Whisky & Vodka

What starts off as a rather rapid track through a film set, gradually unravels as a sardonic commentary on the lives of those in the film industry. Germany's own Oscar Wilde, Otto (Henry Hübchen), is struggling to fulfil his latest film role and covertly hitting the bottle at every opportunity. Otto's celebrated career is thrown into doubt when a nervous financial backer decides to refilm every scene with Otto's potential replacement Arno (Markus Hering). His ego challenged by his youthful understudy, Otto is forced to address his drinking and get back in shape. Director Andreas Dresen choreographs Whisky with Vodka (Rialto) so well he is able to seamlessly cut between the lives of those working on the film and the period piece they are working on. The film-within-a-film narrative works really well, as long as you are watching it for pure craft and aesthetics. However, the industry in-jokes seem to get a little obscured by the translation. When certain details are lingered on for what seems like an unnecessarily long period of time, it seems likely that German speakers will get more out of the script than the subtitles give up. That said, Whisky with Vodka is still a very accomplished and extremely enjoyable film. Between Otto's falling off the wagon and the clandestine liaisons among the film staffers, Dresen has given audiences a German revision of Franois Truffaut's Day for Night.