Reviews
Schwere Jungs (2006)
This is no "Wer früher stirbt...
This is no "Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot", director Rosenmüller's last and very prominent work. "Schwere Jungs" is visibly a low-budget production driven by excellent character work. It's strength lies in the actors and the quaint fifties setting of upper Bavaria. If there are flaws, then they stem from the attempt to cram some 6 or so sub-plots into a movie already laden with storyline. To keep it all together, Rosenmüller had to invent cross-connections between characters and motivations that strain credibility. Another minus are the fake Bavarian accents some of the actors come up with. It's good to have quality talent on-screen, but couldn't they have found some native Bavarians?
La puce (1999)
European, explicitly French film, no PC morals included
What I love about Euro-cinema, and what makes it totally unfit for US audiences, is it's gritty realism when it comes to gender relations. Take, for example, this movie, and compare it with something like "American beauty", which treats a similar topic: a man hitting on a teenage girl. Here, the charm and comedy that made "American Beauty" the mainstream success that it is gets discarded for a gritty realism. Marion, the love interest, is all of 14 years old, and where "American..." shys away from actually having Lester Burnham go all the way, this movies unrepentant "Marc" has no such reservations. But neither he nor she nor director Emmanuelle Bercot pass judgment on the act, which is displayed with all the awkwardness, cajolery and qualms than one might expect from the situation. French cinema usually has a very tolerant view of sexual relations, and this movie is a prime example.
Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot (2006)
Black and Bavarian
I was a little wary of this movie, German comedy is often too shallow and unimaginative. But Rosenmüller went the other way instead, choosing to make a deliberately whacky and funnily dark movie about a kid seeking immortality to escape eternal punishment for his mother's death. That's a great concept, the movie plays it for what it's worth and the Bavarian setting in all it's strangeness helps a lot. For me, there is a problem, though: the leading role. Finding a 11-year old who can act is hard, I personally can think of only one or two movies with boys figuring prominently that they didn't sink. Girls seem to do a better job of it somehow.
Anyway, Markus Krojer is no exception to the rule. His acting is wooden, he barely seems to be able to act his role rather than himself (or at least it seems like that. Never met him.) He's just a kid, so no blame there, but it hurts the movie.
Fundamentally, Bavarian comedy is an exception from the "Germans have no sense of humor"-rule. At their best, they live up to the Brits. "Wer früher stirbt..." is proof of that once again.