The Man on the Other Side

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source: The Man on the Other Side

I'd love to rate this higher. Mari Bensel is captivating and easily the best part of the film. Hard to believe that her character thinks of herself as 'plain'. She's anything but. The camera work is good, and the acting is fine all around. The choice of a love interest for Ms. Bensel may leave viewers shaking their heads though. She and her lover make the oddest-looking odd couple the screen as seen in a long, long time. There are some good things in this film. Alas, both the plot and the plot devices aren't among them. While the set-up that leads to the action is understandable and, perhaps, even believable, from then on anyone over the age of three can tell what's really going on and how it will play out. It's that obvious. Oh, and the plot holes.... too numerous to mention (for a spy movie, it seems the dumbest spies in the world were chosen to tell their tale) reduce the potential tension in the film to a whole lot of 'hey, what about???' moments. The worst part? The 'McGuffin', the reason or driving force behind all the action, is left in the wrong hands for any kind of resolution. Enjoyed Mari Bensel from start to finish, but this film strained credibility way too many times.

I totally agree with two of the reviews of this film. Mari Bensel totally owns this movie as Sophie Zimmerman, the secretary embroiled in East/West espionage in the 70's. An easy way to hide the seventies setting is to set most of the film in one place, i.e a holding cell. The other leads are also good, just a shame you kind of knew what was going to happen. Sophie, trust nobody.

Should have been titled "I love Dieter". I understand that this is a small-budget production and a small story about a Sophie, a secretary turned into spying for love, but despite the decent performance of the actors involved, it feels more like a doomed love story with a background of spying than a Cold War spy story. Besides, it is quite clear from the setting that the Englishman is none too clean himself... just as Sophie should get some info out of him, he could be planted next door to do the same. If it wasn't clear enough, several frames show him in a sinister light and you can add all that stuff about women being too ready to trust as a dead giveaway. As mentioned, way too much lovey-dovey stuff between Sophie and Dieter, lack of tension, tired situations like hitting the bad guy only once instead of taking care of knocking him off for good and silly ending. Barely worth a watch.

I was pleasantly surprised with the rich storyline this movie came with. It was unusual for an asian director to even attempt a spy genre, but he expertly injected the mental and emotional struggles of his characters amidst a trying dark time in that part of the world, that i yearned for more. A sequel on Sophie should be considered.

Why doesn't Netflix have this on their platform? It's the perfect film for their demographics. Spy Thriller, 80s style, Gritty. Despite the low budget, the film has an intelligent story to tell about the Cold War between East and West Germany, and the emotional toil it inflicts on people. Far better than those big, loud, annoying action films. The lead actress Mari Bensel carries the film with a strong, gutwrenching performance. Scenes are set in limited places, but works well for the story they are telling. Good footage of gritty, industrialised East Germany.

Not a bad story but not unique. I have to remove a few points: one for being predictable; one for poor action sequences (not much action- the story didn't need it); one for incompetent bad guy moving in slow motion; one for incompetent and protagonist (the very tired cliché of failing to take advantage of the bad guy being stunned... for the love of God, take his gun while he's knocked out); and one for a careless ending and pretending there was a surprise.

source: The Man on the Other Side

Should have been titled "I love Dieter". I understand that this is a small-budget production and a small story about a Sophie, a secretary turned into spying for love, but despite the decent performance of the actors involved, it feels more like a doomed love story with a background of spying than a Cold War spy story. Besides, it is quite clear from the setting that the Englishman is none too clean himself... just as Sophie should get some info out of him, he could be planted next door to do the same. If it wasn't clear enough, several frames show him in a sinister light and you can add all that stuff about women being too ready to trust as a dead giveaway. As mentioned, way too much lovey-dovey stuff between Sophie and Dieter, lack of tension, tired situations like hitting the bad guy only once instead of taking care of knocking him off for good and silly ending. Barely worth a watch.