The largely improvisational dramatic comedy "Lügen und andere Wahrheiten (Lies)" is a nice showcase for the actors and, owing to its unscripted nature, often captures a lively intimacy in relaxed atmosphere that's seldom seen in German cinema. However, without a more concrete road map to hold it in place, the movie soon falls out of focus and hangs in midair like a cosy but vain drifting exercise.
Director Vanessa Jopp devotes her attention to a group of loosely connected characters and how the dynamic between them changes with lies, half-truths, withheld information. The former she does pretty well, drawing us into a circle of friends, neighbors, lovers, making us believe and warm up to their ticks and quirks. The latter pursuit is not quite so successful, as the story becomes hopelessly bloated in the middle and a thematic cohesion can only be found with reluctance. The ending, abrupt in a rather gracelessly truncated way, is just one of the related symptoms. The cast is more than solid. Meret Becker and Florian David Fitz, especially, register detailed emotional fluctuations through minute muscular and manneristic control, proving they have no trouble playing goofy and destroyed.
Easily agreeable with a bohemian sway but eventually too slight and contrived, this movie remains enjoyable on a superficial level but doesn't really get any point across.
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