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Karl Marx City

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Karl Marx City
Film poster
Directed byMichael Tucker
Petra Epperlein
Written byMichael Tucker
Petra Epperlein
Produced byMichael Tucker
Petra Epperlein
StarringPetra Epperlein
Christa Epperlein
Narrated byPetra Epperlein[1]
CinematographyMichael Tucker
Music byAlexander Kliment
Distributed byBond/360
Release date
  • 16 March 2017 (2017-03-16)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguagesGerman
English
Box office$41,070[2]

Karl Marx City is a 2017 German documentary film, written, produced and directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein. The film was premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Synopsis

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After her father commits suicide in 1999, filmmaker Petra Epperlein journeys through the former East Germany in search of answers.

Cast

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  • Christa Epperlein
  • Douglas Selvage
  • Hubertus Knabe
  • Petra Epperlein
  • Udo Grashoff
  • Uwe Epperlein
  • Volker Epperlein

Reception

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 26 critics, with an average rating of 8/10.[3] On Metacritic, Karl Marx City has an above average score of 73 out of a 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4]

A.O. Scott of The New York Times called the documentary "unsettling" and added that "[it] is a smart, highly personal addition to the growing syllabus of distressingly relevant cautionary political tales".[5]

Scott Tobias of Variety has compared the film's atmosphere to the one of today.[6]

Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter, following the film's screening at Toronto International Film Festival, wrote: "a key joy of Karl Marx City is its strong, arty aesthetic".[7]

Slant Magazine's Jake Cole said that the lead heroine (Petra Epperlein), "[who have] personal ties to the subject matter[,] provides the documentary with a necessary anchor point".[8]

Ella Taylor of NPR wrote that "[the film] suffers now and then from the same breathy tendency to overdramatize already incendiary material that marred Epperlein and Tucker's 2005 Iraq doc[umentary] Gunner Palace.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Chang, Justin (20 April 2017). "Review: 'Karl Marx City' chillingly revisits life in the shadow of East Germany". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Karl Marx City". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Karl Marx City (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Karl Marx City (2017)". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  5. ^ Scott, A.O. (28 March 2017). "Review: 'Karl Marx City' Revisits the Everyday Terror of Dictatorship". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  6. ^ Tobias, Scott (21 September 2016). "Film Review: 'Karl Marx City'". Variety.
  7. ^ Dalton, Stephen (11 September 2016). "'Karl Marx City': Film Review - TIFF 2016". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  8. ^ Cole, Jake (26 March 2017). "Review: Karl Marx City". Slant Magazine.
  9. ^ Taylor, Ella (30 March 2017). "In The Documentary 'Karl Marx City,' A Grim But Enlightening Homecoming". NPR. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
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