Leon (Thomas Schubert), the exasperated — and exasperating — young writer at the heart of the superb German drama "Afire," has a mesmerizingly punchable scowl. It's a scowl that rarely leaves your memory, since it so rarely leaves his features: a full-lipped mouth that hangs contemptuously half-open; eyes that glare lazily ahead, as though so worn down by irritation they couldn't even be bothered to roll properly.
Trying to revise his (wretchedly bad) novel over a few days' countryside retreat, Leon is beset by one unreasonable demand after another: How dare his friend Felix (Langston Uibel) invite him to go for a swim, or ask him to help patch a leak in the roof? How can Leon possibly be expected to lift a finger or even flash a smile? Can't everyone see how much work he has to do?
He does have a lot of work to do, though not the kind he thinks. From the moment we meet Leon, riding shotgun while Felix drives, he is sour, disagreeable company, as well as a one-man rebuke to the notion that likable protagonists are always the most compelling. When Felix's car breaks down, stranding them and their bags in the middle of the woods, Leon has nothing to offer beyond complaints. When they finally make it to their destination and find they'll be sharing it with an unexpected houseguest, Leon grumbles and despairs of getting anything done. He's not entirely wrong to feel put out, given the closeness of the quarters and the nightly sounds of music and sexual congress issuing from the room next door.
