Alpha City

A lethal obsession

With "Der Fan" (1982) director Eckhart Schmidt had created an interesting type of cold thriller with 80s German New Wave pop music. "Alpha City" is probably the best among the bunch of his movies which followed "Der Fan". Shot in Berlin entirely at night, "Alpha City" tells the story of young Raphaela (Isabelle Gutzwiller) who is stalked by Frank (Claude-Oliver Rudolph) and falls in love with an American killer (Al Corley). Carried by a frantic, seemingly uncontrollable Rudolph and a beautiful Isabelle Gutzwiller who reminds me a bit of Mathilda May here (including the gratuitous nudity), the main attraction of "Alpha City" is nonetheless the vision of a city that does not exist during daytime, much more a fantasy film than a whodunit. So, if you are the kind of person that listens to David Bowie after midnight or thinks walking in neon-light beats candlelight dinners anytime, this is for you. (IMDB)