Nachtasyl: A bleak night you might want to skip

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Probably not, unless you have a weird itch to see how they filmed misery in the early days of cinema. If you enjoy movies that feel like a cold, wet towel hitting you in the face for an hour, go right ahead. People who need a plot that actually moves will likely hate this. It’s static. It’s stiff. It just sits there.

Ferdinand Diehl is in it, which is the only reason I even clicked play. He carries a weight that the rest of the production just can’t seem to match. Sometimes it feels like he’s acting in a completely different movie while everyone else is just reading their lines off the wall.

The mood is everything

Everything in Nachtasyl feels like it’s covered in a thick layer of coal dust. The lighting is harsh, then it disappears entirely into weird shadows. It makes the whole shelter feel like a cage.

There is this one moment where someone is just staring at a wall for what feels like five whole minutes. It isn’t deep. It isn’t a metaphor. It’s just… a guy staring. I checked my watch twice. I think I checked my email, too.

• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had never actually heard two people talking in a real room.
• The props look like they were dragged out of a dumpster ten minutes before the camera started rolling.
• I’m pretty sure I saw a spider web in the corner of the set that the crew just decided to leave in.

Watching this made me think about Hindle Wakes, which at least had the decency to be about something other than just suffering. Or maybe I’m just grumpy because the pacing is so uneven. It’s like the editor fell asleep at the wheel halfway through a reel.

The whole thing feels like a stage play that was forced to be a movie, and the transition didn't take well. It’s trapped. It’s claustrophobic. And yet, I couldn’t help but notice the way the light hit the floorboards in the final act. Totally useless detail, I know. But it’s the only thing that stuck. 🕯️

Don’t go in expecting a thrill. It’s just a long, slow exhale of a film. Sometimes that’s enough, but today? Not really.