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This new drama, penned by the director himself, revolves around a wealthy, cosmopolitan family from an unnamed German city – probably Berlin – headed by parents Nina (
Sabine Timoteo) and Jan (
Jule Hermann) and her younger brother Max (
Wanja Valentin Kube), the owner of a small pet rat called Zorro. In the first few scenes, we see the family getting ready to spend a weekend in their holiday home, when their getaway is suddenly interrupted by a burglary, after which Zorro mysteriously disappears.
From the very beginning, both the actors’ performances and the gloomy visual atmosphere instil in the viewer the feeling that something very wrong is going to happen imminently and that the protagonists have a wealth of secrets to hide. Except for the sudden burglary – which we don’t see happening on screen, but which we do hear through Nina’s screams and someone’s footsteps – the first third of the film plods along
Sundance Review: Human Factors Is About the Journey, Not the Big Reveal Directed by Ronny Trocker
Starring Mark Waschke, Sabine Timoteo, Hassan Akkouch
Published Feb 01, 2021
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Whether it s the direct upbringing of those fortunate enough to make films or simply the narrative problems solved, the upper-middle class experience is one with no shortage of representation in media. Still, when that s the socioeconomic setting for the unravelling of an uptight European family who seemingly have it all, the representation of rich people is more than welcome.
Human Factors follows Jan (Mark Waschke) and Nina (Sabine Timoteo), a married couple who run a successful German ad agency. When they decide to take on a political client, their bougie loft space is bombarded with protestors and they decide to escape their fancy apartment (with a picturesque yet aggressively noisy subway line outside of their kitchen window) to bask in their countryside home. When Nina discovers intruders have bro
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2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Human Factors
Starring Sabine Timoteo, Mark Waschke, Jule Hermann, Wanja Valentin Kube, Hannes Perkmann, and Daniel Séjourné.
SYNOPSIS:
A mysterious home invasion triggers a shake in the core of a cosmopolitan middle-class family and unveils the fragility of truth and the power of individual perspective.
Middle-class malaise is firmly well-trod cinematic subject matter, and try though brilliantly-monikered filmmaker Ronny Trocker (
The Eremites) might to inject some freshness into familiar marital discord drama, this scattershot effort never quite crystalises.
French-German couple Nina (Sabine Timoteo) and Jan (Mark Waschke) head to their seaside holiday home with their kids to escape the stresses of running their marketing firm, only for the brief calm to be interrupted by a home invasion witnessed only by Nina. As the family attempts to make sense of the break-in – possibly the result of a controversial political candidate the couple