Twelve years after his escape, the professional criminal Trojan returns to Berlin. A valuable painting is to be stolen in the city. But the meticulously planned robbery soon gets out of control. This is followed by "In the Shadows" (2010). During the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, viewers were able to see how the professional criminal Trojan (Misel MATICEVIC) from IN THE SHADOW (2010) had to leave the capital for an indefinite period of time. Trojans still act in a rather analogue manner: old-fashioned crimes such as the theft of material objects such as watches, cash and paintings. No connections to a mafia or clan structure, lone fighters, only occasionally and out of necessity in a team! When a coup in the Ruhr area does not go as planned, Trojan has to return to Berlin to tap into old contacts (Marie-Lou SELLEM). And indeed: Together with three comrades (Tim SEYFI, Marie LEUENBERGER, Bilge BINGÜL), Trojan manages to steal a valuable painting by Caspar David FRIEDRICH. But then the trouble with the mysterious client Viktor (Alexander FEHLING) really starts... At the BERLINALE 2010, IM SCHATTEN by Braunschweig-born director Thomas ARSLAN hit like a long-awaited genre bomb. An exciting genre film from a German production was told using the cinematic means of the Berlin School. Extremely exciting, with sparse dialogue and explosive moments of violence! ARSLAN follows on seemingly seamlessly from VERBRANNE EARTH. Gangster films are still a rarity in German cinema. With cool precision, the images by cameraman Reinhold VORSCHNEIDER (also IM SCHATTEN) tell of people who live in a shadow version of Germany. Dark places, in the shadow of nearby sights and yet far removed from the perception of the police and the normal population. Berlin acts as both a co-player and antagonist of the film's protagonists. The understated music by Norwegian composer Ola FLOTTUM (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, 2021) contributes a lot to this tense atmosphere. It shows a capital that is known and yet unknown. Many viewers will recognize this urban sprawl with all its streets from their own surroundings. Ghostly places very close to us: scorched earth in the shadows! Misel MATICEVIC (IN THE FACE OF CRIME / BABYLON BERLIN) is once again very convincing in the role of the Trojan, of whom we will probably see more (Thomas ARSLAN is planning a kind of Trojan trilogy). Marie Lou SELLEM (nominated for BONES AND NAMES 2024), nominated for the German Film Prize, is there as an ice-cold mediator. But GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Alexander FeHLing (winner in 2019 for THE END OF THE TRUTH) is frighteningly good and really doesn't have to hide from classic villains like Klaus KINSKI and Michael FASSBERSLAN, who spent as much time on the third film in his Trojan trilogy as he did between 2010 and 2024. It remains exciting!