This one is kind of difficult for me as most of the German cinema I've seen was during college studying Film and it was mostly Silent Cinema. I thought of the films I enjoyed the most, so Caligari didn't make the cut, on second viewing I could appreciate it but the first time, not so much. I'll stop the urge to go into my college self who really enjoyed studying Silent Cinema.
Goodbye Lenin
This film introduced me to modern(ish) German cinema that wasn't about war as a subject and to Daniel
Brühl. A comedic at times family drama about Alex (Brühl) who wants to protect his mother from another heart attack after the Berlin wall comes down. It's about the lengths someone will go for someone they love, even so far as creating fake broadcasts and changing labels on food. The story was so simple and well executed. I know this usually appears in film lists but for me it was an introduction to another country's film industry. Metropolis
Not the first silent film I had seen as I had watched Charlie Chaplin films when I was younger, but this was the first silent science fiction film I had seen. This film was so influential on every front. For science in science fiction, women in film, design in film and most likely budget. When in Berlin, we went to the Film Museum and this film, along with the other flagship silent era films, had some amazing exhibition. I was in my element. The art of the film and the robot part had the biggest influence on me and I think, back in college I wrote an essay on Metropolis and Fritz Lang, who was a creative genius.
Mostly Martha
After I saw the terrible poster for 'No Reservations', the US remake of the film, I found out from a friend's mum that this German original existed. It's miles better. The pacing, the acting, even the story feels better. A story about an uptight chef in a expensive restaurant who becomes the legal guardian of her niece after her sister dies. She has to cope with grief, becoming a parent and a new chef brought in to help out. It's brilliant drama, with a few added rom-com elements that don't smoosh up the flow of the story. One of my favourite scenes is between Martha and Mario (the new chef) when they are just starting to fall for each other, he blind folds her to do a taste test, it's actually quite sweet. I also wrote a comparison of the film against its remake, which you can have a look at
here for further reading.
