Reviews
In einem Land, das es nicht mehr gibt (2022)
Looking back, looking forward
For many of its audience, life in the GDR will not have been a personal experience. For its writer and director, it is all based on personal memory, and that shows. We look back to East German history, especially the story of its very modern fashion scene with magazines like Sibylle, and forward to what freedom means in such a society and for one personally.
From the start we can feel with the characters, whether its Suzie, the girl turning model after a photographer called Coyote takes a photo of her, or Rudi, the flamboyant designer, but also the unheroic father or the boss of the fashion magazine, both of whom have arranged themselves with what it takes to live in a totalitarian state. And as cliché-ridden as that sounds, the characters are very real and believable. The journey Suzie ges on is troublesome and seems exaggerated, but shows what life in East Germany also was, without being a film focussing too much on history. Its main topic, freedom in a society that does not allow for freedom, is shown very convincingly and lets the viewer understand the characters and root for them, although the fashion scene is vastly different from what most people will have as a workplace.
Great actors (Tambea as Rudi is wonderful) plus creativity in direction and montage make this a much better film than the (incorrect) summary on imdb suggests.
Saw the film at a presentation with the director and the stylist who was the Rudi character and was moved by how accurately the film shows both their experiences with oppression and freedom within such a state. Decidedly personal (and unpolitical), it is an extremely political film, but also very moving on a personal level.
Ein Jahr zweite Liga (2022)
When a club do the documentary themselves...
It could have been good. Or maybe brilliant. The season after relegation was full of interesting and emotional developments, and it makes you wonder what the makers of Sunderland till I die would have come up with. Unfortunately, Werder Bremen made this themselves, and it shows. The staff, especially the coach are more one-dimensional than they probably really are (his motivational speeches are so dull it hurts). The players are interesting (Füllkrug), but there is hardly any ambiguity. Of all the turmoil we see very little (compare that to Sunderland till I die, where economic consequences of relegation are shown so clearly). And the fan is a nice person, but there must be some folks more interesting than him - we don't learn anything about him other than being a Werder supporter. And why only the one?
In a nutshell:: This is a bland run-of-the-mill documentary which should - and could - have been fascinating...
Spy City (2020)
Unconvincing, but stylish Berlin spy story
Starting out as a Cold War spy series, the story sounds promising. Young spy Fielding Scott is sent back to Berlin after killing another English spy (as seen right at the beginning). In addition to his other work, of which we don't hear or see anything, he tries to unravel the mystery behind it. A rather wild mix of love story (with a French spy), the Nazi/SS past of some Germans and of course the Soviet involvement in the 1961 events leading up to building the Berlin Wall is beautifully pieced together, especially with some original material.
Ultimately, all the poor details in the script let this fall flat: After all the spy series like The Americans and the painful details, it is truly shocking to see e.g. A removals van driven by another spy (when a corpse needs to be disposed of) who looks absolutely immaculate in his sharp suit. Wouldn't the neighbors have noticed?
Scott's assistant blackmails him, naively, like almost everybody acts in such a naive way you want to shout at them.
Could have been so much better, really...
Hindafing (2017)
It actually is a German Fargo...
When it was promoted as a German Fargo, it sounded like a miserable attempt at being cool and quirky, but rather surprisingly, it does have a Fargo touch. If possible, watch it in German, the Bavarian dialogue is brilliant.
The meth-addicted young mayor of Hindafing, Alfons Zischl, manages to destroy everything around him in his effort to put Hindafing on the map, but somehow in some ways also manages to get away with it. Truly funny and of a quality sadly lacking in many German TV productions.
All My Loving (2019)
Real life, no SFX
A beautiful film about life with all its everyday difficulties. As a viewer, you know all the behavior you despise in others and in yourself, but you also learn (or have a feeling) why the characters behave that way: The airline pilot with hearing problems, the couple on holiday with their typically German bossy behavior, the father of three and caring son. Great actors and great script make for a moving film that keeps you thinking about it for days.
Das Boot (2018)
Not what it says on the cover...
As a tv drama on its own this is a decent attempt at a WWII thriller. Using the title and the musical leitmotif of Wolfgang Petersen's masterpiece produces a direct link inviting comparisons, and those are definitely not favourable. Where the 1980s drama focused on U96 and its crew, the modern version not only lacks the brilliant acting (although he actors do a decent job), but introduces a totally silly love triangle between a Nazi secretary from the Alsace, the English-speaking resistance leader and the head of the Gestapo in La Rochelle. This is not only unnecessary, but also far-fetched and cringeworthy. The action on U96 is also highly unlikely and shows many traits of modern ideas (questioning orders, disobeying the captain, open mutiny) that are not based on historic events. Consequently, you do not feel with the crew as much. Probably the worst idea that found its way into the screenplay is the presentation of responsibility. While there actually is a historic connection, it is irresponsible to have characters articulate that US American Jews are the ones making money and therefore being responsible for Nazi Germany's rise to power and WWII. Similarly, the crew enter a Sowjet ghost ship with a Partly German-speaking crew. Not only is there a younger female (presumably Jewish) woman immediately raped by a U612 member, there is also a group of Jews kept in the bottom of the ship. A German soldier (in what is probably supposed to be an act of mercy) gives one of them a pistol so he can shoot the suffering passengers. Just one of those ideas that leave the viewer feel uneasy about the possible message of the drama...
The next season the ending hints at is hopefully better than this promising, but ultimately failing attempt at modernizing a drama that simply does not need to be modernized.
The Crow Road (1996)
probably the best Banks adaptation
I remember watching a tape of "The Crow Road" lying on a sofa in some friends' flat on a New Year's Day in Edinburgh in the late Nineties and being captured by the whole "feel" of the mini series. Everything seemed to work beautifully: the cast (including actors who shot to fame later like Dougray Scott), the story (a brilliant family tale/coming-of-age/detective story), the setting... Unfortunately, my friends hadn't taped the end of the series, but luckily there was a BBC video out that I got a few weeks later in addition to reading the book at the first possibility. Every year, I make sure that I watch the mini series at least once, because it is the best adaptation of the many brilliant books by Iain Banks.
Das Rätsel der Sandbank (1987)
true, but ultimately failed attempt to turn a novel into a movie
Erskine Childers's novel "The Riddle of the Sands", published in 1903, is a spy story set in Germany at the time of the "Kaiserreich". Due to the nature of the book, a long-winding and detailed novel about two men sailing in the Wadden Sea, a film showing two people doing just that would be slightly boring, but very true to the book. The German television series that was the longer version of this film does that very well, the film version tends to be reduced to highlights and therefore fails. (A BBC version starring Michael York leaves out the entire first part of the novel, by the way.) This is partly due to the casting, which combines well-known German actors (Peter Sattmann and Burkhard Klaußner - the latter appeared in "Goodbye Lenin") with Isabel Varrell, the singer of the title song, but not a convincing actress. What the film achieves, though, is to transport a feeling of the very unusual setting: Germany's North Sea coast and the Wadden Sea between the mainland and the islands. All in all, the film ultimately doesn't deliver the goods as the novel does, but is still worthwhile.
Complicity (2000)
Slightly disappointing Iain Banks novel turned into a movie
"Complicity" is the second Iain Banks novel turned into a film, but while it is made for the big screen, it does not live up to the standards set by BBC's mini series "The Crow Road". While it is an entertaining and gripping thriller set in Edinburgh and the Highlands, it ultimately fails to convey the spirit of the book. The cast are good, though, and the story is excellent.
It looks like a TV film, and while it is not exactly a wasted opportunity to bring Iain Banks to the cinema, it is slightly disappointing, although still worth watching.