By now, Tykwer may be tired of having everything he's done measured against his own gold standard, 1998's Run Lola Run. But in this case the comparison is natural, even inevitable, because Winter Sleepers shows Tykwer moving toward audacious, devil-may-care plot contrivances, of which Lola was the epitome--only, he doesn't move far enough in that direction to achieve the kind of success Lola enjoyed. The result is a storyline that is rather unbelievable, but not wildly enough so to make it a kind of cinematic Picasso...but more nearly like the work of a plodding third-rate painter of traditional landscapes who has yet to master perspective, say.
But this particular analogy is unfair to WS, which does offer us some quite beautiful visuals; the favorable comparisons made by others to Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter are apropos. The soundtrack is hypnotic in places, and the movie engages the viewer, at least until the next unlikely plot twist.
A falling-between-two-stools kind of effort. Still fairly enjoyable though.
7/10
But this particular analogy is unfair to WS, which does offer us some quite beautiful visuals; the favorable comparisons made by others to Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter are apropos. The soundtrack is hypnotic in places, and the movie engages the viewer, at least until the next unlikely plot twist.
A falling-between-two-stools kind of effort. Still fairly enjoyable though.
7/10