Gun-Shy (2003 film)

Gun-Shy (German: Schussangst) is a 2003 German crime drama film directed by Dito Tsintsadze.^[1]

The protagonist of Dito Tsintsadze's drama is a recluse whose life drastically changes after he meets a stunning but strange girl. Prior to meeting Isabella, Lukas, a young guy who does "meals on wheels" instead of the military, had few friends and led a mundane life. Soon after being his best friend, the fascinating girl reveals to Lukas that she has a sexual relationship with her stepfather. He is therefore driven by an obsession to deliver Isabella by killing the man.^[2]

The conscientious objector Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs) is a "meals-on-wheels" delivery man and leads a rather sad and lonely life. One day, however, he encounters a strange girl on a bus, Isabella (Lavinia Wilson), who slips him a "Help me!" note. Lukas ends up falling in love with Isabella.

But what he initially considers to be a romantic relationship between her and an older man quickly turns out to be the cause of the message in the tram. He finds out that Isabella's stepfather sexually abused her, even though she tries to forget this. The more pacifist Lukas is experiencing a period of rethinking that ends in the decision to get a gun to protect or save Isabella from her stepfather.

Previously, however, he gets already in the sights of a police investigator, who only wants to clear up the case of a stolen boat, but always visits Lukas, because he sees in him a danger. Through the new acquaintance of an old woman who supplies him, Lukas manages to get a precision rifle, and he begins to practice dealing with it and mentally prepare himself for the killing, which he actually rejects as a conscientious objector. However, he has inhibitions and recoils from the last step back - he is gun-shy.

Isabella's stepfather conducts seminars on anxiety, which Lukas also visits. Thus, he is also present when he dies in the reading stage of a heart attack. Since then, Lukas sees and hears nothing more about Isabella. In a mailbox, he leaves her the message that he intends to kill her stepfather, but even on these messages, the distance remains.

Lukas overcomes his fear of shooting as the target has changed.

• Fabian Hinrichs - Lukas Eiserbeck
• Lavinia Wilson - Isabella
• Johan Leysen - Isabella's stepfather Romberg
• Christoph Waltz - Johannsen
• Ingeborg Westphal - Sieveking
• Axel Prahl - night swimmer
• Thorsten Mertens - Krausser

The film won the Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2003.^[3]

Gun-Shy at IMDb