Fabian oder der Gang vor die Hunde

Dominik Graf's Erich Kästner adaptation first takes us to present-day Berlin, where the camera dives into the underground, only to reappear in Berlin in 1931 in a marvellous cross-fade. The film narrative follows the book very closely, with a voice-over narrating the story of Jakob Fabian, the German studies graduate and distanced contemporary witness, who explores the Berlin nights, visits extravagant artists' studios, illegal bars and brothels, loses his unloved job as an advertising copywriter, falls in love with a budding film actress and loses her to a producer, experiences the suicide of his best friend and has to admit his own failure.