Micha Meyer’s ‘Downfall’ tells the story of Ian, played by Timon Meyer, a young man who has difficulties sleeping and understanding his dreams. He never knows when he’s in a real-world situation and when he’s in a deep state of oneiric transgression. One day, Ian is with his friend Luca, played by Micha Meyer (who is also the director), and he tries to explain to him the whole process he’s been through. But the entire story gets perspective when Luca asks Ian if he remembers how they got there, if he remembers the road, the reason being that in dreams, you don’t know how you got there where the action of the dream is happening. Ian is trying his best to remember, and through this process, we get inside the dream.

 

‘Downfall’ combines influences from some of the greatest psychological-dream based movies of the past years. It ends up being a very good film with a tremendous twisted narrative that can easily impress even the most pretentious critic. Among others, we like two things in particular in this film. The script is engaging, proving in the end that a short can be intriguing and confusing at the same time, but the confusion is more like an assisted derail that needs to go south for the story to have meaning. Also, in this combination, we have to mention the main actor, Timon Meyer, who plays a significant role and succeeds in making the ending more cryptic than one may imagine. The constant struggle between real life and dream is an emotional seesaw that Meyer rides like a pro, making the viewer forget whether the dreams are real or the reality is a dream.

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‘Downfall’ can be seen as a portal that gets activated when the play button is pressed. What happens next is a journey that promises you very little in the beginning but gives you plenty in the end.

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Written by Vlad A. G