I went to see 'Cranko' because it was nominated for four German Film Awards (Lola) including one for its main actor (Sam Riley).
Having only been partly familiar with Crankos work, I was curious about how it would be told only to be baffled by most of the choices that have been made here.
60s and 70s Stuttgart looks like a progressive place for the Queer avantgarde (it wasn't and still isn't) and every Gay seemed to only spent their time being topless and playing around with each other.
The only way of getting to understand why Cranko feels this or that way (meaning either sad or more sad) is that he tells us with the most pretentious, nearly cringe worthy lines that have been written on German film in a long time (and that is saying a lot). No dialogue between any of the characters is helpful for the character development neither it does make any sense from a factual standpoint.
Sam Riley is horribly miscast and mostly relies on one sad expression while sounding as he learnt his german lines without understanding any of them. Casting mostly dancers in the roles of dancers is not helpful either. A lot of Razzie-worthy line delivery is going on.
The worst however is the direction that always seems to eager to uplift this movie into some hight artistic auteur film when it looks and feels like a TV movie in every way (without a surprise the directors work has mostly been TV before).
Whenever Post-war Germany and its struggles with facing the past is addressed it only ends up with a superficial-observation. The "Shindlers List"-inspired ending is pure blasphemy and uncomfortable to watch.
All in all a frustratingly overlong biopic that seems appropriate for what is going wrong in the german film industry = promoting average talent that lacks any vision or talent and that is eagerly trying to make everything more relevant than it is.
