The Lives of Others (2006, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

I am not even going to copy past the plot summary for this one from IMDB or even write my own plot synopsis for it.

Every once in awhile there is a movie so good, so perfect, so entertaining that I really just think that the less someone knows about it going in, the better the experience of watching it is going to be like.

I had this experience with The Lives of Others. I really didn't know much about the film but jsut heard that everyone seemed to love it to death who had seen it. So, I saw it at my video store and rented it. i didnt read the back cover and just watched it and waited to see what all the fuss was about.

There comes a point in this film where I just felt "wow. I am watching something amazing right now" and this came to me in the first 30 minutes of the film. Everything that followed was far better that I could have imagined it to be. It really is a perfect film and a very entertaining watch which contains some of the most memorable scenes from the past couple of years.

I really did love the hell out of this one. Even though the film has a lengthy running time I was never bored. I was always entertained by what I saw and I was always admiring every bit of it from the direction, the script, the cinematography, the sets, to the amazing subtle acting from the cast. It's just all so damn good. It's also a major plus knowing that this all came from a first time director. I have strong faith that this director will be a big name to look out for in the future.

Watch it and be wowed by it as well as everyone else has been. You will just feel like recommending it everyone you know who will be open to a film with subtitles and has a little bit of patience.

It is without a doubt one of the best films from last year.

- A+