The first few years of any filmmaker's career are exciting to watch unfold, it’s the time where a distinct style and voice has yet to be solidified, where perhaps the filmmaker is still searching for their brand. With the announcement of Who Am I-No System is Safe — the follow up feature to Baran bo Odar’s debut in 2010, The Silence — the growing anticipation of seeing what Odar had in store next was met with an answer.
The film follows Benjamin (Tom Schilling from A Coffee in Berlin), a lifelong loner lost in his imagination and superhero fantasies. An orphaned son of tragedy, Benjamin finds himself intertwined on the darknet as a computer hacker in search for the control that he lacks in his normal life. It is not long before Benjamin connects with a Berlin-based group of hackers, who form the anonymous group CLAY to cause havoc, and make themselves a name. What starts as a series of victimless pranks quickly escalates, as the group’s desire to earn the respect of a fellow group of hackers, FR13NDS, leads to more daring feats. As CLAY’s actions begin to spiral out of their own control, Benjamin finds himself caught between the Russian cyber gang and Interpol.
Who Am I is, however, a complete departure to the kind of filmmaking present in The Silence. Where The Silence was a discreet but taught psychological thriller, Who Am I adds in to the mix a heavy dose of style and excess resulting in a sort of pseudo-Hollywood 90s throwback. The principal inspiration for Who Am I is painfully clear in the work of David Fincher — complete with a Fight Club poster hanging from the wall of Benjamin’s room. Like The Social Network, Who Am I is told rather clumsily through a flashback confessional, but, admittedly, Odar is equally skilled as Fincher in visualizing the unvisual nature of hacking. Aside from Fincher, there are a lot of nods to 90s cyber-thrillers that gives the film a sort of nostalgia. This is seen the strongest in the physicalizing of darknet, envisioned as a subway car that the masked hackers ride and interact on. While stylistically pleasing, the effect becomes a bit trite and overstays its welcome by the film’s conclusion.
It comes as no surprise that Odar is already at work on the English language remake of 2011’s Sleepless Night, as Who Am I rings of as a compromise in order to attract American audiences. The understated directorial strengths and storytelling prowess of The Silence is washed over by overt stylization in Who Am I. While entertaining, Who Am I becomes taxing, rushing the viewer through twist after twist, and generating a feeling of apathy towards the characters and plot.
