Diane Krueger
“IN THE FADE” My rating: B+
106 minutes | MPAA rating: R
“In the Fade” may get a bit fuzzy around the edges, but its center is as solid as an anvil.
German actress Diane Kruger is utterly compelling in writer/director Fatih Akin’s tale of a woman attempting to come to terms with the terrorist killing of her husband and son. Even when the film threatens to bog down in courtroom cliches, Krueger’s fierce/fragile performance holds us in its grasp.
Small wonder the role won her best actress honors at last spring’s Cannes Film Festival. (“In the Fade” also won a Golden Globe as best foreign language film, which raises the question of why it hasn’t gotten a theatrical run here in Kansas City…but that’s another story.)
The picture begins with cellphone footage of the German prison wedding of convicted drug dealer Nuri (Numan Acar) to party-girl hottie Katja (Kruger).
It then cuts to the couple’s post-prison life. Years later we find them blissfully wed, parents to six-year-old son Rocco (Rafael Santana), and operating a thriving small business in Homburg. Nuri’s criminal past is a distant memory. They appear to be model citizens. (more…)
