NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
"What's in a name?" Shakespeare's lofty question takes on new life in this savage comedy-a breakout hit in Germany-which raucously lampoons contemporary German attitudes, guilt and denials of the Nazi past. When Thomas (Florian David Fitz), the black sheep of a progressive middle-class academic family, surprises his siblings with the news that he intends to name his son Adolf, petty carnage ensues as personal, ideological and sexual histories are unmasked in this scintillating dark comedy. A breakout German box office hit (a noteworthy factoid deserving of its own cultural analysis), this send-up of social respectability and appearances shows as much of an awareness of Germany's current shifting political landscape and reactionary views as it does an understanding of the tense interpersonal dynamics between siblings and in-laws. With a marvelous screenplay that is biting, quick, frequently genuinely shocking and deserving of comparison to Yasmina Reza's best satiric plays, How About Adolf? is an enjoyable excursion into bourgeois infighting and mayhem. At this dinner table, sociability starts out as just a smile, and a smile is just teeth. - Tien-Tien L. Jong
Sönke Wortmann (Regie) wurde 1959 in Marl geboren. Er studierte an der Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film Münchenund am Royal College of Art in London. Sein Abschlussfilm DREI D wurde für den Studenten-Oscar nominiert. Mit derWG-Komödie ALLEIN UNTER FRAUEN gelang ihm 1991 der Kino-Einstand. Ein Jahr später erhielt er für KLEINE HAIE(1992) den Deutschen Filmpreis und die Auszeichnung für den besten Feature-Film beim World Film Festival in Montréal.