Reviews

Just saw it on German TV. Supposedly, it is unique in mood, surprising, and digging real deep. Unfortunately, this whole thing is quite a disappointment, film-wise, psychology-wise. If I had been to a movie theater, I'd sneak out (embarrassed, hoping no-one would see me), and I'd want my money back now. So there is a serial killer leaving hints ('cos he likes to play? or finally wants to be caught)? How neat (that was irony.) And those hints are from Grimm's fairy-tales? hahaha ... how ridiculous! (I felt sorry for the actors having to recite those fairy lines.) And, yes, dear audience, let's start into the film with (one of many) fat cliché(s): the top-cop loses a dear mate in a chase, and -- oh surprise -- it just may be his fault (guilt! guilt! guilt!) ... that should crack him a little, give him a little extra surface, uh? What else have we got? A lycanthrope (wanna-be-wolfman), a ritually tattooed moron who likes to run around with a wolf's mask eventually crying "es ist vollbracht!" (it's done!) when he is about to be caught (psychologically little about this character is convincing), the top cop in bed with his psych' (no tension, no conflict here), the usual suspect (child-molester) hanging himself, the chief of police rambling blabla (like: "we gotta hurry, the next victim is awaiting")... etc.etc. Oh Lord, spare us from (German) films like these. And spare us from German festival juries who probably will think this stuff is good (hey, there must be some "stupid German (film fund) money" in it), 'cos some overseas-author wrote some novel as source. Urs Egger (the director) didn't shine here, not at all. The main actors weren't bad (only given bad lines), the rest of them pretty forgettable like this odd oeuvre, hopefully. It's just no good to blindly adapt. The German "crime story landscape" is different. Maybe less fairy tale, but more substance. I still have the hope it is, or can be.

Great adaptation of Ulla Hahn's even greater biographic novel about a girl growing up in post WWII (West) Germany amidst working class simpletons! In its "greyish" mood, it brings into mind (the earlier playing and admittedly more gruesome) "Angelas Ashes" (deutsch: Die Asche meiner Mutter), more than, for example, the more playful French "The Four Hundred Blows" (F. Truffaut, 1959). Seeing our hero girl suffer in its plain and harsh world and yearning for some light(ness) and tenderness is very touching, indeed. The zeitgeist is neatly visualized. Overall a great cast, really good acting. The three girls playing the growing up Hildegard all do a very fine job at bringing heart into this story. Ulrich Noethen as her father perfectly personifies proletarian fears. And Corinna Harfouch as a freaky voyeur secretary makes it hard to keep a straight face. Two thumbs up! Too bad, much of its language / (Cologne) dialect quality will get lost in translations. Watch it anyway!

A clear two thumbs down! This movie made no sense at all plus the characters are flat as a sheet! Meg Ryan as "Frannie" is so unbelievable (and unlikeable). A lady gets her head chopped off in her front yard, and Frannie does not care or feel the least afraid at all? Frannie may have been the last witness who saw her alive (with the serial-killer), and she still is not stirred (except sexually)? Actually, her new "all-women-like-it-rough"- boyfriend may have had sex with the victim right before she got killed, and our hero is still totally happy and unmoved??? There is the obligatory number of bloody freaks all around her, and she does not mention a single one as a serious suspect to the police? Well, ain't that just great! Jane Campion, poor girl. I feel sorry for you.

Too bad ... I had been hoping for a nice evening movie and then this! How predictable and awfully scripted and plotted can a script be? I was hoping for humor and all I got were childish lines, creamy smiles, and shiny eyes supposed to mirror the light of Tuscany's beautiful landscape. No deep or funny characters, no situational comedy, just a few weak and embarrassing tries at slapstick. I felt very sorry for Harvey Keitel to have had to endure this picture. His character, Parish, is supposed to be a world class writer but his prose is not even 3rd rate, shallow and pseudo-picturesque. The teacher-student relationship is not understandable at all - why would anyone bear this kid, why give him his daughter? Pathetic platitudes were all the viewer got. And this kid Joshua Jackson - or whatever is his name - was just a pancake of emotion and character: flat, boyish, unlikeable - nothing to identify or fall in love with. As for this picture, Claire Forlani should have been credited as Clearly Forlorn. Sadly, two thumbs down!