Transit

Director: Christian Petzold
Year Released: 2018
Rating: 2.0

It's WWII-in-modern-times in Europe, and TV/radio repair person Georg (Franz Rogowski) is asked to deliver a letter to a novelist named Weidel, which he does, only to find Weidel committed suicide in a bathtub - assuming his identity (with plans to go to Mexico), Georg later meets the writer's wife Marie (Paula Beer), who misses her husband terribly (while sleeping with a physician).  The whole Escaping Europe back story needed a lot more explanation (why are the Fascists around again?) and the persistent and invasive voice over is grating: why not just hand out the novel it's based on?  The material with the illegal immigrant boy and his deaf-mute mother is played for sympathy points, and the last hour is just a lot of indecision: "I'm leaving," "I should stay," "I'm leaving," etc.  Petzold's previous two films, Barbara and Phoenix, were outstanding; this is a step backwards.