Köln 75

2025

Biography / Drama / Music

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 88% · 25 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 88%
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 1384 1.4K

jazz cologne, germany

Director

Ido Fluk Photo
Ido Fluk

Top cast

Susanne Wolff Photo
Susanne Wolff as Vera Brandes (50)
Ulrich Tukur Photo
Ulrich Tukur as Dr. Brandes
Enno Trebs Photo
Enno Trebs as Jan
Leo Meier Photo
Leo Meier as Fritz

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by taniabot 8 / 10

Behind the scenes of musical magic

I wasn't sure what this film was about when I started watching, but I am sure happy I stuck with it. This may well be one of my favourite films of 2025. Koln 75 tells the story of a teenage girl named Vera, who had that entrepreneurial fire burning inside her from the age of 16. She's the kind of girl who makes things happen. With a strict dad who wants her to be a dentist, a surly brother, a supportive group of friends and a lot of chutzpa, Vera Brandes discovers her ability to make the impossible possible when it comes to promoting and booking shows for jazz musicians.I loved every minute. The directing is inspired, and the cast do a superb job in bringing this true story to life. At one point the movie plays like an edge of your seat thriller. I would recommend this coming-of-age film, however if you are a Keith Jarret fan you may be a tad disappointed, as not much of his music is featured. Enjoy the journey, this is a solid 8.
Reviewed by JvH48 8 / 10

Keith Jarret at the Köln Opera, and how "based on true events" it came about despite the odds

Saw this at the Ghent film festival 2025, where it was part of the "Sound and Vision" section. The jazz improvisation event by Jarrett in the Köln Opera is marked as an important event, known by best-selling albums recorded from that performance. Be that as it may, for me the word "jazz" alone usually scares me off. And "coming of age" works the same way for me. The sole reason that I saw this movie was that it was scheduled in the Ghent film festival at a moment there was nothing else to see, so it was a choice by default.Luckily for me, the movie does not contain overloads of jazz in the usual sense of the word, something I avoid when possible. Indeed, there are several kinds of "jazz" under the same container term, as explained in the movie. I promise to remember it in the future.Apart from the educational aspect (for me, at least), the story is entertaining, by combining (a) a family story of a dentist with two children who don't follow the path of their parents, each in their own way, and (b) how daughter Vera became a to-be-music-promotor, who organized a breakthrough solo-concert with loads of sheer luck and determination. As one-off entertainment it is a success: the story is nowhere boring and something interesting is happening all the time. I imagine how easy and tempting it is to identify oneself with 20-year-old Vera and the way she breaks through walls to achieve the near-impossible. Even when at least half of the story is true, she is someone who can find unusual ways and stops at nothing.Well-done casting and acting, and the respective roles are believable. I cannot determine how much of the story is really based on true events, and how much is added to smooth the storytelling and keep the attention of us viewers. Especially the last half hour is full of hyperactivity and last-minute actions, showing lots of poor planning and near misses by our heroin. A normal person could wind up completely out of breath with this level of activity, as we vicariously do as well in following it all on screen. How well everything still proved to turn out all right eventually, despite the odds, is no spoiler but is clear from the reason behind this movie itself (no memorable event, no movie).All in all, movie tells the story very well, and all actors contribute to the final result. However, I still don't really know how the music by Keith Jarret really sounds, nor how it would feel to be taken away with the flow of that music. The fragments we heard were too short for that, something unavoidable given the limited running time of a movie like this.
Reviewed by ZeddaZogenau 8 / 10

Keith JARRETT and his famous Cologne Concert

In January 1975, Cologne student Vera Brandes organized a concert by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett at the Cologne Opera House, which became world-famous as The Cologne Concert. This highly successful film by Israeli director Ido Fluk tells the story of how it all came about.Mala Emde (German Film Award 2025: nominated for Cologne 75) plays the busy, jazz-loving high school student, and John Magaro stars as jazz legend Jarrett. Ido Fluk demonstrates a keen sense for the West German atmosphere of the 1970s and creates a small cinematic monument to the spontaneous ability to improvise, only occasionally indulging in a bad habit of German-language cinema and having the characters recite too many explanations.Funny, dynamic, and well-cast even in the supporting roles! Ulrich TUKUR (GERMAN FILM AWARD 2009: Lola for JOHN RABE) and Jördis TRIEBEL (GERMAN FILM AWARD 2023: Lola for IN A LAND THAT NO LONGER EXISTS) deserve special mention as the parents of Vera Brandes, who still works as a music manager today.
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