If you are looking for a charming movie for grownups, DIE FRISEUSE (The Hairdresser) is well watching. Netflix has it and I don't know who else but it is worth looking for it. It touches just about every aspect of human life and whoever says Germans do not have a sense of humor hasn't seen this movie. Doris Dörrie took Laila Stieler's script, cast Gabriela Maria Schmeide as Kathi and created a wonderful film worth seeing more than once. These filmmakers were not afraid to deal with love, sexuality, bigotry, discrimination and racism in a real and compelling way. I was rooting for Kathi to succeed and the more she fell or was pushed down the more I rooted for her as she got up to go at it again. Might be too deep for the shallowness of some audiences but for me it was also a slap in the face to Hollywood conventions as if Doris Dorrie was trying to tell them, "This is how you make a movie". I love films that have a universal theme of humanity and that are told through a realistic dead pan sort of humor. This movie is set in Germany but it deals with the same issues most face every day, whether you're in Rome, East Los Angeles, Taipei, or London. It might help if you know a little bit of the culture and history of Germany before and after the Berlin wall fell to catch some of the subtle nuances sprinkler throughout but it is not necessary to enjoy this gem.
Review of The Hairdresser
