So in other words: If this ceremoney represents German film, than nothing will be getting better anytime soon. Here we have the German Film Awards from 2022, actually not long ago at all, so my review and memory are still fairly fresh here. This one ran for 2 hours and 45 minutes, so over 150 minutes, which means that it was a very long ceremony the German equivalent of the Academy Awards we got here. There were no commercial breaks and you could say that this is because it aired on ARD, one of the biggest German television channels, but this is only partially true because they do show commercials on many occasions and still execute the idea that they are financed through what we call GEZ, an amount of money of approximately 15 Euros per month I think that really everybody is forced to pay. Unless they are blind. Even if you do not own a television, you are forced to pay. An absolute atrocity. But back to the event here: The host was Katrin Bauerfeind. I have known her since watching Harald Schmidt many years ago and I always kinda liked her. I would not say I liked her hosting that much, but let's say she was "only" a poor factor in an otherwise terrible awards show, so actually among the better aspects from the evening. It was kinda funny how she dealt with German actor Schweighöfer whose films are absolutely terrible, even if they are seen by millions in movie theaters. So you kinda have to blame those for falling for Schweighöfer's boyish charm although he is so limited in terms of his range that I have a hard time calling him an actor even. The art of make-believe. This may sound harsh, but yes he and his movies are that bad. Then again, as I stated earlier, you probably have to blame the ones paying to see him at least as much as you should blame him. Still a priceless thought if he now could even have a career in Hollywood. He sure couldn't have one in France or Scandinavia. I think he was also trolled by Christoph Maria Herbst on one occasion there, but I am not 100% sure about that anymore. The one thing that is safe though is that he probably will not come back. Seems like he wasn't exactly a frequent visitor in the past either, even if some of his works scored awards for film with most visitors or so.
Anyway, when Bauerfeind approached him and in the end he jokingly says she should leave him alone, this was really a perfect example of how he simply is not a good actor. It was so obvious he was uncomfortable there and 50% of this surprising exclamation were surely what he really thought. Probably 100%. His joking about never coming back if he succeeds in America was also embarrassing, he just took Bauerfeind's words and invitation and did nothing with it. Truly weak. Anyway, as for Bauerfeind, she also wasn't a quality host and had some pretty poor moments. The entire gender language is insane here nowadays. I mean do it if you have to, but if they feel the need to use this language when speaking about the deceased from the in-memoriam segment, then something is terribly wrong. If I was a relative or close friend of any of them, I would feel mocked honestly. This constant aiming at political correctness through gender-neutral language was one of the cringeworthiest factors of the night. Already through the sheer frequency of it all. And did Bauerfeind at the very end really use gender-appropriate language for the word "fan", develop a female term for it in the German language? I don't even. Or maybe she was mocking it all there. Then that was really smart, but I kinda doubt it sadly. In general, I felt as if the audience there, all the actors etc., were not super fond of Bauerfeind hosting the thing, but I may be wrong. It felt like this in the first half, afterwards it got better for her. Her music performance when playing an instrument was quite nice, but for every okay moment there were two or three bad moments. Her musical opening was poor for example. The pre-recorded segment from a church at the very start was also pretty embarrassing. Not a surprise though. ARD and the other channels constantly attack the church, so of course Bauerfeind steps forward here letting us know right away, she has not been in one for a long time and how she mocks the fact that there was never a female pope was just as embarrassing as using foul language inside the church. I am not sure if this was really filmed inside one, but if so, then those who permitted this blasphemy to take place there and get recorded should be fired from their jobs.
I will not say too much about the awards or a little later, but while I was happy for and fine with Jürgen Jürges getting one (despite all the trash he has worked on), a career award even, because of how much I like Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, I must still say that his speech was a travesty. Again gender-neutral language, random rambling about climate change and of course the war in Eastern Europe also had to be included. No idea what that was all about. I learnt he was likably quiet, which is even cooler, but what he really should have talked about there are the people who mean the world to him, the ones who always supported him during his career, the ones about whom he has maybe some interesting or funny anecdotes to share like how they got Willem Dafoe to say a few words about heights, but Jürges really gave an absolutely awful speech there. ARD was probably quite happy with what he had to say and so were the politicians. Oh and the entire professionalism of this event showed when the one that presented Jürges, obviously a very close neighbor and friend, called him Jürgens the moment she called him up to the stage. Pretty self-explanatory. Einstein was right with his quote about endless stupidity in the universe or how it went. Without a doubt though, they will invite her again for the next ceremonies. There were many other really low moments. One would be when last year's host showed up to announce his category by singing. So cringe, so poor. Ironically, it wasnt even a sound-related category. No words for this mess. Admittedly, he was not the worst. Maren Kroymann once again topped everybody on the negative scale. Flopped everybody you could say. No clue either why she is presenting awards (several even) or sitting in the first row. Absolute non-factor in German film. She appears a lot on television and her programs there are not good either. I think she is completely free of talent and people like her are the reason or the escape why/when the likes of Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders or Daniel Brühl, maybe August Diehl too would never come to events like this.
And when Kroymann started imitating Elvis after rambling about James Dean it was I think, it was all over anyway. Fittingly, these fools in the room even applauded her. Well, I guess they deserve their downfall then. This was truly a moment you could consider symbolic and the answer to the question asked a few times that evening why the German film industry is struggling hard and how things can get better. If Kroymann's Elvis is something you support, then down you will go for eternity. One step further: Claudia Roth. She is in charge of culture in the new German government and that is also self-explanatory if you know her. The minister in this department always shows up at the German Film Awards. The previous one was already horrible, but Roth truly hits rock bottom. I mean this women has demonstrated with radical leftists and literally (I kid you not!) expressed that Germany needs to be abolished. And this person is a federal minister in Germany. I would not be surprised if the German Film Awards will soon face a name change. And the worst is that she will be there for another three ceremonies at least. In other words, there is no hope for this ceremony before 2026. Good moments? There weren't many. Detlev Buck is always interesting to listen to. Andreas Kleinert's speech was fine too, at least partially. Surprised me a bit I was not familiar with him before that really, except having heard the name. The music from the in-memoriam segment was okay. So was Tukur serenading the three nominees. He was already one of the biggest names in the room. No way you could ever get Kristen Stewart or Pablo Larraín to watch in the audience, even if their film had many nominations. None for Stewart though. Yeah, right.
Telling enough also that a copy of a French movie ends up among the best six of the year and I say this as somebody who likes Herbst. Contra is not CODA. That much is safe. Not 5% of its charm and heart. The films are not the (only) reason why German film sucks, it is the all-around situation. Pushing an agenda everywhere, always political correctness until it makes you throw up. Always supporting the left, criticizing Bush (disappointed in Dresen, I thought he was better than that), pro integration, against racism, pro LGBT and at best not one, but two of these subjects and your film is already awesome. The story or actual quality nobody cares about as long as the agenda is correct. This amateurism could also be found at the awards. Be it Lara who as the new boss (next to Gallenberger) had to make sure they do not switch up envelopes or be it the depiction of the nominees where some got much more screen than others, like three nominated teams and one got 50% and the other two 25% each. Or why are there categories with two nominees? Or three special effects nominees of which only one film has notable special effects at all? So bizarre. So ridiculous. On one occasion it was said a (Black, of course) comedian is the best right now in mixing comedy with music and she was awful, so that says it all about German comedy. Sexist and anti-male she was. Nora Tschirner could not be more fake either. Guess the John Lennon quote was fine: You only have one life. "Don't waste your time living somebody else's life." Or the Best Camera winner's tribute to a lost one. Thank God no awards for a year now. Lieber Thomas? Lieber Gott!
Anyway, when Bauerfeind approached him and in the end he jokingly says she should leave him alone, this was really a perfect example of how he simply is not a good actor. It was so obvious he was uncomfortable there and 50% of this surprising exclamation were surely what he really thought. Probably 100%. His joking about never coming back if he succeeds in America was also embarrassing, he just took Bauerfeind's words and invitation and did nothing with it. Truly weak. Anyway, as for Bauerfeind, she also wasn't a quality host and had some pretty poor moments. The entire gender language is insane here nowadays. I mean do it if you have to, but if they feel the need to use this language when speaking about the deceased from the in-memoriam segment, then something is terribly wrong. If I was a relative or close friend of any of them, I would feel mocked honestly. This constant aiming at political correctness through gender-neutral language was one of the cringeworthiest factors of the night. Already through the sheer frequency of it all. And did Bauerfeind at the very end really use gender-appropriate language for the word "fan", develop a female term for it in the German language? I don't even. Or maybe she was mocking it all there. Then that was really smart, but I kinda doubt it sadly. In general, I felt as if the audience there, all the actors etc., were not super fond of Bauerfeind hosting the thing, but I may be wrong. It felt like this in the first half, afterwards it got better for her. Her music performance when playing an instrument was quite nice, but for every okay moment there were two or three bad moments. Her musical opening was poor for example. The pre-recorded segment from a church at the very start was also pretty embarrassing. Not a surprise though. ARD and the other channels constantly attack the church, so of course Bauerfeind steps forward here letting us know right away, she has not been in one for a long time and how she mocks the fact that there was never a female pope was just as embarrassing as using foul language inside the church. I am not sure if this was really filmed inside one, but if so, then those who permitted this blasphemy to take place there and get recorded should be fired from their jobs.
I will not say too much about the awards or a little later, but while I was happy for and fine with Jürgen Jürges getting one (despite all the trash he has worked on), a career award even, because of how much I like Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, I must still say that his speech was a travesty. Again gender-neutral language, random rambling about climate change and of course the war in Eastern Europe also had to be included. No idea what that was all about. I learnt he was likably quiet, which is even cooler, but what he really should have talked about there are the people who mean the world to him, the ones who always supported him during his career, the ones about whom he has maybe some interesting or funny anecdotes to share like how they got Willem Dafoe to say a few words about heights, but Jürges really gave an absolutely awful speech there. ARD was probably quite happy with what he had to say and so were the politicians. Oh and the entire professionalism of this event showed when the one that presented Jürges, obviously a very close neighbor and friend, called him Jürgens the moment she called him up to the stage. Pretty self-explanatory. Einstein was right with his quote about endless stupidity in the universe or how it went. Without a doubt though, they will invite her again for the next ceremonies. There were many other really low moments. One would be when last year's host showed up to announce his category by singing. So cringe, so poor. Ironically, it wasnt even a sound-related category. No words for this mess. Admittedly, he was not the worst. Maren Kroymann once again topped everybody on the negative scale. Flopped everybody you could say. No clue either why she is presenting awards (several even) or sitting in the first row. Absolute non-factor in German film. She appears a lot on television and her programs there are not good either. I think she is completely free of talent and people like her are the reason or the escape why/when the likes of Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders or Daniel Brühl, maybe August Diehl too would never come to events like this.
And when Kroymann started imitating Elvis after rambling about James Dean it was I think, it was all over anyway. Fittingly, these fools in the room even applauded her. Well, I guess they deserve their downfall then. This was truly a moment you could consider symbolic and the answer to the question asked a few times that evening why the German film industry is struggling hard and how things can get better. If Kroymann's Elvis is something you support, then down you will go for eternity. One step further: Claudia Roth. She is in charge of culture in the new German government and that is also self-explanatory if you know her. The minister in this department always shows up at the German Film Awards. The previous one was already horrible, but Roth truly hits rock bottom. I mean this women has demonstrated with radical leftists and literally (I kid you not!) expressed that Germany needs to be abolished. And this person is a federal minister in Germany. I would not be surprised if the German Film Awards will soon face a name change. And the worst is that she will be there for another three ceremonies at least. In other words, there is no hope for this ceremony before 2026. Good moments? There weren't many. Detlev Buck is always interesting to listen to. Andreas Kleinert's speech was fine too, at least partially. Surprised me a bit I was not familiar with him before that really, except having heard the name. The music from the in-memoriam segment was okay. So was Tukur serenading the three nominees. He was already one of the biggest names in the room. No way you could ever get Kristen Stewart or Pablo Larraín to watch in the audience, even if their film had many nominations. None for Stewart though. Yeah, right.
Telling enough also that a copy of a French movie ends up among the best six of the year and I say this as somebody who likes Herbst. Contra is not CODA. That much is safe. Not 5% of its charm and heart. The films are not the (only) reason why German film sucks, it is the all-around situation. Pushing an agenda everywhere, always political correctness until it makes you throw up. Always supporting the left, criticizing Bush (disappointed in Dresen, I thought he was better than that), pro integration, against racism, pro LGBT and at best not one, but two of these subjects and your film is already awesome. The story or actual quality nobody cares about as long as the agenda is correct. This amateurism could also be found at the awards. Be it Lara who as the new boss (next to Gallenberger) had to make sure they do not switch up envelopes or be it the depiction of the nominees where some got much more screen than others, like three nominated teams and one got 50% and the other two 25% each. Or why are there categories with two nominees? Or three special effects nominees of which only one film has notable special effects at all? So bizarre. So ridiculous. On one occasion it was said a (Black, of course) comedian is the best right now in mixing comedy with music and she was awful, so that says it all about German comedy. Sexist and anti-male she was. Nora Tschirner could not be more fake either. Guess the John Lennon quote was fine: You only have one life. "Don't waste your time living somebody else's life." Or the Best Camera winner's tribute to a lost one. Thank God no awards for a year now. Lieber Thomas? Lieber Gott!