Event

SLIFF - The Fourth State

The Fourth State (Die vierte Macht)

Dennis Gansel, Germany, 2012, 115 min., English, Russian, German & Chechen

Sunday, Nov. 11, 9:30 p.m., Hi-Pointe

Award-winning director Dennis Gansel ("Before the Fall") delivers a sharp political thriller in "The Fourth State." In the throes of a life crisis, culture journalist Paul Jensen (Moritz Bleibtreu of "Run, Lola, Run") flees Berlin to bring fresh impetus to a Russian tabloid magazine in Moscow run by his mentor, Alexei Onegin (Rade Serbedzija). Paul's métier is gossip about the rich and famous of Russia, and he easily helps restore the magazine to its former glory and higher circulation. His life becomes one big party before he meets a beautiful Russian activist, Katja (Polish model-turned-actress Kasia Smutniak). She persuades him to run a politically motivated obituary in his magazine, an act that triggers a series of rapid-fire events in Paul's life. Left to his own devices and on the run in the merciless Russian metropolis, Paul soon realizes that he must face his own past to uncover a political conspiracy.