LIFE IS ALL YOU GET

LIFE IS ALL YOU GET occurs in modern Berlin, and is as much an ode to the citizens of that metropolis in transition as it is a seriocomic love story. While on his way to work, Jan, a young laborer, has the bad luck to get entangled in a street brawl. Two men whom he beats up quite thoroughly turn out to be plainclothes police officers. What could be worse than a possible jail sentence hanging over the hero's head? Her name is Vera, a beautiful woman whom Jan encounters on that same day. Though they're attracted to one another, their affair is strained, by overcautiousness on his part, evasion and possible promiscuity on hers. Cold War fortifications may have come down throughout the once-divided German capital, but another Wall still stands as far as Jan and Vera are concerned: the DMZ between the sexes, where escape routes and checkpoint are not so clearly indicated as a man like Jan would hope. Bring somebody special, if not your passport, to Wolfgang Becker's working-class romantic comedy of cops, misunderstandings, meat and the German method of sizing up your partner for better or for wurst. (In German with English subtitles)