"Lili Marleen" is a German live action short film from 2021, so this one is still relatively new and fresh. In total, it ran for 21.5 minutes and approximately two of those were closing credits, so you can call it a 20-minute film. The directors were Ludwig Bachmann and Adrian Martin and the screenplay is by Jonathan L. Williams, so you can see it is a bit of co-production between German-speaking territory and the English language, which also means it will help if you get subtitles in case you are not fluent in either. As a consequence, the cast is also a mix between actors whose native language is German and others whose native language is English. In terms of the story we have a group of German soldiers and a Group of Allied soldiers. If you guessed in the first minutes already that those groups are not far away from each other and that we are heading towards a direct confrontation towards the end, then you were as correct as I was. Admittedly, it was not a longshot to come up with that. The only question would be what the clash is gonna look like exactly. There we surely had more than a few options. If you want to know, you need to watch the film.
Until this direct confrontation, we have the soldiers interact with each other reach their battalions and so on. Rom one of the German soldiers we also get something that I categorized as a dream sequence initially, but apparently he was just memorizing a meeting with his significant other from the past. We see the young man and his girlfriend talk about what name they want to give to their unborn child. The name they come up with is linked to the song that was used for the title of the film. It is a pretty famous number honestly. Most people first think of Marlene Dietrich I believe when hearing the title, but the original is by the younger Lale Andersen. Film lovers probably first think of the film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. But we will get to that one on another occasion and now there shall be a few more words about this short film. To be honest, I was not won over here. This may have to do at least partially with the genre. War films are not always to my liking gently-speaking and a film from this genre that I really adore like "1917" happens really not often. Sadly, this one here was among the more forgettable ones. I can't even really put a finger on what felt off, but none of the key scenes really left an impact on me or felt too emotional. This includes the final meeting between the two men, characters dying and also the conversation between the sweetheart. This final act of grace by the Allied soldier also seemed a bit far-fetched to be honest from my perspective, how he eventually agreed to let him go. It already felt a bit absurd that he even understood what the German solider was saying with his non-existent English vocabulary, but yeah, I was just not won over by the ending here.
The key reference to the song Lili Marleen and how it is mentioned, later on played on the trumpet and finally referenced again in a bit of an explanation why the man may live was also not on the level where I wanted it to be if I am honest. It all feels on the right track, but eventually coming a bit short in trying to achieve it. Maybe the ambition was there, but the execution not quite. While I did feel that the film could have been five minutes shorter, even if it did not drag too much, I felt that the ending with the closing credits rolling in was extremely abrupt. The strong side is maybe the direction here and also other production aspects like special effects, sound artistry and make-up. Costumes are fine as well. This film is a success from the technical perspective I would say. The gunshot wounds or blood pouring on one occasion looked real too. Unfortunately, it is the script that sinks it all eventually. Pity. The song really would have deserved a better film named after it. The actors are alright. Overall, I give this film a thumbs-down but if you are more into military films than myself, then you may actually enjoy it for the most part. If you wanna go for it, there is a Youtube link on the title's imdb page where you can watch the entire thing. I'd recommend not to though and I hope that if Bachmann, Martin and Williams will keep collaborating as they have not only on this film here, they can raise their level and that especially Williams can find better focus in the future.
Until this direct confrontation, we have the soldiers interact with each other reach their battalions and so on. Rom one of the German soldiers we also get something that I categorized as a dream sequence initially, but apparently he was just memorizing a meeting with his significant other from the past. We see the young man and his girlfriend talk about what name they want to give to their unborn child. The name they come up with is linked to the song that was used for the title of the film. It is a pretty famous number honestly. Most people first think of Marlene Dietrich I believe when hearing the title, but the original is by the younger Lale Andersen. Film lovers probably first think of the film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. But we will get to that one on another occasion and now there shall be a few more words about this short film. To be honest, I was not won over here. This may have to do at least partially with the genre. War films are not always to my liking gently-speaking and a film from this genre that I really adore like "1917" happens really not often. Sadly, this one here was among the more forgettable ones. I can't even really put a finger on what felt off, but none of the key scenes really left an impact on me or felt too emotional. This includes the final meeting between the two men, characters dying and also the conversation between the sweetheart. This final act of grace by the Allied soldier also seemed a bit far-fetched to be honest from my perspective, how he eventually agreed to let him go. It already felt a bit absurd that he even understood what the German solider was saying with his non-existent English vocabulary, but yeah, I was just not won over by the ending here.
The key reference to the song Lili Marleen and how it is mentioned, later on played on the trumpet and finally referenced again in a bit of an explanation why the man may live was also not on the level where I wanted it to be if I am honest. It all feels on the right track, but eventually coming a bit short in trying to achieve it. Maybe the ambition was there, but the execution not quite. While I did feel that the film could have been five minutes shorter, even if it did not drag too much, I felt that the ending with the closing credits rolling in was extremely abrupt. The strong side is maybe the direction here and also other production aspects like special effects, sound artistry and make-up. Costumes are fine as well. This film is a success from the technical perspective I would say. The gunshot wounds or blood pouring on one occasion looked real too. Unfortunately, it is the script that sinks it all eventually. Pity. The song really would have deserved a better film named after it. The actors are alright. Overall, I give this film a thumbs-down but if you are more into military films than myself, then you may actually enjoy it for the most part. If you wanna go for it, there is a Youtube link on the title's imdb page where you can watch the entire thing. I'd recommend not to though and I hope that if Bachmann, Martin and Williams will keep collaborating as they have not only on this film here, they can raise their level and that especially Williams can find better focus in the future.
