Last night I watched a German/Austrian/Italian made for TV movie about the Austrian Empress (Kaiserin) Elizabeth. It is a remake of one of my favorite films Sissi (1955). I never understand why they have to remake already perfectly made movies. But alright, I was curious, so I watched it.

The entire time I was thinking that there was something off about the acting. The actors weren’t really connecting well which I put down as pure bad acting and made me wonder why they didn’t hire better actors. But I found out afterwards that the main actress (Cristiana Capotondi) is Italian and more or less everyone else, including the main actor (David Rott), is German. The German actors don’t speak Italian and the Italian actors don’t speak any German. So what they did was to have the Italian actors speak Italian and the German actors German. Even if they had a scene together. They would memorize the last word of the other persons dialogue as their queue. Apparently this is called babylonian film making (at least it is in German).

Which brings me to my question: WHY???? Why would you do that? I’m sure there are plenty of German speaking actresses that could have played the Empress. So why go through the hassle of all that confusion on set? Well, in this case the producers were mainly Italian and insisted on using an Italian actress (or so it sounded in the interviews on their website). But why couldn’t they find an Italian actress that speaks German? I just don’t get it. I don’t see any advantages of doing it this way.

And it shows, it really does. The actors are more or less reciting lines that they memorized but they are not playing off each other. Most of you know that I am at acting school at the moment and the main thing they teach us is to really listen to each other and let the other person have an effect on ourselves. But you can’t do that if you don’t understand the other person and are just waiting for one word in a foreign language that tells you that it’s your time to speak now. It is also strange to watch since one person is obviously dubbed but the others aren’t.

I wonder if this is a European thing or whether its going to come over to America as well. I surely hope not. I’m completely up for international collaborations and using actors that come from all sorts of different countries but then film it all in English (or whatever common language they all speak). This is completely nuts! Sorry, but I couldn’t sleep well cause it was bugging me so much last night.

Sorry guys…the new term has started so I’m gonna be a lot busier again…I will try to write more than last term though! The first couple of weeks are the worst, I am reading about 5 Plays at once and also have to memorize some scenes, monologues and a song. If you have any suggestions for great scenes (or monologues), let me know! Now, back to movies:

Inglourious Basterds Right up front I have to say that I wasn’t as impressed with this film as most of you were. I generally am not interested in war films so I was expecting to not fall in love with it. I can say this much though: Christoph Waltz was as amazing as everyone is saying (coincidentally, he went to Strasberg, too ). He was the ultimate bad guy, enjoying every cruel thing he did so much that it was immensely fun to watch him. Actually, pretty much everyone was good in the film. Quentin really got the German acting-elite to be in his film. I also like the change in history because I was rooting for the Basterds (and the French girl) to succeed but didn’t expect them to. I can’t quite put my finger on what I didn’t like. Just a general feeling I guess. When it ended I didn’t think “Wow, this is a great film!”.

Waitress There was a preview toWaitresson theOnceDVD which looked funny so I put it on our Netflix queue. But I was really disappointed by it. It had so much potential! The main character Jenna (Keri Russel) was fun and likable, there was a lot of pie in the movie (which is always great) and the story was cute and had very good ideas. The problem was that it never quite followed the intention it had. I always thought “this could get funny” and then the scene ended. The editing was also strangely slow. It is a pity but I just can’t give this movie more than two MovieStars.

Four Weddings and a Funeral I absolutely love this movie. Of course I have seen it before but I hadn’t seen it in a really long time. Watching it again just made me remember how great it is. This film is just about everything there is. It is tragic, loving, witty and most of all hilarious. Hugh Grant is so great in this film. Normally I am not a fan of typecasting but he just plays the floppy haired, confused but sweet guy so well.

Iron Man I thought this film was gonna be absolute rubbish but I actually quite enjoyed watching it. I love how much of a bastard Robert Downey Jr. is. The plot is certainly new when it comes to Super Hero films. Although Iron Man did remind me a bit of Batman with the difference that Bruce Wayne is only acting being a macho guy who is in love with himself whereas Tony Stark (Iron Man) just is like that (obviously he does have a good side to him as well). I am looking forward to the sequel that is coming out soon.

This year I had the honour to be in a jury at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival. Before I was invited to go there, I had never really heard about the festival, or about Oberhausen as a town. But it turned out to be a very rewarding experience.

What is the festival all about? This year was the 55^th festival in Oberhausen. It is a very small festival (compared to the ones I have been to, anyway). There are only about five cinema screens, one festival lounge (for eating and parties), one festival space (for discussions), a guest office (for accreditation) and a press office (for Internet). That’s it. And everything is small and in very short walking distance from each other. This, of course, is absolutely brilliant because, as guests, you have no cars, so you have to walk everywhere. If you go to the Berlin Festival, for example, the cinemas are quite close to each other but the parties and other events are at completely different places and you have to take several subways or buses to get there.

Another good thing about a small festival is meeting people. You see more or less the same people every day, so you remember them and can always find someone to talk to.

The festival is very international and the main language is English. All the films have English subtitles (except for one French film which had no subtitles at all…what a cliché! Of course, the French expect everyone to speak their language…).

Jury Duties: Being in a jury is fantastic! We were put up in a very nice, four star hotel, which made a fun change to my usual travel lodgings of tents, B&B’s, motels and the likes. We were invited, or better, obliged to attend the evening events, such as the official opening of the festival (and the fun VIP party afterwards) and the awards ceremony at the end (if you have ever been at a festival, you might know how difficult it is to get into these kind of events). But the best thing about being in the jury is the accreditation. You can get into any screening you want to see (on the downside, you don’t actually have time to watch other screenings apart from the international competition). In the screenings that we had to go to, there were even seats reserved for us.

The duties we had to do were to watch the films that were in the competition (about 50 more or less short films) and decide which one deserved an award or an honorary mention. This might sound easier than it actually is. There were a lot of great films. And, being five people from different backgrounds with different tastes, we had a real discussion.

The winner of our Jury (there were at about 6 juries over all) was the Austrian film “Elefantenhaut” (Elephant Skin). It is a film about a woman who is working in a factory and living a simple life. She has to look after her mother and has no time to herself. Although the story of the film is sad, in the end she is a very strong person. The people in the film are not trained actors but they are unbelievably good. Although it was not my first choice for the award, I am very happy with the decision. Our statement was: “Although the film shows people in miserable surroundings, they prove themselves to be loving, strong and caring. It takes a contemporary view of a current topic and draws our attention to possibilities of life we believed lost.”

The Special Mention went to the rather short but excellent British film “The Conservatory.” It is very cute and I am sure will be successful.  Our statement: “In a short and humorous way the film shows how the unspoken takes on form, inflicts injury and is overcome.”

My personal winner: A collaboration of British and American filmmakers produced the wonderful film “Nora.” It starts out being a documentary about a woman growing up in Zimbabwe. It then turns into a sort of dance film and about the woman’s (Nora) life. It tells her story, using dance (she is now a dancer in New York) in the most beautiful way. The colours and the dancing are incredible. On the surface it is simply a beautiful film but underneath it is a struggle with living in Zimbabwe, coming of age, having to be strong and finding one’s character.

Oberhausen town: It is quite a small town in the mid-west part of Germany. It was completely bombed during the war (I assume it was anyway) and has been rebuilt in the very ugly style of the post-war period. It is not a nice town. It is also extremely empty. It felt like the festival people were the only ones there. Very odd. But this really doesn’t matter because all we saw was the inside of the cinema. One day we went to a museum in a castle which was very pretty.

In post WW II Germany fifteen-year-old Michael Berg (David Kross) is having a love affair with the much older Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), which changes his life forever. The affair lasts one summer, at the end of which Hanna simply disappears. Years later, Michael is studying law at the university in Berlin. His class attends a court trial where Hanna is on trial for having been a guard in a concentration camp. The film begins when Michael is a grown man (played by Ralph Fiennes) and uses flashbacks to tell the story about the affair and the years after that.

The Reader has a very engaging story. Especially David Kross’ portrayal of the young Michael Berg is very moving. You can really feel his love for Hanna (I guess it isn’t soo hard to pretend to be in love with Kate Winslet ). Hanna, on the other hand, is very difficult to identify with, or even like. Even before the audience knows that she was working in a concentration camp, Hanna seems distant, odd and unpredictable in a bad way. It is certain that Michael will not find happiness with this woman.

It is a great film, with fantastic actors, but I just have to say this: I did not care for the ending. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I guess it is not too much said that there isn’t a happy ending. And my question is, why? There is not one positive aspect in the entire film. The affair Michael and Hanna are having is uncertain, not real love, Hanna has no true interest in Michael other then to listen to him read to her and Michael is sort of falling for a pretty girl in his class, although he doesn’t act on it. Hanna is miserable for the rest of her life and so is Michael. And then at the end, there is a glimpse of very late happiness and suddenly it is taken away again. Michael is doomed to be unhappy forever. Where is the hope in this story? Somehow, I, as the viewer, felt cheated. I am not saying that I necessarily need a happy ending, but there should be some happiness at some point.

It is a bit odd that Kate got the Oscar for best actress rather than best supporting actress. She is not really on screen a lot…

As I have previously said, I loved Hugh Jackman’s performance at the Oscars. Somehow this song got stuck in my head on Oscar night and I haven’t managed to shake it off since then… it is so funny how he is almost cracking up!

Photographer Marc (Benno Fürmann) and his young son Tyll are travelling through Bavaria to take pictures of typical Bavarian houses. When they come to the village of  Kaifeck, they find a renovated barn where they can stay for a while. From the first night they are staying in the village, Marc is having nightmares about a murder that happened a long time ago at a farm in the woods near Kaifeck. When he wakes up in the morning, he is fully dressed.

After a few nights Marc begins to suspect that the dreams are based on a real murder and he starts investigating. The villagers won’t tell him anything so he goes to find the farm.

Based on the true unsolved murders that happened a long time ago in the village of Kaifeck this film is trying to be a horror-mystery. Unfortunately, it fails. I have to admit that it is beautifully filmed (which is rare for German cinema), but the story is completely off. Kaifeck Murder starts with a great, eerie feel which immediately sent a chill down my spine and I wanted to let the film scare me. But the longer it went on, the more I realized how completely stupid the story was. Until the bitter end which makes no sense at all. The film is an utter waste of time!

Benno Fürmann does his job well, but Alexandra Maria Lara (who plays the owner of the “guest house”) really didn’t impress me. She just didn’t feel the story at all.

After 22 years Marcus Lenk (Alexander Beyer) returns to his hometown Neusorge by the river Elbe, from which he ran away as a child. While he was gone he learned how to build organs and pretends to come to Neusorge to restore the church organ. The villagers, with the exception of the pastor, think he drowned the day he ran away and refuse to recognize him now.

Marcus’ father is now a drunk, slightly mad and tending sheep. He doesn’t interact with the other people in the village. The mother is still supervising the orphanage, although there are far less children staying there now. She has become old and bitter, not even remotely resembling her younger self.

In the attempt to find his roots, Marcus finds his future in the slightly crazy Alena (Annika Blendl), who in turn is searching for her son at the local orphanage.

Director Thomas Wendrich’s feature film debut is lacking in any kind of emotion. Alexander Beyer’s eyes are dead the entire duration of the film. The villagers are cold and distant (as it is a custom in the North of Germany). The father and mother are left completely untouched by the unexpected return of their son and there is no spark between the new lovers Marcus and Alena. It could have been a good film but it just doesn’t work.

This film was one of the most popular films in German cinemas in 2008. WHY???

The Story: Star gossip-reporter Ludo (Til Schweiger) has been sentenced to serve 300 hours community service at a kindergarten. He is an absolute flirt, sleeping with any (pretty) women he can get. The woman who is heading the kindergarten, Anna (Nora Tschirner), is (in his eyes) kind of ugly, wears big glasses and unflattering clothes. They happen to know each other from childhood when Ludo always teased Anna about her looks. Now the teasing and squealing continues.

During the time when Ludo is working with Anna they fall in love. What a surprise.

The Actors: Til Schweiger is one of Germany’s most popular actors and, more recently, directors. He had his first real break with films like Manta, Manta (1991) and Der bewegte Mann (The Most Desired Man, 1994) and started directing in 1998. Keinohrhasen is the first film I have seen that he directed (and probably the last).

Nora Tschirner started out as a presenter at the German MTV and then did a few supporting roles in German films. Lately she has grown to be pretty famous in Germany.

There are quite a few other stars performing in this film, such as Jürgen Vogel (Die Welle/ The Wave, 2008), Rick Kavanian (Hui Bui, 2006), and many of the German A-list appear as extras.

My Opinion: Keinohrhasen is absolute rubbish. It feeds on clichés, is predictable and badly acted. If you don’t want to believe me, then watch the trailer below. It speaks for itself…

This is a very sweet documentary by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, a feature length version of the TV series Planet Earth. Starting at the North Pole with newly born polar bears and heading south, the film shows all kinds of life on earth. The animals, plants, mountains and oceans are filmed in a stunningly beautiful way.

I could have watched the animals for hours. There is not much for me to say other then rent it on DVD and watch it, it’s worth it!

I remember when all Sienna Miller was known for was her relationship with Jude Law. And how annoying it was to see her in magazines and newspapers just for her style. Jealousy runs deep

She had a few small roles in Layer Cake, Alfie (I really don’t wanna go into how gorgeous she looks in this film…) and according to IMDB she appeared in some TV shows and films I have never heard of. Then came Casanova, where she was the female lead alongside Heath Ledger. The film, directed by Lasse Hallström in 2005, was incredibly bad (who would have thought after he directed the beautiful Chocolat?). The story was told in a sort of falling-asleep-boring way and Sienna’s acting was dreadful. The make-up and hair made her look plain (I didn’t think it was possible!) so there is really no reason to watch that film at all.

She really developed in the 2006 Factory Girl. Here she plays Edie Sedgwick to Guy Pearce’s Andy Warhol. The film is debatably bad (although I personally quite enjoyed it), but Sienna is great in it. She is the perfect actress to play the skinny, confused Edie. Here Sienna really gets to show what she can do. Her character is very emotional and irrational, she is taking drugs, crying, laughing and getting the attention of entire rooms full of people. Sienna does it well. She is equally good in Interview, playing the soap actress Katya. This film, directed by Steve Buscemi (who plays the other lead role) is marvellous. Sienna appears to be playing herself (which of course she denies in interviews), being a young actress, living in the most beautiful warehouse apartment in Manhattan (I read that Sienna herself moved into a similar house in London), but is therefore great in the role. In the 2007 film Stardust she has a fairly small and bitchy role, nothing worth writing about. Although the film itself is quite sweet.

What I think is quite interesting is the clothes label twenty8twelve she launched in 2007 together with her sister Savannah (who studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London). Sienna has always been known for her unique style (which has been copied a lot). Oddly enough the story is quite similar to Edie Sedgwick, whose style was also iconic and who got the chance to have her own label (but did not have too much interest in it). Sienna also chose her outfit for Interview. Personally I quite like the twenty8twelve style (although, unfortunately, I can’t afford it). Their flagship store is a very small but sweet shop in Westbourne Grove (Notting Hill, London). I think it is a great opportunity for Savannah to use her sister’s fame for her own career.

As for acting, apparently Sienna Miller did a three months’ course at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City. This seems to be all the actors’ training she got, so I guess she had enough connections and endurance to get into the business. Although born in NYC, she grew up in London. She has an English accent but does the American accent really well in a few of her films.

She is stunningly beautiful, has great style, strange taste in men (what was the relationship with Rhys Ifans all about?), seems to be a really fun sort of girl and has turned out to be a good actress. I think this deserves a MovieCat Award. (I think I deserve a MovieCat Award for saying such nice things about her while I’m green with envy )

The director Max Färberböck has taken the real diary of Anonyma – Eine Frau in Berlin and made it into a quite impressive film.

It deals with the last days of the Second World War in 1945. The Red Army has invaded Berlin and is now waiting for the end of the war. Most men of the city have gone away to fight for Germany, so who’s left are the women.

The film is about their horrible fate: being raped (over and over again) by the Russian soldiers. Anonyma is one of these women. Before this time she was a journalist, living with her husband in Berlin. Now she is staying with a few others in an apartment house where the women are regularly being raped. She decides to take charge of her life and goes to the highest Russian commander she can find to beg for help. Even though he is reluctant at first, he starts coming to the flat that Anonyma is sharing with others and becomes her lover – therefore giving her security and bringing food for the people in the flat.

A lot of German films deal with World War II but this one has a completely new perspective. The women who got raped during that time have not often shared their experiences with  others and therefore there are not many recorded stories. When I went to see the movie, the director Max Färberböck was present and talked about how hard it was to get information about the women at the time. Even today very few were willing to talk about it.

What I liked about the film was that neither the Germans nor the Russians are the ‘bad guys’. The film is a documentation of what happened, it is not judging either side. Nina Hoss (Anonyma) and the other women are great in the film but the ones who really impressed me most were the Russian actors. Especially the main Russian commander was absolutely believable.

It is a very well made film. I absolutely recommend it. The story is well told, the actors are great, the costumes and sets are very realistic. But I have to say, although it has a different topic to most of the others, I am getting really tired of World War II films. It is definitely one of the better ones though!

(photo:http://www.anonyma.film.de/)