Two to One (12A)

(Subtitled) Infrequent strong language

The heist sub-genre is one that  feels like it’s been mined to death. So it comes as a surprise to find this German-language comedy has found a new angle.

A group of people in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) - or East Germany as we knew it - in 1990, with reunification a few days away, discover an old storage depot with tons of abandoned and soon-to-be-worthless ostmarks, and not much time left for sneakily exchanging them for deutschemarks at the accepted (and humiliating) rate of two to one.

Sandra Hüller plays a woman called Maren who, with husband Robert (Max Riemelt), leads the plan while Ronald Zehrfeld plays Volker, with whom Maren has some emotional history.

First the scam revolves around discreetly buying up consumer items such as microwaves from door-to-door salesmen who still accept ostmarks and reselling them. There’s also a plot point about using the cash to revive the old factory for the community’s benefit – so the film’s audience understands that the characters are not just greedy. Sandra Huller again excels (when does she not?), and elevates this somewhat slight, Ealing-esque caper to greater heights