Der erste letzte Tag

I’ll admit, I was skeptical when Fitzek pitched a road trip as a genre-bending thriller with comedic undertones. By the 20-minute mark, though, I was hooked—partly because I couldn’t decide if I was laughing or bracing for impact. Simon Jäger’s performance is the secret weapon here. His delivery of the protagonist’s self-deprecating one-liners lands perfectly, but it’s his ability to pivot to a trembling, desperate whisper during the story’s darkest turns that sells the book’s unpredictable heart. The pacing is relentless, a credit to Fitzek’s script-like precision, though the rapid-fire dialogue occasionally left me scrambling to keep up with who was saying what. The production is polished but unobtrusive, letting the story’s tension do the heavy lifting—until that final act, where even the sound design seems to hold its breath. My only gripe? The female lead’s backstory is revealed in frustratingly broad strokes, and I wanted more nuance there. Still, this is Fitzek at his most audacious, and Jäger’s narration ensures you’ll never want to get out of that car.