LKA investigator Murot falls for a con artist and is confronted with his past. In the latest concept thriller from Wiesbaden, everything revolves around the eponymous karma. You can read how well this works here.
What is happening?
During a nightcap after a well-paid and not entirely official presentation to insurance managers, Commissioner Murot (Ulrich Tukur) starts dating an attractive young lady at the hotel bar: as a man of the world and who understands almost everything, the LKA investigator has a few particularly good ideas for her Scrabble – and doesn’t notice how the woman pours knockout drops into his red wine. The next day, Murot wakes up in his hotel room with no memory of the previous evening, but above all without a wallet.
The inspector would prefer to keep the embarrassing incident a secret from his colleague Wächter (Barbara Philipp), which turns out to be difficult: that same night, the IT expert of a multimillion-dollar and suspicious investment company was murdered in the same hotel – and on the recordings of the Surveillance cameras make it appear that Murot’s seductress and the murderess are one and the same person. But that’s not all: for the inspector, the femme fatale is also a window into the past.
What is it really about?
“Murot and the Law of Karma” already has its actual message in the title: Everything is somehow connected to everything else, good deeds have good consequences. And vice versa. Nevertheless, the film is much less experimental than its predecessors.
Zapp-Moment?
As is so often the case with Murot, that depends very much on what you want to see: Anyone expecting a classic Sunday thriller will probably turn off the Wiesbaden investigator at some point – albeit a little later than usual. Because the makers at Hessischer Rundfunk seem to be the loud criticism part of the audience: The film is not nearly as wacky and offbeat as the zombie hunt from “Attack on Guard 08” and other earlier productions.
Wow-Factor?
The holiday film that is shown at the beginning and alludes to young Murot and his love at the time does not come from old archives. But from YouTube: cameraman Max Preiss discovered it on the channel of a Dutch couple who shot the film in Super 8 and put it online.
How was it?
8.5 out of 10 points. “Murot and the Law of Karma” may not be the strongest film starring the Wiesbaden investigator, but it is still a real pearl in the thicket of German Sunday thrillers. In addition to the strong ensemble, the light-dark lighting concept of the aforementioned Emmy award winner Max Preiss contributes to the harmonious atmosphere.
