"Tödliche Geheimnisse" (literal translation "Deadly Secrets") or "Deadly Leaks" is a German television movie from 2016 directed by American filmmaker Sherry Hormann and written by fairly experienced television script creator Florian Öller. However, experience does not pay off in this case, be it for him or for the performers in front of the camera here. We'll get to them in a minute, first a bit more about the basics. The film runs for 105 minutes approximately, which is unusually long because most other TV movies here in Germany only run for 90 minutes exactly most of the time. But they thought, with such a big-name cast at hand why not include another quarter of an hour I suppose. So yes the likes of Nina Kunzendorf, Sabine Timoteo, Katja Riemann, Oliver Masucci and Paula Beer you usually don't see on the small screen. Partially true about Anke Engelke too I suppose nowadays, even if this is the medium that made her famous. So the basics looked promising you could say, well unless you have seen some of these performers in other projects. Engelke I like and it's tough to say something negative about her really if she holds her own so well as a comedian originally now next to trained serious drama actresses. Then again, these are not particularly good. Kunzendorf (totally looks like the actress on Matt Leblanc's Episodes) has 3 different face expressions max from beginning to end here and she is the only real lead. Enough said. Riemann as always has a good moment here and there, but also as always struggles with hitting the right notes and goes way too frequently over the top with her performance in her desperate attempts to achieve relevance. Masucci I like too as an actor, but in this film he disappointed me. His meltdown when the phone rang did not feel authentic at all and while he is better later on he simply does not have the amount of screen time to really make an impact given his character's story line. Paula Beer is completely wasted. Really a shame, she is such a talented young actress leading Petzold films these days and so on, also making waves internationally and when she is at her best she is nothing short of the best the other actresses here have to offer despite not even being half their age. Disgraceful what they did with her, they should have cast somebody who is as limited as the character was written that she is portraying. There are more known names like Hülk, Scheicher and Ferydony that German film buffs have come across certainly in other projects, but their roles weren't big enough either to elaborarte on them in detail.
Now as for the story, this takes us into the world of the rich, famous and influential. At least this is what the film wants us to think. Sadly most of the talent involved here, or lack thereof, especially when it comes to script writing, makes itg ridiculous to watch occasionally and not in a good way. Dialogue writing is of course always a crucial component. And it was not handled well here. Let me just state one qucik example from very early on when we have Kunzendorf's character talk to somebody else who is from a certain organisation. She mentions the name of the organisation to him in a way where it sounds as if the man did not know where he belongs to, but this really was just a very clumsy attempt to introduce said important organisation to the audience that we remember the name. Really messy how this was done. It may only seem like a little factor, but it is these snippets who make a difference between a good (crime) thriller and a weak one. This would not happen in a film directed by Ben Affleck for example. Anyway, it is kinda shocking to see for me that they even made a sequel to this one here, so I suppose many people watched it probably because of all the big names and despite how messy the screenplay was. I have zero intention to check out this sequel anytime soon judging from what I saw here. The takes on corruption (Engelke's character at the end) were also not really competent and it also did feel a bit predictable. Apart from that, the open ending I liked. I am not really sure if they already knew there would be a sequel or if they just did it like that intentionally seeing it as an actual ending. However, I have a bit of a feeling they messed up the connection at the beginning of the sequel. But it isn't important anyway because you should skip this first film already. I give it a thumbs-down. No matter which genre you focus on in here, family drama, crime thriller, eco-drama... it is not a success. Watch something else instead.
Now as for the story, this takes us into the world of the rich, famous and influential. At least this is what the film wants us to think. Sadly most of the talent involved here, or lack thereof, especially when it comes to script writing, makes itg ridiculous to watch occasionally and not in a good way. Dialogue writing is of course always a crucial component. And it was not handled well here. Let me just state one qucik example from very early on when we have Kunzendorf's character talk to somebody else who is from a certain organisation. She mentions the name of the organisation to him in a way where it sounds as if the man did not know where he belongs to, but this really was just a very clumsy attempt to introduce said important organisation to the audience that we remember the name. Really messy how this was done. It may only seem like a little factor, but it is these snippets who make a difference between a good (crime) thriller and a weak one. This would not happen in a film directed by Ben Affleck for example. Anyway, it is kinda shocking to see for me that they even made a sequel to this one here, so I suppose many people watched it probably because of all the big names and despite how messy the screenplay was. I have zero intention to check out this sequel anytime soon judging from what I saw here. The takes on corruption (Engelke's character at the end) were also not really competent and it also did feel a bit predictable. Apart from that, the open ending I liked. I am not really sure if they already knew there would be a sequel or if they just did it like that intentionally seeing it as an actual ending. However, I have a bit of a feeling they messed up the connection at the beginning of the sequel. But it isn't important anyway because you should skip this first film already. I give it a thumbs-down. No matter which genre you focus on in here, family drama, crime thriller, eco-drama... it is not a success. Watch something else instead.
