“Kaffee! Nein, Brandy! Nein, Cognac!” - That was about accurate for my emotional transition throughout the movie.

Wow. This was not at all what I expected, when I sat down to watch the Criterion DVD of “M- Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörderer” knowing virtually nothing about it other than that it was based on multiple true stories, especially one that happened not far away from where I grew up.

A 1931 movie about a murderer, directed by Fritz Lang in…