"25 km/h " is a new movie from Germany, very recently released, and this is a collaboration by director Goller and writer Ziegenbalg, both fairly known and successful here in Germany, but not among the elite you could say. Their collaboration here refelcts their experience though and the outcome is a pretty interesting film from start to finish during these almost 2 hours. This is mostly due to lead actor Lars Eidinger, who in his mid-30s now is without a doubt among Germany's most impressive performers. He is in almost every scene and next to him we get Bjarne Mädel, who definitely isn't bad, but even I as a Stromberg fan cannot deny that he only plays second fiddle to Eidinger most of the time. But he also has less bait. The storyline involving Mädel and Hüller's character is nowhere near the level of Eidinger's and Triebel's and their son's. These include the more dramatic moments of the film, but there is also a lot to laugh. Really a pity that the trailer took some of the film's more/most interesting scenes and served them to audiences already beforehand. The brawl early on would have been much more interesting not knowing about it and same for the joke with the police escorting the duo to the border. Oh well, still there is a lot more. I mentioned the brawl already, but I thought it was a bit much to be honest, just like at the other end of the loving/hating brothers scale the moment when Mädel tells Eidinger he loves him. But these are just minor flaws. Everything in-between is good to watch most of the time. Some of Germany's most famous actors these days (the two females I mentioned already plus Haase, Möhring, Lara, Potente...) add some solid spice as well. Shame I missed Brambach as I really like him. His role must have been minimal.
I think the table tennis scene was the best example of how the film made the right decisions. In an embarrassing Schweighöfer romantic comedy, they would have won it of course, but the way they handled it here instead was just as good, probably even better and certainly deeper with how they are trying to get their bikes back. Oh well, maybe these arrow shots were a bit too much by Möhring's character, but not that bad either. I also really really liked the very last shot with Eidinger's character ringing the door to his son, a perfect way to close the film on an open ending. The conversation with Triebel's character was fine too. She struggle with the call initially, then responded to it in a friendly way, but eventually ended it on a negative note again. Nobody knows how things will turn out after the credits roll in. It is not for us to see, but we know he is trying to avoid the same mistakes in the future that his father did. Aside from that, all the lighter outdoor moments that defined the term "road movie" here entertained me well. The film does not take itself more seriously than it has a right too and while it admittedly never reaches greatness, this is a good perspective I think because otherwise some sequences could have felt a bit on the cringeworthy side. The genre is not one that you'd really associate with German filmmaking, let alone German quality filmmaking, so I think it is good this film was made and it probably deserves some of the awards recognition it is inevitably going to get in the next few months. Go check this one out. I give it a thumbs-up.
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