This 23-minute short film from 11 years ago managed to score an Academy Award nomination and director Ulrike Grote has made herself a career built on it, even more in terms of acting than in terms of directing although she has worked in both areas frequently in the last 10 years. The film#s writer did not manage to get beyond soap opera level really. The two lead actors are also still active in German films and television series to this day. The film is about an unemployed man who ends up with running and cycling through the entire city when a young boy shows up in his life. The boy keeps calling him daddy quickly, so it becomes clear right away what the connection of the two is. In the end, they included a big plot twist which means that the boy was only there in the man's head and nobody saw him as the ghost of the heavily-injured boy was actually calling his father for help after he lost his mother.
Unfortunately, this movie did not connect with me on any level. The main character was too annoying to cheer for and the script with the final development was also better soap opera level in my opinion at best. I'm surprised this short film received so many awards, including an Oscar nomination. Glad to see it did not beat the far superior "Six Shooter". "Ausreisser" has minor performances by Monica Bleibtreu and Burghart Klaußner, two very experienced German actors. Klaußner is a favorite of mine, but he was only really in one scene which was not enough for me. All in all, I do not recommend this movie. It feels to full of itself for me and I never felt that I was watching an intimate story the way it should have been and the way it would have been appropriate for the topic, but instead all the time it looked like a very self-aware unsuccessful attempt at dramatic movie-making with all the crying and screaming and swearing and the final song certainly doesn't help either. Somebody needs to teach Grote and Foerster a lesson in subtlety. Not recommended.
Unfortunately, this movie did not connect with me on any level. The main character was too annoying to cheer for and the script with the final development was also better soap opera level in my opinion at best. I'm surprised this short film received so many awards, including an Oscar nomination. Glad to see it did not beat the far superior "Six Shooter". "Ausreisser" has minor performances by Monica Bleibtreu and Burghart Klaußner, two very experienced German actors. Klaußner is a favorite of mine, but he was only really in one scene which was not enough for me. All in all, I do not recommend this movie. It feels to full of itself for me and I never felt that I was watching an intimate story the way it should have been and the way it would have been appropriate for the topic, but instead all the time it looked like a very self-aware unsuccessful attempt at dramatic movie-making with all the crying and screaming and swearing and the final song certainly doesn't help either. Somebody needs to teach Grote and Foerster a lesson in subtlety. Not recommended.