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Twelve years after his escape, career criminal Trojan returns to Berlin. A valuable painting is about to be stolen in the city. But the meticulously planned robbery quickly spirals out of control. Followed by Im Schatten (2010). At the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the audience was able to see how the professional criminal Trojan (Misel MATICEVIC) from IM SCHATTEN (2010) had to leave the capital for an indefinite period. The Trojan still operates in a fairly similar way: old-fashioned crimes such as the theft of tangible objects such as watches, cash and paintings. No connection to a mafia or clan structure, a lone fighter, only occasionally and out of necessity in the team! When a coup in the Ruhr does not go as planned, Trojan must return to Berlin to meet up with old contacts (Marie-Lou SELLEM). And indeed: together with three comrades (Tim SEYFI, Marie LEUENBERGER, Bilge BINGÜL), Trojan manages to steal a valuable painting by Caspar David FRIEDRICH. That’s when the trouble with the mysterious client Viktor (Alexander FEHLING) really begins… At the BERLINALE 2010, IM SCHATTEN by the Braunschweigian director Thomas ARSLAN had the effect of a long-awaited genre bomb. An exciting genre film made in Germany and told with the cinematographic means of the Berlin school. Extremely exciting, with sparse dialogues and explosive violent moments! ARSLAN apparently follows up without any problem with VERBRANNTE ERDE. Gangster films are still rare in German cinema. The images of cameraman Reinhold VORSCHNEIDER (also IM SCHATTEN) tell with cold precision of people who live in a ghost version of Germany. Dark places, in the shadow of nearby landscapes, and yet far from the perception of the police and the normal population. Berlin appears as a co-actor and adversary of the protagonists of the film. The sober music of the Norwegian composer Ola FLOTTUM (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, 2021) contributes a lot to this tense atmosphere. It shows a capital that you know and yet do not. Many viewers will be able to recognize this urban sprawl with all its roads from their own environment. Ghostly places very close to us: scorched earth in the shadows! Misel MATICEVIC (IN THE FACE OF CRIME / BABYLON BERLIN) is once again very convincing in the role of the Trojan horse, of which we will probably see more (Thomas ARSLAN is planning a kind of Trojan trilogy). GERMAN FILM AWARD nominee Marie Lou SELLEM (nominated for KNOCHEN UND NAMEN / BONES AND NAMES in 2024) is there as the icy mediator. But GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Alexander FEHLING (winner 2019 for DAS ENDE DER WAHRHEIT / THE END OF TRUTH) is terribly good and really doesn’t have to hide from classic villains like Klaus KINSKI and Michael FASSBENDER. Thomas ARSLAN doesn’t have to hide from classic villains like Klaus KINSKI and Michael FASSBENDER. want to take as much time with the third film in his Trojan trilogy as he did between 2010 and 2024. It’s still exciting!