We will ever see Tom Tykwer in the cinema again. This question is likely to have employed some film fans in recent years, since he recently put his creativity almost completely into the emergence of the history series Babylon Berlin. A look at his filmography reveals: Tykwer has not been present in the cinema since 2016.
A hologram for the king was the last canvas excursion of the filmmaker, who not only rushed the German cinema with Lola, but also caused a sensation at an international level. This was followed by considerable successes such as the perfume, The International and finally the cooperation with the Wachowski sisters.
For a moment it looked like Tom Tykwer had prescribed his life Babylon Berlin
Tykwers Werdegang is an unprecedented person who is bursting with ambitions and has shown us a curious cinema that we do not know from Germany. And even when he moved near Hollywood, his (co-) direction amazed. The epochal cloud atlas, which he turned with the Wachowskis, is the best example of this.
After 2016, it still looked like he was completely sunk into Babylon Berlin. No wonder the mammoth project is unique in Germany in its dimension and has now produced four seasons with a total of 40 episodes – the next extension has already been pronounced. Babylon Berlin continues.
As a series creator, director, screenwriter, producer and (!) Composer, Tykwer has been significantly involved in numerous areas of huge production since the beginning of the series. Sufficient tasks to devour the next few years of his life. What prompted him to return to the cinema for the light?
With the light, Tom Tykwer celebrates his big canvas comeback after nine years
The light is the big opening film of the Berlinale 2025. At the press conference before the premiere, Tykwer looked back on Babylon Berlin and revealed why he absolutely wanted to make a film for the screen again:
We swam with Babylon Berlin for so many years through a time that was long ago and that we have observed through the eyes of our grandparents. I also found this insane to experience this historical environment through the eyes of my imagined grandparents. Then it happened to us – we haven’t really foreseen it – that there was this strange, increasing symmetry between the things that we report from a time that was so long ago and what is currently We formed, i.e. socially, socially and politically.
Tykwer also explains:
At some point this pressure has grown in me that I thought these were the grandparents. Sure, there are similarities that are always trying, but people [heute] are of course different. They are no longer our grandparents, let alone that our children would be that way. And our children – at least that of the generation that our film tells – they are already young adults. And it’s really different how we meet these things. I absolutely wanted this voice to be formulated because I suddenly found it to be lowered.
Look at the trailer for the light here:
The light – trailer (German) HD
No wonder that the light has become a film that is anchored in the here and now. The story revolves around a Berlin family that is progressively external. However, there is one thing above all within the home four walls: alienation. When the new housewife comes to the family, she not only cleans up in the living room, but also penetrates deeply into the oppressed feelings of the individual members.
The light celebrates its premiere this evening, February 13, 2025 as the opening film of this year’s Berlinale. The film regularly starts in the cinema on March 20, 2025.