The German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s spiky and at times mordantly funny “Afire” is a tonic for moviegoers tired of nice, squishable, likable, relatable dull and dull characters. Yet while the writer is boorish, he’s never insipid; he’s pleasurably bad company. One of the most reliably interesting and surprising filmmakers working today, Petzold makes sharp, visually intelligent, psychologically sophisticated movies. There, the men will be alone while Leon waits for his publisher and Felix readies an art-school portfolio. When they arrive, though, they find that the mother has invited a third, a stranger to the men named Nadja (Paula Beer).

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Persons: Christian, —, he’s, He’s, Barbara ”, Petzold, Éric Rohmer, Leon, Thomas Schubert, Felix, Langston Uibel, Felix readies, Nadja, Paula Beer Locations: Sandwich, Hollywood, United States, East Germany, Baltic