KISMET: THE DUCK, THE DOG, AND THE DEAD WHORE

Though it is best known here as the title of a fluffy Broadway musical, the word “kismet” is much older. It is Arabic for ?inescapable fate,? as you will learn when you watch with fascination as a web of destiny, conspiracy, and coincidence ensnares idealistic law student Thomas one night in Cologne. In a park he stumbles across the grisly sight of a lifeless woman and a suicidal Turk holding a knife. While Thomas tries to talk volatile immigrant ?Tony? out of committing another heinous crime, the neophyte lawyer's cast-off girlfriend Christine takes to darkened streets in search of him. The wily Tony's desperate pleas propel Thomas on a hair-raising nocturnal odyssey, and over the next few hours the intersecting paths of Thomas, Tony, Christine, and Thomas' mentor, a lonely judge, trace a course through the city's underworld of cutthroats, bars, bordellos, bisexuals, skinheads, and the funniest animal-abuse subplot since “There's Something About Mary.” KISMET's snakeskin-sinister and darkly-comic view of the human condition and manipulation make it one of the CIFF's most tempting baubles, bangles, or bright shiny beads. (In German with English subtitles.)