"Kurz und schmerzlos" or "Short Sharp Shock" is a German movie from almost 20 years ago and the language in here is German for the most part too with occasional exceptions doing justice to the characters' origins. Writer and director Faith Akin was only 25 when this one came out and after some short film work, it was his very first full feature film. Taking that into account, it is a decent effort I guess, but as a whole I was not convinced. The characters were not as interesting as I hoped they would be (apart from the breathtakingly sexy Idil Üner) and the effort this movie makes on an emotional level in terms of love and friendship also never really touched me. I cannot really put a finger on what exactly caused this as the acting was decent from start to finish. Maybe it was just me.
However, generally I like crime dramas/thrillers, but this one here did not feel right to me. I also wonder how police was absent from start to finish with everything that happened in here. Akin already works with actors that would keep appearing in his films throughout his entire career. Moritz Bleibtreu, however, was not present yet. Two years later, Akin made "Im Juli." and this is when the two collaborated for the first time. But back to this one: Akin himself also has a minor role in here and it's not too uncommon that he also acts in his own works, at least back then it was. All in all the plot never had me at the edge of my seat, maybe also because I somewhat disliked Kurtulus' character and that surely wasn't intended. The negative outweighs the positive and that is why I do not recommend "Kurz und schmerzlos". Thumbs down.
However, generally I like crime dramas/thrillers, but this one here did not feel right to me. I also wonder how police was absent from start to finish with everything that happened in here. Akin already works with actors that would keep appearing in his films throughout his entire career. Moritz Bleibtreu, however, was not present yet. Two years later, Akin made "Im Juli." and this is when the two collaborated for the first time. But back to this one: Akin himself also has a minor role in here and it's not too uncommon that he also acts in his own works, at least back then it was. All in all the plot never had me at the edge of my seat, maybe also because I somewhat disliked Kurtulus' character and that surely wasn't intended. The negative outweighs the positive and that is why I do not recommend "Kurz und schmerzlos". Thumbs down.