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Skybird · 04-30-09, 05:54 AM

A bit difficult to give a representative view of good German movies I liked, since many good films are Tv productions that hardly made it to international DVD-releases.
For example recently I saw "Herz im Kopf", a very good, sensible portrait of a rebelling teenager kicked around by his emotions for a Polish girl, with extremely good actors (the Polish girl played by a Polish girl who at that time did not speak a single word of German and just learned the German text: but you do not realise that!),
or "Machen wir's auf Finnisch", a comedy that served any Finnish cliche you could have - but nevertheless made me laughing tears.
Or "Nana", the story of a girl becoming lethally ill, but still living her days to their fullest, was a film I never forgot, because it was so encouraging despite her death and the despair of her father (and again some very good acting even by debutants) - it never was made available on DVD.
And there are quite some more.

In general Germans sometimes can do good German movies - but imo it does not happen as often as with for example British movies. It is somewhat an exception to the rule of mediocrity, still. Most of those movies of the past years that gained international fame, I do not like, also I would disagree on the majority of movies being mentioned here so far. German film making last but not least often is populistic film making.

The German director of the present to watch out for is Tom Tykwer, now working internationally. See "Winter Sleepers" below, and the already mentioned "Run Lola Run". Also, "The Princess + The Warrior" and "Heaven are absolutely brilliant movies, showing that filmmaking can be a form of highly developed art, and an expression of human nature, beauty and vulnerability.

These four German movies come to my mind without meditating an hour about your question, all of them are available either in English translations, or sub-titles, and are quality movies by any standard you can compare against:

Winterschläfer
(Winter Sleepers) - highly recommended, one of my all-time-favourites, and a masterpiece of almost magic story-telling http://www.tomtykwer.com/03_filmogra...er/index.shtml ). Awarded.

Die Brücke
(The Bridge, old version from 1959 in b/w, by Bernhard Wicki, amongst other awards it won a Golden Globe. do not mistake it with the remake last year - that one was simply bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Br%C3%BCcke_(film)

Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (The final days)
I mentioned that before. Extremely moving and troubling, but not kitschig. Quite some awards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_...The_Final_Days

Nosferatu
The original by Murnau, dating back to 1922
No need to say anything on that.

04-30-09, 05:54 AM	#6
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,717 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	A bit difficult to give a representative view of good German movies I liked, since many good films are Tv productions that hardly made it to international DVD-releases. For example recently I saw "Herz im Kopf", a very good, sensible portrait of a rebelling teenager kicked around by his emotions for a Polish girl, with extremely good actors (the Polish girl played by a Polish girl who at that time did not speak a single word of German and just learned the German text: but you do not realise that!), or "Machen wir's auf Finnisch", a comedy that served any Finnish cliche you could have - but nevertheless made me laughing tears. Or "Nana", the story of a girl becoming lethally ill, but still living her days to their fullest, was a film I never forgot, because it was so encouraging despite her death and the despair of her father (and again some very good acting even by debutants) - it never was made available on DVD. And there are quite some more. In general Germans sometimes can do good German movies - but imo it does not happen as often as with for example British movies. It is somewhat an exception to the rule of mediocrity, still. Most of those movies of the past years that gained international fame, I do not like, also I would disagree on the majority of movies being mentioned here so far. German film making last but not least often is populistic film making. The German director of the present to watch out for is Tom Tykwer, now working internationally. See "Winter Sleepers" below, and the already mentioned "Run Lola Run". Also, "The Princess + The Warrior" and "Heaven are absolutely brilliant movies, showing that filmmaking can be a form of highly developed art, and an expression of human nature, beauty and vulnerability. These four German movies come to my mind without meditating an hour about your question, all of them are available either in English translations, or sub-titles, and are quality movies by any standard you can compare against: Winterschläfer (Winter Sleepers) - highly recommended, one of my all-time-favourites, and a masterpiece of almost magic story-telling http://www.tomtykwer.com/03_filmogra...er/index.shtml ). Awarded. Die Brücke (The Bridge, old version from 1959 in b/w, by Bernhard Wicki, amongst other awards it won a Golden Globe. do not mistake it with the remake last year - that one was simply bad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Br%C3%BCcke_(film) Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (The final days) I mentioned that before. Extremely moving and troubling, but not kitschig. Quite some awards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_...The_Final_Days Nosferatu The original by Murnau, dating back to 1922 No need to say anything on that. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 04-30-09 at 08:19 AM.