Jana
Liekam’s new employer is too big to like. Deutsche Global is one of Germany’s
largest investment banks, but they have recently been thrown off-stride by scandals
and bad investments. It represents a second chance for Liekam, who might just
save the bank, so she can help destroy it later in the German limited series Bad Banks (trailer here), directed by Christian Schwochow, the first two episodes of which screen during this year’s KINO!: Festival of German Films in New York.
Liekam
has just been fired from Luxembourg-based Credit International for making her
boss, Luc Jacoby, the chairman’s coked-up, entitled son look bad. Christelle
Leblanc, the firm’s director agrees this is unfair, but cautions Liekam she
must learn to play the game better. Thanks to her secret string-pulling, she
gets Liekam a tryout at Deutsche Global working for their hotshot investment
manager Gabriel Fenger. From time to time, Lebanc will supply Liekam with
timely “insider” information, but she makes it clear she wants highly
compromising information on Credit International in return.
Judging
from the in media res opening, the junk bonds will eventually hit the fan in a
big, panic-inducing way. Presumably, Liekam will play a major role in the
meltdown. Obviously, there is a lot of intrigue building behind the scenes, but
the first two episodes are relatively self-contained, thereby making a good
festival showcase.
Paula
Beer (so terrific in Ozon’s Frantz)
is well cast as Liekam. She can be quite forceful and even cynical, but it is clear
from her early breakdown, she probably has issues that will later come to the
fore. Barry Atsma is also wonderfully flamboyant as Fenger, a true child of
Gordon Gekko. May Duong Kieu also makes quite an impression as Thao Hoang,
Liekam’s new team-member, who will either be her uneasy ally or a femme fatale
rival, or something in between (just how their relationship shakes out will be
one of the series’ intriguing uncertainties). Marc Limpach is a clammy mess as
Jacoby the younger, but Jean Marc Barr promises plenty of steely skullduggery
as Deutsche Global’s chairman, Robert Khano.
Schwochow,
a veteran of both film and television, helms with style, hooking viewers right
from the start. He lays a good deal of groundwork in the first two episodes,
yet still manages to end each one in quite a satisfying manner. Hopefully, MHz
or someone will pick up Bad Banks,
because it is really smart and addictive television. Until then, the first two
episodes are highly recommended when they screen this Saturday (4/7) and next Thursday
(4/12), as part of KINO! 2018 in New York City.