Maybe the trick is in the title. Accidental or intentional? A goalie without a goal which equals a movie without a goal. "Die Angst Des Tormanns Beim Elfmeter" ("The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick") is a story about things falling apart and no one paying attention to them, people acting as if everything was OK while living in a disintegrating world. The goalie of the title is Joseph Bloch (Arthur Brauss),an unsympathetic and ruthless man who was kicked out of a match after a foul play who goes out on a rampage of murder for obscure reasons (possibly none) by killing a female cashier - whom he spent the night with - and a deaf boy - still unclear to me if he has part on his assassination, later on ruled as an accident.

What goes on is Bloch's sort of escape going from place to place, hotel to hotel, being rude with people and other times he's beaten by strangers after provoking them, or he's robbed by muggers, not knowing how to react, and develops relations with other women. Sometimes there's few bits of information about his victims in the news, and he seems preoccupied with those, always wanting to read the papers. So what does he want to do? What's his goal? At my view, none except escape - but who's after him? Who knows about his mysterious acts? So, he just keep on randomly walking and putting things out of order.

Easily one of Wim Wenders weakest, and one of his toughest watches of all since he doesn't make anything appealing, sometimes even not worthy seeing, filled with empty actions, poorly presented situations and mundane acts that doesn't add anything to a plot that has very few to show. There's few things which Wenders got it right while making his wrong presentation. He doesn't offer motive, reasons why his main character goes out killing people. Who could give reason to a murderer? Who would consider a crime something reasonable? It's not, it's simple abominable, unexplainable just like the movie.

Those who manage to get to the ending get a surprise, but only the wise will truly get it. The very last scene, when Joseph casually watches a soccer match, chatting with another guy, he tells the whole movie in an almost poetic manner. He makes a metaphor which shines a light on us in the audience. He explains to the man why the viewers focus on the game must be on the goalie instead of being in the player or the ball. The man proceeds in such and responds that it is too difficult, to which Joseph replies: "You get used to it. But it's ridiculous!". Same thing with the movie. There's plenty of indications that this man is a murderer, he goes from one erratic behavior to another, almost to the point of getting caught by the police and he even helps one officer with a minor problem, yet everyone around fail to notice him or his actions. People simply trust him all that much. We, as audience, can't fail with that, we keep our eyes on the goalie. That scene has plenty of depth, too bad the movie isn't just like that moment.

Distractive (and not in a good way),a little misguided but somewhat engaging, "The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" worths as an imaginative way of breaking storytelling conventions with its fragmented narrative repleted of ordinary dialogs and some expectation when everything is silent. Difficult, unpredictable and strangely not menacing as films about psychos tend to be. Also worths a view due to its soundtrack in the many jukebox scenes, with pop and rock classics. I hated the main theme from the original score though, it was quite annoying. I don't get the reviewers who compare it to the brilliant Camus novel "The Stranger" since the main character from the novel has more explained (in the unexplainable) reasons for murder than the goalie. A little good but Wenders has so much better. 6/10

This movie reminded me very much of Albert Camus' book THE STRANGER. In it, you have a main character who you know nothing about and could care less about simply commit a murder for apparently no reason. This book is considered an existential masterpiece, but when I was forced to read it in college, I just thought it was a pointless book. Well, when I watched this film, it felt like a case of Déjà Vu--the main character, who you never really understand and could care less about kills a woman about mid-way through the movie for apparently no reason. Because there is absolutely NO CONTEXT whatsoever, you don't know WHY or what sort of a person he's been--is this his first, does he make a habit of it, etc. None of this is revealed--you just watch this guy over the period of a few days go about his terribly boring life (that is, apart from killing women). Frankly, after watching the film I just found myself not caring one bit one way or the other. There were certainly better ways I could have spent my time than watch this video.

"Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter" or "The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" is a 100-minute movie from almost 45 years ago and it was the breakthrough for German filmmaker Wim Wenders. He directed here and also worked a bit on the script, even if the main effort in terms of screen writing (according to the credits) comes from Peter Handke, who also wrote the novel that this film is based on. You could call this movie here a film during which really nothing happens at all apart from one scene (and the very first scene maybe as well). Joseph Bloch is a professional athlete and I personally see him as a man hungry for recognition and power. When his ego cannot take a referee's behavior, he commits a horrific act in order to restore the belief in his own power.

He is also a sociopath. After the act, he lives a life just like he did before. No remorse, no fear nothing. One great example of his self-confidence is when we hear another character mention that the killer probably has a mustache by now, but Bloch did not even think about it. He also won't go into hiding or anything. In the end, the question for the audience arises if he gets away with it. Apparently, police come closer to catching him, but we do not find out definitely if they do, which is a bit surprising as they get closer and closer while the film continues. In the last scene, Bloch makes a cat/mouse reference that applies to goalkeeper and the one who shoots the penalty as well as to him and police without his conversation partner understanding the latter.

I thought Wenders and Handke made a pretty good film here. This is certainly a very atmospheric watch and I believe Arthur Brauss (who turns 80 this year) was a really good choice for the main character. He brings a ruthlessness and cold-blooded approach to the role that fits the mentality of a killer and goal keeper really well. Physically, he looks like a mix of Daniel Craig and Matthias Schoenaerts, which certainly helps at well. I cannot say there were any truly great moments here, but this may also have to do with the base material. With Handke in charge of the screenplay, it was certainly very close to the novel. I cannot go further into detail as I have not read this one. About the movie, however, it was a really solid watch and I recommend it. Thumbs up.