''Frankfurt Millennium'' (german: Das Frankfurter Kreuz) is a 1998 drama film directed by

Romuald Karmakar Romuald Karmakar (born February 15, 1965) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany as the son of a Bengali father and a French mother. From 1977 to 1982 he lived in Athens. He has won several national ...

and starring

Michael Degen Michael Degen (31 January 1928 – 9 April 2022) was a German-Israeli actor, in film and theatre, as well as a theatre director and writer. Early life Born in Chemnitz as the younger son of Jewish parents, Degen survived the Holocaust in Berlin ...

Manfred Zapatka Manfred Zapatka (born 2 October 1942 in Bremen, Germany) is a German actor. Early life Zapatka completed his ''abitur'' at Clemens-August-Gymnasium in Cloppenburg in 1962. Selected filmography *1964: ' *1978: ''Germany in Autumn'' ''(Deutschlan ...

and

Jochen Nickel Jochen Nickel (born 10 April 1959) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than 160 films and TV series since 1988. Life Nickel, a trained road builder, came to the stage in 1981 and was a member of the theater group Theaterpathologisches In ...

. Conceived as part of the 2000, Seen By... project, the film is a German and French co-production.

Plot

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

in 1999, a group of regulars meet at the Frankfurt Junction, a bar in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. There, they engage in a conversation about why they are unhappy with their lives.

Cast

as Walter *

as Harry *

as Mannie

Production

The French company Haut et Court's producers Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta initiated 2000, Seen By..., to produce films depicting the approaching turn of the millennium seen from the perspectives of 10 different countries. Karmakar adapted the

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

''Für eine Mark und Acht'' by Jörg Fauser for the project.

Reception

TV Spielfilm ''TV Spielfilm'' is a biweekly German programme guide which has been published regularly since 1990. The focus is on the presentation of feature films in the programme. Until 2005, the publishing group Verlagsgruppe Milchstrasse was the publish ...

'' gave the film a positive review, citing its sarcasm and calling it dismal, in a nice way. ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' critic Ted Shen credited Karmakar with "efficiently pacing haracters'monologues and dialogues while disclosing fine shades of surliness".

References

External links

*
Frankfurt Millenium
at Haut et Court 1998 films 1990s German-language films Films set in Frankfurt French drama films German drama films Films based on radio series 1990s German films 1990s French films Films directed by Romuald Karmakar Films set around New Year {{1990s-Germany-film-stub