"Lost & Found" is an Austrian German-language television film from 2013, so this one is still under a decade old right now, but maybe has crossed this mark depending on when you read my review here. This is also known as "Eine Handvoll Briefe", actually mostly known under that title even I think because it is a German film, so they will usually not be going by the English title, and today on television they also used the German title. That one means "A handful of letters" by the way, a fairly fitting title, okay general summary and not too pretentious or basic. IIt runs for 1.5 hours as they usually do and was directed by Wolfgang Murnberger and the screenplay is by Uli Brée. These two are extremely prolific, also already back in 2013 and have also collaborated on several other projects. I would say that this one here is among their weakest from what I have seen. Their bodies of work are not exactly a revelation otherweise, but also not bad or anything. Then again, if they make a romance film that is mostly seen on German afternoon television nowadays, then you could even say that the outcome is perhaps better than expected. Also, as you can see from the poster here on imdb, there is another alternate title "Liebe im Gepäck", which is honestly a bit cringeworthy, but at least sounds better in English as the translation would be "Love in the luggage". The woman you see on the photo is lead actress Ursula Strauss. She has been in many films and is a fairly renowned actress who has also been in Oscar-nominated films, so she is certainly too good for the material I'd say. She is Austrian of course and as I said that here we have an Austrian production, not even an Austrian/German co-production, it's no surprise that she and several other cast members here are from Austria. This includes her male co-lead Florian Teichtmeister, even if Strauss is the far bigger lead if we look at screen time I'm sure. Karl, Prinz and Schretzmayer are Austrian as well. The few German actors are somewhat known though. Mariele Millowitsch is probably the most known cast member and even more famous than Strauss, at least here in Germany, and not only because of her famous father. She does not have a lot of screen time though and also no good material. Still she is infinitely better than Steffen Groth, who is really bad in the twi scenes he has, the first in which he tells his buddy to go home and masturbate, the second where he tells his buddy to go run for the girl. It was pretty cringeworthy. Honestly, I'd have preferred him to be out of the picture altogether, but taking into account that he has played lead characters in many films, I am just glad that here he is only supporting, although in terms of age he also could have played the male lead. Anyway, it is pretty interesting how with Groth and also Karl we have cast members much more famous (at least to me) than Teichtmeister and yet they only play second fiddle to him.
Now as for the story, it is all a bit predictable and cheesy honestly, but still the inclusion of Strauss who I still think is a decent actress and the script by Brée, which may not be great, but is still superior to 90% of German television screenplays, make it work here and there. Not to an extent where I would call it a success though. The ending bothered me quite a bit. Obviously, she was impacted by the letters and the way the writer expressed themselves and obviously it means even a lot more to her if the letters are written for her and not for somebody else, but still I thought it was a forced feel-good happy ending that had little to do with reality. I kinda doubt these two lovebirds would have gotten together in real life eventually, if she only ssaw a platonic friend in him for so long. Or even if they had, then they would have managed to find each other without all the pseudo drama attached, the "I never want to see you again", the "we should not see each other for a while" etc. Also the screaming scene on the parking lot was pretty embarrassing, even if that was way earlier and had a completely different background. I already mentioned my struggles with Groth and his character/performance and I have not really much more positive to say about Millowitsch's. She is there for her daughter and even for the guy who wants her daughter so badly apparently, but she adds nothing else really and had the character not been a part of this film, nothing really would have missed. But, like I said, that is more due to the script than to Millowitsch. Not much she could do. As for the replacement lover, if we want to call her that, I do not really get the concept. If he was crushing so hard on Strauss' character, then does it really make sense that he starts dating somebody else out of nowhere. I know I wouldn't. But in general men du think differently there I guess, so it is more of a personal and subjective perception than a criticism. Okay, that is all I pretty much have to say. I guess the story with Fritz Karl's character was among the better twists the film had to offer and is one reason why I give it only a cautious thumbs-up, not a dedicated and why I would not call this movie a failure. Also the scene when she is not feeling well and talks to him about it and calls him her best girlfriend and then asks him to stay for the night and sleep next to her, whcih he initially refuses, but as we see in the next scene still agrees to eventually was a perfect example of getting friendzoned, like maybe the best I have ever seen on movies and I have seen a lot. Only wanted to add this to show that sometimes here the attention to detail from the screenplay is good enough for this film to be a success. But overall, it is not enough for a positive recommendation, so only watch it if you are a Murnberger/Brée completionist or a really huge Strauss fan. Otherwise, feel free to miss out. Thumbs down.
Now as for the story, it is all a bit predictable and cheesy honestly, but still the inclusion of Strauss who I still think is a decent actress and the script by Brée, which may not be great, but is still superior to 90% of German television screenplays, make it work here and there. Not to an extent where I would call it a success though. The ending bothered me quite a bit. Obviously, she was impacted by the letters and the way the writer expressed themselves and obviously it means even a lot more to her if the letters are written for her and not for somebody else, but still I thought it was a forced feel-good happy ending that had little to do with reality. I kinda doubt these two lovebirds would have gotten together in real life eventually, if she only ssaw a platonic friend in him for so long. Or even if they had, then they would have managed to find each other without all the pseudo drama attached, the "I never want to see you again", the "we should not see each other for a while" etc. Also the screaming scene on the parking lot was pretty embarrassing, even if that was way earlier and had a completely different background. I already mentioned my struggles with Groth and his character/performance and I have not really much more positive to say about Millowitsch's. She is there for her daughter and even for the guy who wants her daughter so badly apparently, but she adds nothing else really and had the character not been a part of this film, nothing really would have missed. But, like I said, that is more due to the script than to Millowitsch. Not much she could do. As for the replacement lover, if we want to call her that, I do not really get the concept. If he was crushing so hard on Strauss' character, then does it really make sense that he starts dating somebody else out of nowhere. I know I wouldn't. But in general men du think differently there I guess, so it is more of a personal and subjective perception than a criticism. Okay, that is all I pretty much have to say. I guess the story with Fritz Karl's character was among the better twists the film had to offer and is one reason why I give it only a cautious thumbs-up, not a dedicated and why I would not call this movie a failure. Also the scene when she is not feeling well and talks to him about it and calls him her best girlfriend and then asks him to stay for the night and sleep next to her, whcih he initially refuses, but as we see in the next scene still agrees to eventually was a perfect example of getting friendzoned, like maybe the best I have ever seen on movies and I have seen a lot. Only wanted to add this to show that sometimes here the attention to detail from the screenplay is good enough for this film to be a success. But overall, it is not enough for a positive recommendation, so only watch it if you are a Murnberger/Brée completionist or a really huge Strauss fan. Otherwise, feel free to miss out. Thumbs down.
