Darkroom

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Lars, a male nurse from Saarbrücken, moves with his lover Roland to Berlin. They renovate an apartment with the intention of finally living together. Their happiness seems almost complete. What Roland doesn't know: while secretly checking out Berlin's night life, Lars is experimenting with a deadly poison.

Director, author, painter and LGBT-activist Rosa von Praunheim has a resume of some 150 films under his belt, stretching back to 1968, with last year's Darkroom his most recent work.

The film is based on the very real case of Berlin serial killer "Dirk P", who committed a string of murders in spring 2012, information on which is surprisingly scant (I could find only a couple of articles on the case). Viewers will also be reminded of the more recent case of Stephen Port in London.

With a non-linear narrative, Darkroom jumps around, depicting the before, during and after of male nurse Lars' (Bozidar Kocevski) murderous spree.

Whilst parts of the movie work, Darkroom is less than the sum of its pieces. It's the "after" portions - largely courtroom scenes - of the movie that most undermine it. Stagey and faintly comedic, they're in sharp contrast to the dark scenes of murder. They sap energy away from the forward thrust of the narrative; if not handled with a deft hand, courtroom scenes kill drama.

There's problems elsewhere too. The stageyness extends itself to some of the design: one room is constantly redressed to represent different locations, with some seriously ropey green screen used to change the view out of the window. There are numerous ukulele numbers, which some viewers may find distressing.

The cast is good, although Kocevski is somewhat impenetrable as Lars. Bardo Böhlefeld is eyecatching as doomed Bastian.

Darkroom isn't a dud, but compared to the likes of the slick My Friend Dahmer, it's a bit messy, and less than satisfying.

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"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." Jean Cocteau, French filmmaker, 1889-1963

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