The basic plot of Das Lied in mir (man/woman finds out he/she was adopted) has been done and redone a thousand times and the first half hour of the film does little to convince the viewer it is going to be any different. Most situations are predictable and the policeman subplot is hard to believe. But as the film progresses newcomer director Florian Cossen shows absolute control of the story, with subtle plot changes and charismatic characters, not to mention the spectacular photography and music. It really grows on you.Having seen my fair share of German movies in the last years I was also pleased in finding "new" faces in the cast - also excellent in the Argentinian side.

German screenwriter and director Florian M. Cossen's feature film debut which he co-wrote with German producer and screenwriter Elena von Saucken, is a German-Argentina co-production which was shot on location in Buenos Aires, Argentina and produced by Fabian Maubach and Jochen Laube. It tells the story about Maria, a 31-year old competitive swimmer from Germany who is traveling to Chile. Maria's plane makes a stop in Buenos Aires and while she is waiting on the airport, she recognizes a nursery rhyme playing on a radio and is so affected by it that she misses her plane to Chile and loses her passport. After finding herself a hotel in Argentina, Maria contacts the police about her passport and is told to wait. Maria is still intrigued by the song which reminded her of her childhood, but when she surprisingly encounters her father Anton at the hotel where she is staying, he makes a shocking revelation that changes her perception of her own identity.Acutely and precisely directed by first-time director Florian M. Cossen, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a humane portrayal of a woman's sudden confrontation with long kept secrets about her origins, her dedicated search for the truth about her family history and her relationship with her father. While notable for it's gritty and naturalistic urban milieu depictions, fine cinematography by German cinematographer and art direction by Victoría Pedemonte, this character-driven, dialog-driven, narrative-driven and conversational directorial debut which examines themes like identity, family relations, betrayal and love contains an efficient score by composer Matthias Klein.This humorous, romantic and poignantly atmospheric parable which depicts two merging and condensed studies of character, is impelled and reinforced by it's stringent narrative structure and the emphatic and involving acting performances by German actress Jessica Schwarzin, German actor and director Michael Gwisdek, Argentinian actor Rafael Ferro and Argentinian actress Beatriz Spelzini. A subtle, gripping and invariably engaging drama which gained, among other awards, the award for Best Cinematography Matthias Fleischer at the 31st Bavarian Film Awards in 2010, the Public Award for the most popular film and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 34th Montreal World Film Festival in 2010 and the award for Best Debut Film at the 32nd Biberach Film Festival in 2010.

"Das Lied in mir" (German title) is a pretty good movie. It features good actors in Jessica Schwarz and Rafael Ferro and a fitting (i.e reduced) cinematography to give the actors more room to develop their characters.Let's have a look at the plot: German citizen Maria is quite astonished, when she recognizes a Spanish children's song. She does not know any other Spanish. When she loses her passport in Buenos Aires, she has to stay there, in order to wait for police and embassy to sort this out.Her father joins her, apparently because he was so worried, about how his daughter sounded on the phone. But as we learn after he is dodging Maria's questions he is not her real father. She grew up in Buenos Aires was adopted and taken to Germany. And this is not the only lie that gets uncovered and keeps a good amount of suspense in this drama.While Maria searches for some of her real relatives and Jessica Schwarz is acting well as the distressed daughter she gets help from a cop (Rafael Ferro) who had a German-speaking grandma and can act as her interpreter. At the same time, the man she came to know as her father tries not to lose her completely.I liked the calm way the plot unfolds, while still having enough suspense and the succinct acting that I feel you get to see more in European productions these days. I think a lot of Hollywood movies are exaggerated and don't feel the least like real life, even if their stories pretend to be real life.Go and check out for yourself

I had the misfortune of having to watch this boring movie.The story has been told a thousand times before: a young adult discovers she was adopted and goes on the search for her real parents.Apart from the fact that this is no original idea for a movie any more (for 50 years I guess) this flick tops it by being extremely boring.Any of the gazillions cheap Sunday afternoon cable flicks showing you the exact same "hunt-for-real-parents" schmooze is better than this epic fail.Germans may make good cars, but they make lousy movies.Don't waste your time.