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Weihnachtsmann gesucht (2002)
A Wonderful Movie with a Great Cast
I thoroughly enjoyed this film - I enjoyed the storyline, as well as the great cast & acting. In fact it was so good, that I watched it twice in a row.
This is one of those 'they don't make them like this anymore' films, with a traditional, heart-warming family-orientated storyline. Whilst the story is loosely based around Christmas, I wouldn't necessarily class this film as a 'Family Movie', as there are some pretty heavy subjects in its base - such as suicide, domestic abuse, stalking, etc. Not a great film to watch with the kids.
On the other hand, it's a fantastic film to watch with other adult family members, as the plot is filled with dark humour, wit, jealousy, revenge, compulsion, low-grade action and best of all LOVE.
The film revolves around the pessimistic and 'miserable' divorced pet shop owner Herr Böhmke (Waltz), who stalks his divorced wife (played by Barbara Auer) every opportunity he has. Auer still lives in the apartment right next to his, so opportunities are rife for him to invade her privacy. Auer, who plays an eccentric, obsessive compulsive tax accountant with a fondness for donuts, wood polish and angels, tries her very best to avoid Waltz (but to little avail).
Waltz, who is still in love with his ex-wife Auer and regrets losing her, is emotionally shattered when he discovers that she has found a new love in her life, a paediatrician, whom she intends to move in with. Waltz results to a failed suicide attempt in his pet shop, in order to regain the attention and sympathies of his ex-wife, to no avail. Waltz then enlists the help of a young boy named Sascha, as well as a psychology student working part-time in his pet shop, for new ideas on how to win his wife back.
Auer, who has a fondness for children, instantly takes to Sascha, whom Waltz has 'fostered' (so to speak), as the young boy is likewise suffering for a turbulent home, where his parents regularly partake in domestic violence. Through their mutual fondness of Sascha, Waltz and Auer rekindle their passion for each other. Waltz is also transformed through his interactions with Sascha, and becomes a kinder, caring, funnier and happier man.
Although the bond between Waltz and Auer is becoming stronger again, the domestic violence at home reaches a peak, and Sascha's father Herr Wittkamp (Pasquale Aleardi) disappears without a trace, just before Christmas. Sascha is devastated, and in his misery, accidentally slips & falls into a freezing cold river (from which he is rescued by Waltz), who then contracts pneumonia, and ends up in hospital in a critical state. Heart broken, Waltz's passion is fuelled by the thought of losing Sascha and seeing him so unhappy, he becomes determined to find Herr Wittkamp at any cost. Eventually, Herr Wittkamp is found lying in the snow on a park bench with a whiskey bottle. Waltz takes Herr Wittkamp into his own home, and rehabilitates him. Waltz then proceeds to hire Wittkamp in his pet store.
This promising film warms the hearts of viewers by having a similarly happy ending, in which Wittkamp is reunited with Sascha and his wife (for the better), and Auer announces that she made a terrible mistake in divorcing Waltz and breaks off the relationship with the paediatrician. The film ends by viewers watching the silhouettes of Waltz and Auer kissing through a snow-covered window pane on Christmas Eve.
This movie has the 'stuff of great movies', and takes viewers through highs and lows, happiness and sadness, laughter and unique quirks, and its heart-warming story line does not fail to impress. Waltz's performance is ingenious, as he entertains viewers with his usual unique style of extremist passion, aloof sexiness, wit, dark humour, sarcasm, and determination. Auer is also brilliant, and portrays her role of a hot ended, compulsive accountant torn between two lovers remarkably well.
A film I certainly enjoyed very much, and would recommend to all.
Carnage (2011)
Awful... Boring... Might be of interest to Polanski fans...
To sum the movie up in one word: "Ahhhhhh...."
I've never liked Polanski films, and have tried to avoid them wherever at all possible. However, as this movie contained BOTH of my favourite actors in one hit - Winslet & Waltz - as well as the unquestionable talents of Foster & Reilly - my hopes were slightly less pessimistic, and I decided to give the film a go (completely ignoring my better judgement).
Initially I was surprised that I'd never heard of the film before - how could I possibly have missed a fairly recent box office film with so many famous faces in it? I now know why.
It is Awful - Awful, with a capital A. How this movie (or should I say, what looks more like to be an adapted / blotched theatre production) managed to reel in a rating of 7.2 / 10, I will never understand. Polanski must still have some die-hard fans out there, that are willing to jovially score his films blindly, completely oblivious to the depth of storyline, or the quality of the script.
The film plot, as seems to be routinely exaggerated throughout the web for marketing purposes, is certainly not as complicated as critics will make out to be. The whole film, yes - the WHOLE film - resolves around two parent couples arguing & bickering about a fight that broke out between their sons at school. The WHOLE movie is set in the apartment home of Mrs Longstreet (Foster), and no one EVER leaves the apartment for a change of scenery! The bickering and arguing steadily increases throughout the whole film, to the point where Winslet "barfs" (as Foster puts it) all over a coffee table & a pile of books. Approximately 20 minutes of the production is filmed around Foster complaining about her wrecked books that have been "barfed" on.
The bad news is, that although the film doesn't solely revolve around "barf" - it does NOT get any better!
Polanski has managed to hit a new low with this film - his movies have always been bad, but this is truly mind-numbingly terrible, to the point of wanting to cry out of utter boredom about an hour into the movie. Waltz and Winslet attempt to 'escape' by heading for the elevator a few times during the film, however they seem to routinely accept invitations back into the apartment by being bribed with coffee and spoilt cobbler. Seriously?
I have always been of the firm belief that Waltz is such a good actor, that he would be able to turn any bad film, into something glorious. I WAS WRONG. Although Waltz and Winslet make a good on-screen couple, the qualities which make these two wonderful actors as special and unique as they are, are never given the opportunity to shine.
Waltz has been slammed with the portrayal of a character which rightly should have played by someone 20 years his junior - this does him no favours. Waltz is a very adept actor, a rising super star (who has also been dubbed as "Tarantinos Muse" - and rightly so, for good reason), who is able to routinely offer his characters witt, humour, a dark side, sarcasm, intelligence, bravery, mystery, and a unique type of aloof sexiness. Mr Cowan (Waltz) is a remarried lawyer, who spends half of the film on his mobile phone whilst eating cobbler, and spends the other half of the film acting like... a 'wannabe douche bag'. Seeing Waltz portrayed as an uncaring, passive aggressive idiot, does him no favours -the role would probably have been better filled by a younger, more inexperienced actor. It surprised me that Waltz would have even considered taking the role on, although he must have also at times felt that it was ill suited to him. I'm assuming that the film's $25,000,000 budget (and suitably high pay checks) would have had something to do with it.
You have to love Winslet. She tries so hard to play her role of an exasperated and emotionally neglected housewife well - and to give her credit, she pulls it off OK. She generally manoeuvres the movie well, and has a suitably matching kept appearance. This said, I'm surprised that she - being the worldly and multi-faceted talent that she is - would have allowed herself to be portrayed as a nagging whinger who, ultimately, becomes so anxious that she throws up over Mrs Longstreet's (Foster) living room, and over Waltz's pants, and spends half an hour trying to comb vomit out of her hair in the bathroom. Winslet can do so much better than this, needless to say.
Reilly and Foster pull off their roles well, given the situation, with similar aloofness as the two previous actors. Foster is also portrayed as a nagging housewife who is obsessed with her art books and can't get over the fact that their children had a fight in the playground. Reilly is perhaps the best suited for his role out of the three other actors in the film, and charms the audience with his good natured attitude and huge smile (which is such a delight to see - you get a bit sick of looking at permanently miserable faces of arguing and "barfing" housewives after a while).
To sum, an atrocious film, of the lowest calibre - even for Polanski. Badly written, sufficiently directed, badly acted by a series of well known generally great actors, with a 'head on wall thumbing' terribly boring storyline and scenery. The story might (and thats a big MIGHT) have worked on stage - with an entirely different cast, but it certainly does no justice to Polanski, any of the actors, the audience or the movie industry. An absolute waste of my entire evening, and I beseech fellow prospective viewers to think carefully - you also probably have much better things to do with your evenings.