Mini Bar (2008)

Directed by: Remco Packbiers | 38 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Martijn Nieuwerf, Barbara Horvath, Lars Eidinger, Manja Topper, Juud Doorman, Herman van Ulzen, Remco Packbiers, Mathias Kopetzki, Svatnje Wascher, Monika Reineck, Uwe Sudhoff, Jens Umlauf, Ferdinand Ernst Weronig, Bettina Lohmeyer, Stephan Holzmann, Michael Arndt-Gastaud, Harald Polzin, Irina Kastrinidis, Volker Heckel, Hüsim Serkan Sahan, Jonas Helm, Carsten Paschke, Janek Schäfer

David Lammers made an impression with his film ‘Langer light’, which premiered in 2006. Born in 1972, who graduated from the Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, saw his graduation production ‘The last day of Alfred Maassen’ selected for the student film program of the Cannes Festival. In Utrecht this film won a Golden Calf for best short film. Together with Remco Packbiers, he wrote the screenplay for ‘Minibar’, a short feature film that belongs in the third edition of One Night Stand, in which promising young directors and screenwriters are given the opportunity to showcase their talents. Packbiers, seven years older, also studied at the Dutch Film and Television Academy, but focused on documentary directing. Both young filmmakers wrote the screenplay for ‘Minibar’, Lammers left the direction to his colleague. Nevertheless, Lammers’ stamp on ‘Minibar’ is clearly present. The characters are not only filmed close to the skin, but also shown in their environment, whereby the viewer sometimes attaches more value to chance encounters than necessary. Just like in real life, in which you also meet people, whom you will not see again later.

The setting of ‘Minibar’ is contemporary Berlin, although a bit more of the city could have been shown. The director himself lives in the popular city, and his work there shows similarities with the job that one of the protagonists, Roman, has: providing music for art events, in combination with video or spoken word. It is this artistic milieu from which Packbiers got his inspiration, and he allows his main characters to wander in this environment. Roman and Hanna live together, but seem further apart than ever. When Hanna is sick on the couch and wants to cuddle with Roman, he prefers to retire to his chair to read his book, something Hanna says he has all day for. The approaching Christmas hangs over the couple like a sword of Damocles.

At the beginning of the film we see how Roman and Hanna have a telephone conversation about this in half-German/half-Dutch with, what later turns out to be a brother of Hanna. Originally the intention was to celebrate the holidays together, but Roman’s mother wants to be with her son and his girlfriend. It turns out that there is no place in Hanna’s brother’s house for Roman’s mother to spend the night and the problem is pushed forward by the couple. But as the days shorten and Christmas approaches, it becomes more and more clear that Roman’s mother’s sleeping place isn’t the only—and certainly not the biggest—problem between Hanna and Roman.

‘Minibar’ is an excerpt from a relationship, set against a larger perspective: the environment of the couple struggling with relationship problems. By not only focusing on the relationship, the bond with the two main characters is less, in any case Martijn Nieuwerf portrays an annoying, egocentric individual with his portrayal of Roman. That sweet Hanna actually deserves better. At the end of the film, you as a viewer didn’t become much wiser and although it is difficult to explain why, ‘Minibar’ is like one of those chance encounters that you soon forget.