thFilmFestival Cottbus despite – or was it because of? – its sci-fi flavour,
Erdem Tepegöz s
In the Shadows takes the cinematic rule that nothing good happens in derelict mines, ever, and proves it right once again. Controlled by a faceless surveillance system, a group of empty-eyed people obey orders delivered by a muffled voice from a box, telling them to “go back to their machines”. Just as they have been doing for years, until one of them (
Numan Acar, of
Homeland fame) starts getting increasingly suspicious after spotting an error or two in the infrastructure that was supposed to be infallible. According to another cinematic rule, once you start questioning things, there is no going back. Certainly not back to your machine.