"Mit Burnout durch den Wald", which means "With Burnout through the forest", is a German television film from 2014, so this one is over half a decade old already now, maybe even over a decade when you read this review. It runs for approximately 1.5 hours like the vast majority of German small screen releases. The names of director Rowitz and writer Altmeyer sure do not stand for a positive prognosis here because both have worked on quite a handful projects that were not quality at all. I wish I could say at least something positive about Altmeyer because he was around the age of 30 back then and because this was his first full feature effort as a writer, but looking at what he has done since 2014, I don't see much potential that he could eventually become a quality writer. Kinda surprising actually to see such an unexperienced writer in charge here because the cast is definitely above average for a television film. I will not mention all the names to you, but let me tell you that many of them had their fair share of big screen success, so the potential for a better film was definitely there overall. Still it must be said that some cast members here also have appeared in many really bad films. Just take Jutta Speidel. Even if I did not end up liking this film here, I was kinda glad for once to not see her in some kind of cheesy romance film about an independent woman. Still her character was not particularly interesting and did not have a lot to offer, perhaps because they knew how limited her skill set is. I still think her character's and her character's man had one of the better, or at least more realistic stories, of this movie. Sure the big jump between them kissing passionately and her leaving, so he could live his dreams was way too big given the lack of writing talent, but at least they did not go for a pseudo happy ending here with the two bonding out of nowhere again. Almost a bit bold with how these films made by ARD etc. are usually never daring and have the intention to keep the audiences small and certainly not inspire them to make essential changes to their lives. So at least one refreshing difference here, but I guess this was a bit expected because the therapist said something like if they ever thought about breaking up and as she is described as a genius or so by that barkeeper early on, she must be right.
One story/character I really adored was Martin Brambach's. I mean I am definitely a huge fan of the actor, but even if I was neutral, I am pretty sure he'd have been the one who impressed me the most. Perhaps the only one who impressed me even. I may be biased, but I think he nailed his scenes totally, also the meeting with the prostitute, and made the stupid script seem tolerable even at times. So definitely a wrong decision by awards bodies that he did not get any attention. One other actress did, namely Stappenbeck, but also not too much and she was nothing special. Her story was written really poorly as well. How they tried to elaborate on people who cannot deal with money and are heavily in debt, is almost an insult to those who really struggle with regards to that. So overall, it comes down to nothing but her romance story, and that one is quite a bad joke too. I mean the two do not get along well at all, but quickly they are attracted to each other and eventually (of course) (are about to) become a couple. The love interest there is played by Maximilian von Pufendorf and he is maybe the one who has the best material from all of them and he does an okay job with it, even if the beginning is such a shameless "Up in the Air" rip-off that it was impossible not to cringe. Without 10% of Reitman's talent obviously. The introduction sequences were a joke anyway overall. The classroom sequence is the best (I should say worst) example. Let me assure you that after 13 years of school, this would never have happened authentically in a classroom and how they desperately try to make a connection between mental illnesses and the Great Depression is an embarrassment for everybody who is involved, most of all the boy who eventually says what is meant by that and where he got these information. Unfortunately things are not getting any better. It sucks in its key moments, but also really small inclusions like the girl who says something about the fast pace of life when her mother is about to enter the bus.
And don't even get me started about Kalenberg's character. The actress is pretty attractive, although admittedly in this film here there would not have fit any more makeup into her face to make sure she is. But not the most talented either. Her weakest moments come towards the end. All of a sudden, she realizes the reason why she never stayed with menn for the long run is that she is into girls maybe? When she spots the tushy of a waitress? Seriously? Or how all out of nowhere she decides to go on a sabbatical. I mean it was an okay idea and I appreciate the thought that they do not ant to give all the characters forced and unrealistic happy ending, but even if you take another route, you have to come up with a convincing plot that leads them to it. They sure didn't here. Same applies to Brambach's character's solution. Yeah he sure could not have come up with the idea to drive a taxi again during his long phase of unemployment. Instead he runs around as a living hot dog. Brambach as a hot dog admittedly could have been the greatest thing ever, but they did not even put any effort in with the costume, so it was disappointing again. Almost no attention to detail in this film. As for the taxi driver job at the end, again nothing that leads us to this conclusion. No comment either on Kalenberg's character all of a sudden ending up in Brambach's character's taxi. Talk about highly unrealistic coincidence. It is a big city. Also normally you see the taxi driver before entering. Anyway, even if you accept Brambach's character's introduction at the unemployment agency (and that is already a tough challenge), it's impossible to accept this character and story as something that could exist like that in real life. And as they were really going for it in terms of depicting normal people, who are struggling, this is a negative deal-breaker. Finally, another moment during which the film hits rock bottom is when von Pufendorf's has this tiny heart attack or whatever it is and can't breathe. Of course, this happened the moment when he was fired and the latter as already bad enough because this dismissal made no sense at all if, before that, they sent him to such a quest in the forest, with how successful he was in his job and with how there wasn't even an indication that he could be sacked. All just for the sake of (unrealistic) storytelling. It's an abomination. Also needless to say that, right after his health struggles, he is perfectly fine again making out with Stappenbeck's character. Sigh. This movie comes very short in terms of both comedy and drama. So it would have been the best if the characters actually had left immediately as they had the intention to when the start into the whole adventure was really rocky. But they stayed and all of a sudden they even made a connection with each other. And had a good time, opened up etc. This is een for example in the scene when Speidel's character crashes into the tree. There you see that the film also is a failure from the scientific perspective because hanging there, the biggest speed is gone and still all of a sudden she bumps into the woodwork where she wasnÄt even close before that. About to finish my review now with the actual ending: There was the comedic implication that the therapist (played by Schade) needed a therapist herself now maybe after spending four days with this group. Not funny. Overall, I made a similar statement before, you could say that actually this film almost mocks and is offensive to people ho really soffer from these mental disorders, no matter what caused them. Big thumbs-down for these 90 minutes. Highly not recommended.
One story/character I really adored was Martin Brambach's. I mean I am definitely a huge fan of the actor, but even if I was neutral, I am pretty sure he'd have been the one who impressed me the most. Perhaps the only one who impressed me even. I may be biased, but I think he nailed his scenes totally, also the meeting with the prostitute, and made the stupid script seem tolerable even at times. So definitely a wrong decision by awards bodies that he did not get any attention. One other actress did, namely Stappenbeck, but also not too much and she was nothing special. Her story was written really poorly as well. How they tried to elaborate on people who cannot deal with money and are heavily in debt, is almost an insult to those who really struggle with regards to that. So overall, it comes down to nothing but her romance story, and that one is quite a bad joke too. I mean the two do not get along well at all, but quickly they are attracted to each other and eventually (of course) (are about to) become a couple. The love interest there is played by Maximilian von Pufendorf and he is maybe the one who has the best material from all of them and he does an okay job with it, even if the beginning is such a shameless "Up in the Air" rip-off that it was impossible not to cringe. Without 10% of Reitman's talent obviously. The introduction sequences were a joke anyway overall. The classroom sequence is the best (I should say worst) example. Let me assure you that after 13 years of school, this would never have happened authentically in a classroom and how they desperately try to make a connection between mental illnesses and the Great Depression is an embarrassment for everybody who is involved, most of all the boy who eventually says what is meant by that and where he got these information. Unfortunately things are not getting any better. It sucks in its key moments, but also really small inclusions like the girl who says something about the fast pace of life when her mother is about to enter the bus.
And don't even get me started about Kalenberg's character. The actress is pretty attractive, although admittedly in this film here there would not have fit any more makeup into her face to make sure she is. But not the most talented either. Her weakest moments come towards the end. All of a sudden, she realizes the reason why she never stayed with menn for the long run is that she is into girls maybe? When she spots the tushy of a waitress? Seriously? Or how all out of nowhere she decides to go on a sabbatical. I mean it was an okay idea and I appreciate the thought that they do not ant to give all the characters forced and unrealistic happy ending, but even if you take another route, you have to come up with a convincing plot that leads them to it. They sure didn't here. Same applies to Brambach's character's solution. Yeah he sure could not have come up with the idea to drive a taxi again during his long phase of unemployment. Instead he runs around as a living hot dog. Brambach as a hot dog admittedly could have been the greatest thing ever, but they did not even put any effort in with the costume, so it was disappointing again. Almost no attention to detail in this film. As for the taxi driver job at the end, again nothing that leads us to this conclusion. No comment either on Kalenberg's character all of a sudden ending up in Brambach's character's taxi. Talk about highly unrealistic coincidence. It is a big city. Also normally you see the taxi driver before entering. Anyway, even if you accept Brambach's character's introduction at the unemployment agency (and that is already a tough challenge), it's impossible to accept this character and story as something that could exist like that in real life. And as they were really going for it in terms of depicting normal people, who are struggling, this is a negative deal-breaker. Finally, another moment during which the film hits rock bottom is when von Pufendorf's has this tiny heart attack or whatever it is and can't breathe. Of course, this happened the moment when he was fired and the latter as already bad enough because this dismissal made no sense at all if, before that, they sent him to such a quest in the forest, with how successful he was in his job and with how there wasn't even an indication that he could be sacked. All just for the sake of (unrealistic) storytelling. It's an abomination. Also needless to say that, right after his health struggles, he is perfectly fine again making out with Stappenbeck's character. Sigh. This movie comes very short in terms of both comedy and drama. So it would have been the best if the characters actually had left immediately as they had the intention to when the start into the whole adventure was really rocky. But they stayed and all of a sudden they even made a connection with each other. And had a good time, opened up etc. This is een for example in the scene when Speidel's character crashes into the tree. There you see that the film also is a failure from the scientific perspective because hanging there, the biggest speed is gone and still all of a sudden she bumps into the woodwork where she wasnÄt even close before that. About to finish my review now with the actual ending: There was the comedic implication that the therapist (played by Schade) needed a therapist herself now maybe after spending four days with this group. Not funny. Overall, I made a similar statement before, you could say that actually this film almost mocks and is offensive to people ho really soffer from these mental disorders, no matter what caused them. Big thumbs-down for these 90 minutes. Highly not recommended.
