germanguyfrankfurt
One of the better German movies of this season. A story about a German reporter whose mother escapes from a nursing home struggling with her past and trying to find peace. Hannelore Elsner did an amazing job! I only know her from German TV but her acting was convincing and never over the top. Well, the Alzheimer story is something we already know from Julie Christie's "Away from her", which gave her an Oscar nod and Hannelore Elsner should at least win one of those German film prices. Juliane Koehler with a new hairdo wasn't bad either. We know her from excellent movies such as "Aimee and Jaguar", "Nowhere in Africa" or "Downfall". This one is definitely not one of her best but her acting was still good and she is one of my favorite German actresses. I wish I could see her in more international productions in the future. On the whole a very good cast and a convincing film.
Christian Heynk
Just came home from the premiere, for which I managed to get some tickets. To be honest, I felt like I've been sitting through two hours of endless boredom. The story had no surprising twists, the plot was conventional as well as the narrative structure (flashbacks alternating/ overlapping with the events of 1991). The whole cast was overacting, as if the director had been standing behind the camera and in each scene shouting: "More, more, I want this scene to be intense". Hence, every actor overdid it and many scenes seem as if they were intended for a theater play, not a movie. Many of the scenes seemed to me overly theatrical and melodramatic. One example: The young Marga stands in the field, chopping wood, when suddenly her ex-husband Juris appears . In his arms he is holding the baby of his lover, Ieva. Every facial expression of the two actors seems so exaggerated, desperately trying to convey the message: "Oh, it's all so incredibly tragic, we can hardly stand it". And Karoline Herfurths position to the camera is completely unnatural and just for effect. The plot was predictable, twenty minutes into the film I knew that Marga wasn't Sofia's real mother, but that, in the end, the Sofia character would grow to accept it and reconcile with her oddly behaving mother. The Alzheimer scenes were far too many, one scene and we know, OK, old Marga is losing it, no need to rub it in by showing scenes in which she talks gibberish. If we just look at the craftsmanship of this film, I believe we have found the one positive aspect. Pictures and music were well paced although the music was a little too much at times as well. I guess in the end I'm looking and hoping for a German cinema that is a little more controversial, disturbing. A cinema that is obnoxious, confusing and gut-wrenching. This film isn't any of that.Winterreise was better.
