Horst_In_Translation Review of Xaver

Xaver (1986)

Bavarian Sci-Fi? It exists, but only partially works.

[4/10 · 25 December 2016]

"Xaver" or "Xaver und sein außerirdischer Freund" is a West German German-language movie from 1986, so this one has its 30th anniversary this year. It was written by Bavarian filmmaker Werner Possardt and it is probably the most known work from the man who was also a successful actor and died in the Tsunami disaster in Thailand back in 2004. This film runs for 85 minutes approximately and in my opinion, there aren't really any famous actors in here, but that's fine as the film is much more about the story than about individual performances. An alien, who looks like a tiny man, comes down to our planet and lands in Bavaria, where he quickly makes friends with the title character, who is considered the town's idiot by many and gets pushed around. But their friendship gives him room for hope that things get better and not much later also an attractive young woman comes into his life. So yeah, this is a science fiction movie and the ways in which the alien tries to use human language are possibly the funniest parts of this film. But they are also only funny when he says little segments and not entire phrases really because of the fact that he of course adapts to Bavarian dialect and keeps saying stuff like "Freilich" when he understood something. This alien character looked like a mix of Hervé Villechaize and Bernhard Hoecker to me. Anyway, in terms of the dramatic/emotional impact this film was trying to make, it comes relatively short I must say and while there were moments when I was tempted to give the film a higher rating, i will stick with 4 out 10 because the humor also becomes repetitive at some point and gets old fairly quickly then because admittedly it is always the same. Maybe this film would have been a better watch at 60 minutes max, preferably 50. At almost 1.5 hours, I am a bit disappointed by the outcome and while I cannot say it is a failure, it still felt underwhelming overall. This includes all areas, such as writing and acting in particular. I don't recommend the watch and I guess this one is mostly appealing to Bavarian audiences. Everybody else can skip it and they won't be missing much except the occasional (and not frequent enough) giggle. Thumbs down and if there is any reason to watch it than the weirdness of this entire project, which makes it somewhat unique.