinkled with colorful advertisements, reality looks quite different with empty supermarket shelves and mass protests. The way Kraume creates a more than realistic scenario here is quite great cinema. Both visual effects (for example, skyscrapers of the Frankfurt skyline have been integrated into the Berlin cityscape) and the set can easily stand up to international comparison. But unfortunately not all aspects of the production are as successful.

Because what doesn't really do the film any good is that Kraume's ambitions were apparently just too high. He tries to cram as much as he can into the story, so the overall picture ends up feeling completely overstuffed. On one side rather staid family history, then again terror thriller, love story and all this as a gloomy forecast of the future - here it would have been better to show exactly the restraint in terms of content, which makes the film visually so great and above all effective.

The actors all deliver performances at a high level. One especially wishes to see more of Bernadette Heerwagen after this strong performance. She and her fellow actors move confidently through a scenario that offers some moments that linger long after you've finished watching the film. For instance, in an inherently simple scene that shows Laura shopping, Kraume proves what a high level his film is moving at in its best moments. From the walk through the dreary supermarket aisles to the walk home escorted by supermarket security, this scene exudes an extremely oppressive realism that shows how well thought out the film's concept is down to the smallest details.

In the end, "The Coming Days" leaves an ambivalent impression. Well acted and in itself very hauntingly directed, Lars Kraume's film is a fascinating and disturbing vision of the future that absolutely belongs in the cinema, especially because of its visuals. On the other hand, the story seems overloaded and unnecessarily drawn out with almost soap-like elements. An ambitious work that unfortunately only works to a limited extent. Nevertheless: for lovers of sophisticated entertainment cinema from Germany well worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp