Why you're watching the wrong Christian Petzold films

Plumbing the murky and anodyne depths of German modernity, Christian Petzold – leading light of the Berlin School; protege of artist-filmmaker Harun Farocki – has a bafflingly uneven reputation. The highs are thrilling and poised; the lows, schlocky and off-note. Why so inconsistent? To separate the sauer from the succulent, the boys – joined by George MacBeth – set out on a long-distance road trip through the autobahns and service stations that have provided such weirdly compelling settings for his filmmaking – a journey that makes pit-stops at the great (Afire, Gespenster), the so-so (Jerichow, Cuba Libre), and the wurst (Barbara, Phoenix, Transit, Undine). With a career bookended by moments of brilliance we celebrate a true return to form.