Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Jahrgang '45", which means "Born in '45" (also the international title), is an East German movie from 1966, so it has its 50th anniversary this year. It is still in black-and-white (not too common anymore at this point) and runs for 100 minutes. The writer and director is Jürgen Böttcher, still alive today and he has been a successful painter and short film maker for decades and this movie here is his rare shot at full feature film. I don't know what the exact reason is why this did not turn out so well. It's certainly not lack of experience, maybe just lack of experience when it comes to long movies. The two main characters, a couple that can't decide if they want to be together or not, are played by Monika Hildebrand and Rolf Römer. And this is also the somewhat only positive aspect of the film. Hildebrand is absolutely gorgeous and beautiful to watch from start to finish. I really wonder why she would want to be with Römer's character. And he is the one who wants to end the relationship on several occasions. This does not make any sense. Not any at all that he would decide to leave a woman like this. Anyway, the film and Böttcher's approach are clearly inspired by the French black-and-white films (and the big names who made them) from this time, but it all feels unrefined from start to finish and there is a certain air of brilliance and simplicity missing in order to be on par with his idols. I do not recommend the watch overall. Hildebrand alone is not enough to let me give a thumbs-up here.
