La vie est un chantier

Set in the newly reunified Berlin of the 90's, "Life is All You Get" (english title)is one of those really excellent movies that tell a story of not only some interesting people, but of the time & place in which they live. Jan is struggling to get by, working in a slaughterhouse, staying with his sister, her smart & funny little girl, and her lout of a husband. A series of major upsets impacts his life: His ex-girlfriend tells him she's got AIDS, his father dies face down in a plate of ravioli, and, while accidentally caught up in a street riot, Jan knocks down a couple of guys chasing a woman (named Vera) - not knowing that they're plain-clothes cops trying to arrest her. He loses his job at this time, too, and faces a nearly impossible task of paying the heavy fine for assaulting the cops. On the bright side, he and Vera begin a relationship - haltingly, and (for him) clumsily - as they negotiate life in a city experiencing the very awkward transition between two political worlds. The characters & situations beautifully straddle the line between the wholly believable and the hysterically quirky. It's really a shame that this film didn't get an official U.S. release - it's well worth your time.

As the title suggests: 'Life is a construction site', this whole movie seems to be a construction site - one that won't be finished. The movie spectator has to watch dull characters wander through a boring script, but very rarely he is likely to sense a spark of sympathy or an emotional reaction. The character of the greek girl alone is played with carefulness and emotion but apart from that, most of the movie is a waste of time.

If you like to watch movies about the topic of people desperately looking for love in a cold world I'd strongly suggest Pedro Almodovars 'All about my mother' or 'Magnolia' instead! I'd also suggest an alternative German movie: Watch 'Train Birds' a.k.a. 'Zugvögel... einmal nach Inari' by Peter Lichtefeld - a brilliant masterpiece.

I Came Across This Movie on night at 2 o'clock in the morning on the local Multicultural chanel and was totally blown away, Vera is the best chariter in the film because you never really know what she's about, and that guy that looks like Buddy Holly is Cool. Also In Australia the film is called 'Life Is A Constrution Site' instead of 'Life Is All You Get'

This is my favourite German film - if you get a chance to watch 'Goodbye Lenin' and 'Berlin Nachtgestalten' as well, you have pretty much a 360 degree panorama of life in Berlin after the Wende. Superb acting, and very funny, too. The beautiful thing about this film is that the humour, being largely visual, makes it very accessible to viewers whose German isn't so fluent.

Storming performance by Ricky Tomlinson

If you only see one German film, see this one, not some pretentious tosh like 'Lola Rennt' or the uniquitous Verlorene Ehre von Katharina Blum

I stumbled upon this film late last night on Dutch tv. Smitten I was! A story filled with sub-plots, symbolism and engagement. A love story in Berlin after "die Wende" dealing with kapitalism and aids and more things that hit the "Ossies" by surprise. Filled with lots of lovely and funny characters, all displayed by great acting performances. A MUST SEE!