Barefoot

Til's movie is definitely sweet, entertaining and down-right funny. It is as German as I've seem a movie, and it's humour is much more subtle and slowly delivered than most of what Holiwood has to offer. The amber colour of the cinematography gives it both a timelessness and a romantic touch. We see Germany as it is, and a most unlikely love story taking place before our eyes.

A movie about how absurd can a moment in life be, how sometimes we all need to have a bit of craziness and foolishness in order to make it through the madness of normal life.

Not a classic, but a good enjoyable evening.

Having seen "Barfuß" today with a friend of mine, I have to say that in many ways it is better than I expected it to be.

Til Schweiger gives a remarkably good performance and obviously his ability in directing has improved since his last major effort "Der Eisbär". Johanna Wokalek is THE reason to see the film, though, and fortunately Schweiger knows this pulls himself back and gives her the ability to shine. Her performance of Leila is sweet and touching and she manages to provide the movie with a light touch as well as a necessary seriousness.

From the get-go it is clear that this movie is not supposed to be a real drama but rather a tender and poetic fairy-tale. It was important to stage it that way, because if the film had focused too much of the realistic aspect (Leila's handicap and Nick's downfall from his family background) it would easily have failed. This way, it walks a very fine line between comedy and drama quite well.

However, I have some major quibbles with the finished product. First, I think the movie cannot really make up its mind, which genre it wants to belong to, usually I like genre-bastards but this movie pretends to be a road movie for so long, that once it gets done with the road movie one wonders when the movie will finally be over.

Also, there is one moment in the story, when the movie steps over the above mentioned fine line between comedy and drama too much. I won't mention details but when the protagonists finally reach the wedding of Nick's brother, which is supposedly the end of their trip together, they both humiliate themselves at the party very much. I admit that I get uncomfortable easily when characters I like humiliate themselves, but to me this part was pretty hard to take, as I just wished for Leila and Nick to get out of there as quickly as possible, knowing they would not be able to leave just like that. (on the plus side, I guess it shows, that Scheiger is capable of making us feel for the characters, though).

Schweiger has mentioned often, that this movie has been really dear to his heart from the beginning and watching the film one can see this clearly. I believe he also wanted this to be a film that he made with a lot of friends and people he admired. Thus many German movie and TV stars such as Jürgen Vogel, Michael Gwisdek, Armin Rohde, Markus Maria Profitlich, et al. appear in cameos. While I usually enjoy a little game of "spot the celebrity", in this particular rather sweet and touching story it seemed out of place and became quite annoying to me after a while to see all kinds of stars (what was Axel Stein doing there, by the way?) having one funny moment to share.

Oh, and one last criticism: After "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" ("The Edukators") this is the second German movie in a short while to use Leonard Cohen's "Halleluyah" in its soundtrack. While I really love the song, to me in movie history it will always be connected with "Shrek". So PLEASE you German filmmakers everywhere: come up with something new or original if you want to illustrate a bittersweet moment. It really tears the viewer out of the context and seems like a cheap rip-off.

These points aside, "Barfuß" is a very fine movie, beautiful to look at, moving and with wonderful actors in it.

Last weekend my friends forced me to watch this movie,but I didn't want to,because I think Til Schweiger is not one of the greatest actors of Germany and I definitely couldn't imagine him as a director or writer! But after about 10 Minutes I got lost in the story, the great acting and the great love! This movie gives proof that love is the greatest gift you can ever get and is the greatest aim you can ever achieve!Yes, love can move mountains! If you think this last sentence is total rubbish,than you should watch this very movie and you'd be proved the exact opposite! Another reason to watch this movie is the great cast!Til Schweiger is surprisingly great and plays his role of the black sheep of the family with a lot of charm and capability! Johanna Wokalek plays the role of Leila with soo much charm and naiveté that you just can't believe it!She has one of the hardest job ever known to an actor,but she does it with an easiness and so natural that you start to think this is what she was born for!This is just her role!!!

Well to put things in a nutshell:Great movie for people who love,who want love and for those who hate love movies!!!

I thought this film would be one of those tried and true romantic comedy genre sorts. And the major underlying theme in the film was indeed romance and comedy but it didn't feel rehashed or trite.

Certainly the story isn't very deep but 95% of the films out there aren't deep, we watch them to escape into a story. Barfuss weaves a sweet story that has laugh out loud bits mixed in with some really touching moments.

I would most compare this film with Rainman, definitely not as good as Rainman but the story is similar.

Anyway, if you're looking for a date film, or just in the mood for a good laugh give this German gem a go. Regards, Nikki

This movie is simply the best combination of drama/comedy/romance I have seen in the past year. I popped into it (thank God at the very beginning!) while going through TV channels one late evening before going to bed... Well, two hours after that I was still glued to the screen because the movie caught me - first, the face of Til Schweiger, then the plot, the conversations... I was crying and laughing and crying again and couldn't wait for the movie to finish to know whether it will be a happy or not-so-happy or totally unhappy end, but at the same time wanted it to continue for as long as possible because I enjoyed it so much.