The Ordinaries

This is a great setting, unique, reflexive, layered and full of potential. Unfortunately, the scenario which unfolds therein is irremediably generic: your average YA coming of age, dealing with the same ultra-stereotypical insecurities, family issues and non-descript political awakening as hundreds of other movies released this year.

The production is alert and ambitious, probably a little too much (the outtakes would have deserved more grit). The metalepsis at the core of the setting interestingly (and innovatively) includes the sound-design, although the end result is mostly forgettable. The acting is rather uneven, although an indulgent spectator will find this fitting with the story. All in all the only real problem are the scenario and script, which are hopelessly bland and lacking wit.

YA is a German sickness, and no one seems to care. I suspect those days you probably can't get a film funded unless it stars an awkward teen in the main role, and strings some grand but empty gestures at 'empathy' and 'solidarity'. Mind you, I am largely in agreement with those sentiments, but their completely generic treatment in commercial TV (mis)use them rather than serve them. And what we end up with, instead of being Snowpiercer-meet-Charlie Kaufmann, is yet another Harry Potter-meet-1984.

Although the movie feels fresh at first, the tone is very depressive, any "comedy" moments are forced, and the singing becomes too much to handle. I think the movie lacks life, and that the characters feel part a Black Mirror episode. I felt it was made for hipster-intellectuals and therefore couldn't connect with the movie. Highlights: great photography. The only character that really captivated me was Henning Peker as housemaid.

It definitely feels refreshing for a German movie, but lacks everything else. Also I'd definitely not consider it a comedy, as any attempts of humor are at most "awkward".

A wacky idea dealing with an actual cast system - but in movieland, where your role in a film is your status in life, come be it a background extra with no dialogue (in life you don't have much to say and live in housing projects) to being an outcast living in poverty outskirts because you became an outtake (cut from the film, or as they use to say in the industry during the old days - ending up on the editing room floor), or just being that supporting character that has a mediocre life compared to the main character's luxurious lifestyle. This is a movie with a wonderful surreal story that gets a little messy, but still has plenty to say about society's structure, and who controls the narrative...

Why do I prefer to frugally dose mainstream American films every time I watch or program movies? Because in international cinemas I find more variety, less formulaic and repetitive stories, and more original motion pictures, with less arrogance, violence and sex (of all kinds), and more concern for humanity and its well-being.

I have added to my recently watched list of very good movies the German comedy drama «The Ordinaries» by Sophie Linnenbaum, where all people are part of an elitist cinematic universe, divided into Outtakes, Extras, and Leads, all under the control of a repressive and exclusivist Institute. The Outtakes (referring to the shots discarded or not used in the editing of a film) are in black and white, they are pursued by "law enforcement agents" and rejected by the Extras and Leads. Extras are those who are always embellishing the shots, like players on a football team, soldiers in a troop, waiters, customers, firemen, policemen, nurses. The Leads dominate this universe through a despotic, racist and oppressive rule, and hold all management positions.

In the plot, Paula, a teenage Extra studying to be a Lead, is looking for her father. Her mother, who is also an Extra, assures her that her father was a Lead and a martyr of the Great Massacre, an event that is later defined as a revolutionary uprising of the Outtakes. Her best friend is Hannah, the mulatto daughter of a family specialized in musicals who, at the slightest provocation, begins to sing songs as bland as those in most musical comedies. With Hannah's help, Paula enters the Archive of this universe and discovers that there is no trace of her father, not a single piece of film, not a single flashback, which should not be the case because her father was "a Lead and a fallen hero during the Massacre, who protects her and her mother, hidden between one take and the next shot."

Paula begins a search and asks Hilde, the maid of the musical family, to help her. The maid is, in fact, a Casting Mistake, a mature man who was given the role of a maid and goes around most of the film dressed as a woman in a subversive attitude against the Institute. Simon, a young and sweet Outtake with whom Paula becomes friends, offers to help in the search.

The film (and its humorous or highly revealing film references) may not be fully understood by an audience unfamiliar with film jargon, but it is still a very moving film without that information, as Paula's search for her father, the roots of fear and love, is a very human story about emotions and the pursuit of happiness, identity, and freedom. Check it out if it crosses your path. It is a remarkable motion picture.

I am very critical of our film-making which is either outright boring and too ordinary (haha), or consists of period dramas from WW II or some other war or crisis. The Ordinaries is different, it feels fresh and new. Don't take the whole thing too seriously, see it as a surrealistic allegory, cherish it for the nice ideas it has, its humor and its seamless execution. The only flaw is that the audio sometimes feels a little off, I think there was a lot of dubbing in post-production involved. But the performances of the cast, the low key, but well executed special effects, the cinematography and the creativity involved make this a really enjoyable movie.