Im Kino

Germany's movies look about as cheery as its political arena nowadays.

Its film exports in the past year included a disfigured concentration camp survivor in Pheonix, a deadly zombie virus flick called Kartoffelsalat, and Goodnight Mommy, in which twins are haunted by their mother after she undergoes face-changing surgery. 

Portland's German culture nonprofit Zeitgeist Northwest is on a mission to prove not all art from Deutschland is so dark. "People always think German cinema is so dreary," says Yvonne P. Behrens, director of this year's sixth annual Portland German Film Festival. "The festival started out as by Germans, for Germans—but we've grown a diverse audience, and we want to get away from that lederhosen image. People come and say, 'I never knew that Germany has comedies.'"

Here are some flicks Behrens picked for the fest. 

Head Full of Honey (Honig im Kopf)

On a mission to prove that German films can do slapstick comedy and happy-go-lucky romps just as well as dark drama, this tragicomedy by actor-director Til Schweiger (Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Inglourious Basterds) follows a girl and her Alzheimer-addled grandfather on their search for happiness. It's schmaltzy to be sure—Grandpa pisses in refrigerators and ruins his family's fancy parties like some kind of pitiable, German Mr. Bean. When he wanders off of a train, his granddaughter pulls its emergency brake, sending the police in hot pursuit. This innocent crime sends the two romping through the Italian Alps, drawing out a central theme of German responsibility versus Italian vitality that hits like a bludgeon. Less consistent, the film's tone takes a hit as Grandpa oscillates incoherently between slapstick senility and wily insight. While Honig im Kopf falls short of the witty caper comedy that won Schweiger cult status for his turn in Knockin', his film is just attractive and manipulative enough to appease Germanophiles willing to sit through the subtitles. NR. ERIC MILLMAN. Cinema 21. 7 pm Saturday, Sept. 26.

In the Basement (Im Keller)

If you believe the best way to learn a culture is through its subversions, you'll know Austria with a shocking intimacy after watching director Ulrich Seidl's darkly comedic documentary. Characters come at you like a shotgun blast, united only by their proclivities underground. Some are as innocent as teenage punks playing drums and smoking weed, others are as sordid as alcoholic Nazis playing oompah music, but Seidl presents them all from a detached perspective that gives the potentially disturbing imagery humanity and black humor. We listen to an opera singer-turned-gun enthusiast's singsong ode to male superiority and then cut abruptly to the hairy ass of a BDSM bottom. It's a subtle, unapologetic wink from the filmmaker that defuses images that might otherwise be repulsive. Seidl's camera gets uncensored access to an underground world, leaving you with fascinating memories you might wish you could forget. NR. ERIC MILLMAN. Cinema 21. 7 pm Monday, Sept. 28.

The Misplaced World (Die Abhandene Welt)

In director Margarethe von Trotta's globe-trotting drama, Sophie is a German woman in search of her recently deceased mother's doppelgänger in New York City. The ensuing goose chase is less wild than mildly convoluted, and following the TV movie-esque story requires a handful of big leaps of faith. It's a shame, as Katja Riemann is compelling as Sophie when she's given room to work, and there's real chemistry between her and Barbara Sukowa (the aforementioned doppelgänger). But tender human moments are vastly outnumbered by little explosions of silly melodrama in The Misplaced World, and characters seem to enter and exit scenes (and entire continents) without any regard for linear narrative or common sense. An hour into the film, you might be bored by the parade of unsubtle family secrets revealed, except that von Trotta gives us a spectacularly lethargic fight between two old Germans, in which one man is beaten with a bouquet of flowers. NR. CASEY JARMAN. Cinema 21. 7:30 pm Friday, Sept. 25.

Lola on the Pea (Lola auf der Erbse)

Based on the German children's book by Annette Mierswa, this bildungsroman follows spunky loner Lola (Tabea Hanstein), who can't seem to catch a break between the wealthy bullies at school and coping with her father's absence at home. Living in close quarters on a houseboat with her free-spirited mother (Christiane Paul)—they're so tight Lola says things like "You overdid the perfume"—Lola finally finds a friend in Rebin (Arturo Pereia-Bigwood), a Kurdish boy who has just moved to town. After Lola finds out he's an undocumented immigrant, she's humbled by the challenges his family faces, and it puts her own struggle into perspective. As Lola faces her emotions around her absentee father, writer-director Thomas Heinemann's sunny children's story waxes serious. If the cheerful musical score had any fewer horns or tambourines, this would be a legitimate drama about modern families, albeit with a cheesy ending. NR. LAUREN TERRY. Cinema 21. 3 pm, Saturday, Sept. 26.

Wacken—The Movie (Wacken—Der Film)

In Germany, heavy metal is still charting popular music. And to metal fans, the Wacken Open Air festival has the gravity of Woodstock or Burning Man. Director Norbert Heitker takes viewers on an immersive, uncensored 3-D tour of the annual three-day festival. Thanks to the film's superb quality and editing, there's no better way to get a sense of the overwhelming Wacken experience without actually buying a ticket, hiking in, camping out, drinking for 72 hours straight and ending up covered in mud with a ringing in your ears. The talking heads include monoliths like Henry Rollins, Alice Cooper and Micky Dee of Motörhead, and the footage of early Scorpions guitarist Uli Roth jamming with Deep Purple is worth the price of admission. But the real takeaway is just how joyous and peaceful 80,000 headbangers truly are when they're in each other's company and sweat. NR. NATHAN CARSON. Cinema 21. 9:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 26. 

SEE IT: The Portland German Film Festival is at Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave., 223-4515, portlandgermanfilmfestival.com. Sept. 25-29. Opening-night party and film $25, film only $12. Other films $10, students and seniors $8.

WWeek 2015