Paradise

Silver-tongued salesmen cajole the poor to donate years of their lives to rich benefactors in exchange for cash in this intriguing, German-language sci-fi thriller. When the wife of a salesman is forced to age 40 years, her husband discovers the shocking truth behind the company he works for. Despite a central concept that's more magic science than hard sci-fi, the film creates a rich and convincing dystopian future that recalls both Gattaca and Children of Men. A cast of morally dubious characters keeps you wondering if anyone is actually the hero (although the main villain is a bit of a cliché), and amid the grimness are surprising moments of dry wit. Occasionally, the film threatens to become merely a high-octane shoot-em-up, but the mercurial plot keeps things on track with a succession of blind-siding twists.