"Sandstern", which literally translated means "Sand Star", but the international title here is "The Tale of a Thousand and One Lives" (a bit pretentious) is a German theatrical release from 2018, so still relatively new and fresh, even if calling it German may not be 100% correct because there are no less than three European production countries listed here and even more languages spoken. You may need subtitles for sure unless you're really gifted with the most different (and difficult) languages. The director is Turkish filmmaker Yilmaz Arslan (not Thomas), which may explain the foreign component this film has on several occasions, but I will get to that later. As for Arslan, he has made films in the old millennium already, but definitely not been the most prolific filmmaker. So certainly no surprise that this is his most recent project (even if he has a new prooject coming up as producer, interestingly ennough an Italian movie), especially if we take a look at the fact that there were no less than thirteen years between this film and the one he made before that. Anyway, let's focus on this one now: It runs for 1.5 hours, so not a particularly long watch and received attention from the German Film Critics Association Awards, which is fairly respectable, even if they are not getting it right all the time either. The screenplay they liked and I partially agree. It's among the film's better components, but as you can see from my rating, I don't really think there is anything that truly stands out about this movie, even if it stays above failure territory for the most part luckily. As for the cast, there are a few familiar faces. If you have seen Almanya and remember it well, then perhaps you will recognize the male lead actor here. I did not though. But Hilmi Sözer, who is luckily far away from these trash comedies from his younger years now, is always easy to identify and something seemed familiar for me too with Erdal Yildiz, even if I cannot really say where I saw im earlier without checking back. But i see he is in the new Fassbinder biopic, which is nice. Good for him. I'm definitely curious about that one. And of course, one who never really can be overseen is Katharina Thalbach. She is basically the one German actress in here carrying that role alone as she is of course not a member of the main character's (extended) family, but just a neighbor who makes a connection with the boy though through her very own individual character. Unfortunately, it is also almost the same character she plays in every film. I think she is likable without a doubt and I am still baffled how her children and grandchildren look so much like her, but a truly gifted actress she is not, even if she made it on her own and I kinda feel her family would not have managed to do so without her paving the ground for the name Thalbach. But that is another story. The role she plays in here is so typical though.
Now a few words on the plot here. as you can see from my rating and the title of my review, I believe that this is a film that is indeed ambitious, but never really succeeds too much with said ambition. There are many more serious moments in here, but I felt attention to detail when it comes to both writing and directing is not there the way it shoudl be. A bit of a pity. I do believe this film offered the potential to be a really convincing watch. The comedy is so-so. Sometimes it works okay to take out some of the gravity and keep it from being 100% serious and depressing, but sometimes it also feels a bit try-hard, also how characters are getting along with each other. Take the protagonist and the German kid in the wheelchair. The former locking the latter away is really a basis for a lifelong hateship (or at least as long as they are together) or they could just have ignored each other, but nope, ten minutes later the two seem like the closest friends ever as if they had known each other their entire lives and the German does not insult the other anymore and absolutely no bullying from one of them. It may just be minor references and scenes, but these moments are there on numerous occasions. It just did not make much sense to me here. One thing that is rather subjective is what to think of the narration of the protagonist at an older age very early on and at the very end. I myself did not like it. Could/Should have been left out completely this framework. What he had to say certainly sounded a bit pretentious to me. No denying there. But yeah, like I said, I do believe this is a bit subjective really and everybody may perceive it differently. One thing I kinda liked, right after said voiceover was how the situation is presented and the boy has to leave his grandmother and go back to his parents again, so not just a big change in terms of the most important person in his life since he was a baby, but also in terms of location (from Turkey to Germany). However, looking at the political climate here in Germany right now, I would not be too surprised if in reality the grandmother simply would have come with him to Germany. Debatable. Maybe she does not even want to as she has lived all her life in Turkey and she could never get happy anywhere else. But the political background is also included fully with the danger of the mother being extradited. Very comfortable subject nowadays too. You cannot do anything wrong with that honestly and people will be in favor of the film and heart it has, even if it doesn't. I always think you cannot just include stuff like that for the sake of it, but have to elaborate on it especially convincingly to make a difference compared to everybody who, like I said, just includes it for the sake of it. Still the scene with the mother wanting to hug her boy after he did something memorable stays in the mind sort of. I am just not sure if for good reasons or bad reasons (overacting, over-the-top writing), but I guess a little of both probably. Okay, this is all I have to say then. I honestly am a bit surprised that almost nobody watched this film apparently when it came out, not because it is particularly good, but because the subject I would have thought is one that gets people to theaters. But yeah maybe the illness component was a bit too serious for widespread approval. I personally think it is an okay movie at times, not a failure, but also has too many weak moments for me to hand out a positive recommendation. That's why my suggestion here is you skip the watch and go for something better instead.
Now a few words on the plot here. as you can see from my rating and the title of my review, I believe that this is a film that is indeed ambitious, but never really succeeds too much with said ambition. There are many more serious moments in here, but I felt attention to detail when it comes to both writing and directing is not there the way it shoudl be. A bit of a pity. I do believe this film offered the potential to be a really convincing watch. The comedy is so-so. Sometimes it works okay to take out some of the gravity and keep it from being 100% serious and depressing, but sometimes it also feels a bit try-hard, also how characters are getting along with each other. Take the protagonist and the German kid in the wheelchair. The former locking the latter away is really a basis for a lifelong hateship (or at least as long as they are together) or they could just have ignored each other, but nope, ten minutes later the two seem like the closest friends ever as if they had known each other their entire lives and the German does not insult the other anymore and absolutely no bullying from one of them. It may just be minor references and scenes, but these moments are there on numerous occasions. It just did not make much sense to me here. One thing that is rather subjective is what to think of the narration of the protagonist at an older age very early on and at the very end. I myself did not like it. Could/Should have been left out completely this framework. What he had to say certainly sounded a bit pretentious to me. No denying there. But yeah, like I said, I do believe this is a bit subjective really and everybody may perceive it differently. One thing I kinda liked, right after said voiceover was how the situation is presented and the boy has to leave his grandmother and go back to his parents again, so not just a big change in terms of the most important person in his life since he was a baby, but also in terms of location (from Turkey to Germany). However, looking at the political climate here in Germany right now, I would not be too surprised if in reality the grandmother simply would have come with him to Germany. Debatable. Maybe she does not even want to as she has lived all her life in Turkey and she could never get happy anywhere else. But the political background is also included fully with the danger of the mother being extradited. Very comfortable subject nowadays too. You cannot do anything wrong with that honestly and people will be in favor of the film and heart it has, even if it doesn't. I always think you cannot just include stuff like that for the sake of it, but have to elaborate on it especially convincingly to make a difference compared to everybody who, like I said, just includes it for the sake of it. Still the scene with the mother wanting to hug her boy after he did something memorable stays in the mind sort of. I am just not sure if for good reasons or bad reasons (overacting, over-the-top writing), but I guess a little of both probably. Okay, this is all I have to say then. I honestly am a bit surprised that almost nobody watched this film apparently when it came out, not because it is particularly good, but because the subject I would have thought is one that gets people to theaters. But yeah maybe the illness component was a bit too serious for widespread approval. I personally think it is an okay movie at times, not a failure, but also has too many weak moments for me to hand out a positive recommendation. That's why my suggestion here is you skip the watch and go for something better instead.
