Was uns nicht umbringt (2018) Reviews

• Lacks at its core

  Horst_In_Translation2018-12-09

  "Was uns nicht umbringt" is a new German movie from 2018, mostly in the German language too, and a really long film at comfortably over 2 hours. You don't see these too often here in Germany, even though nowadays probably more often than 10 or 20 years ago even. Writer and director is Sandra Nettelbeck, who is still most known for Bella Martha, although this one is already almost 20 years old, and it was adapted too into an American version. This one we got here most likely won't. The cast includes many actors that German film buffs will immediately recognize, maybe also remember the name like Stromberg's Bjarne Mädel, who is still enjoying a fabulous movie career these days. But if there is something like a central character, it is the one played by August Zirner, a psychiatrist struggling between platonic contact with his former wife and the new woman in his life while being very busy with his daughters' puberty-filled lives. But it is really more of an episodic movie with many characters and story lines that somehow connect, for example there is the one with the young woman genuinely and way too much worried about her brother's well-being and these two keep visiting the shrink I just mentioned and it is a bit of a running gag, perhaps the best part about the film. So yeah, this is a mix between comedy and drama with a lot of romance references too and while there are very tragic events like people losing their jobs, kids almost dying from drugs... it felt at leastg as much about the humor for me. Maybe the reason for that is that the film tries to be too much of a dramatic statement a lot of the time honestly. I mentioned some plot parts already and the best (or worst) example for this is the rushed-in story line about the central character's father who is close to dying and who was presumed dead by his son for decades really. This in particular felt so much for the sake of it that it was a bit annoying. I know you can say it did leave a lasting impression on the man's life and future because the father is basically gone as quickly as he appeared, but still. So the lack of stuff happening is not the problem here. The real problem is that the film stays very shallow on an emotional level and never really reached me honestly. I wondered why these people are included here. There are very normal moments like Mädel's story line with the girl at the zoo and these are fine overall, but every time the script goes all in, also with the guy morning for his lover, it does not feel right. I am not sure if it's the actors' fault or rather the script that is too blame, but maybe a mix of both, but probably rather the latter as the cast is not that bad, but also not the shining ensemble performance it could have been. The running gag with these imaginary over-the-top scenes and then we get pushed back to reality works fine I believe, especially the very last scene in the restaurant which was not only pretty hot, but also great fun in my opinion. But this and the above-average soundtrack cannot make me forget about all the mediocrities this film brought during its almost 130 minutes. Could, no should have had better focus and run for 100 minutes only perhaps, 105 max, and that way I would have given it a positive recommendation without hesitation. Had they cut out the right (i.e. wrong) scenes, that is. The way it actually turned out, I give it a thumbs-down and it is nowhere nearf the better, let alone best, German films from 2018. There are glimpses of hope and quality, but these are just too rare, so I say: Watch something else instead.

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