The Straw That Broke

7/12/2026

Review by the German Federal Film and Media Assessment Board (FBW) Rating: Certified "Highly Commended" (Prädikat Wertvoll) Starting from a frigidly futuristic business setting, an appropriately detached editor gives the chronically underpaid author Claudia the assignment to write five volumes of her sci-fi pulp novels within 36 hours, despite having only three data ports at her disposal. Thus begins a trip that transcends any everyday experience, leading from her one-room sanctuary out into diverse worlds—where the question soon arises as to how real or virtual these realms are within the context of the film’s story. Perhaps, as the jury suggests, she is telling her journey more as a fragmented nightmare world. Along the way, Claudia discusses various metaphysical issues. Both wi

8/10/2026

Though completed in 2021, *The Straw That Broke* seems very contemporary, maybe even more than it did a few years ago, due to the sudden acceleration of the dangerous dynamics we see at play. The plot is somewhat encrypted, so at times I felt a bit lost, but so is the film’s main character Claudia, a creator of pulp SF virts, video novels in the film’s alternate future. What I liked about the film is the balance between images that translate very concrete feelings (pain, loss, desire) and dialogue exchanges or scenes that create complex situations. The interdependence of these two poles helps make the film both open and intriguing. Though it goes pretty far down a hole, at the same time, on the event horizon, it remains quite simple.

8/10/2026

The planet in the movie *The Straw That Broke* is the kind of “other” world you might find in works by Stanislaw Lem or Philip K. Dick. But the screenplay was written by modernist American writer Tom Whalen and the film directed by German visual artist and filmmaker Valentin Hennig. STRAW, as this film is affectionately known, had a limited released in 2021. Its appearance on YouTube will be a milestone, allowing access to a fascinating film relatively few people have had the privilege to see.  I count myself as one of the lucky individuals to have experienced it already. The central character, Claudia, is a writer of pulp adventure and suspense novels who has become dependent on story content pumped directly into her brain through data ports drilled into her noggin. There comes a br