Russendisko

Germany's probably most popular male actor Matthias Schweighöfer plays the most well known Russian born German writer Wladimir Kaminer in Russendisko.

This is a somewhat true story based on Kaminer's life and his bestselling book of the same name.

Now that I've finally read the book I watched movie again and must say: the movie is much better than the book.

The book is merely a loose collection of sometimes tragic and usually ridiculous anecdotes.

The movie in contrast is a partly realistic but very light-hearted depiction of Berlin in the early nineties, at the outset of the GDR.

It captures the fresh start and "golden era" spirit of that time and place pretty well. I was only a teen but I felt it and experienced it to some extent back then.

I even visited the Russendisko - the actual place in Berlin - a few times later in the mid "zeros" when I returned to Berlin. The place still looked and felt like in this movie.

I drank the best White Russians there and danced to Polka music.

So it's accurate historically. It's fun and optimistic like its main protagonist. The love story is quite relatable, romantic and cute as well.

Watch it to feel better and remember the time when you were around. Enjoy it if you weren't. This is a history lesson as its best. Even the ludicrous German bureaucracy is shown with plenty of humor.

The other reviews are abysmal and petty. Ignore those. They motivated me even more to clarify.

This movie is about three immigrants from the wave of Russians with German or Jewish ancestry, of which many came to Germany between 1989 and 1993. Its simply ruined by the strange decision to let the three main actors speak in perfect high German and not do accents, which everyone coming from Russia I met at that time, had. In their suits they also look like modern hipsters. So they come off more as the annoying douchebags you can find in every bar in Berlin today. Maybe they thought it was "racist" to let these guys sound as if they were from Russia, but it s not fitting at all especially since this is kind of a time piece.

Equally fatal is the decision to put Matthias Schweighöfer in the main role. His acting style is polarizing anyways (imagine a 30 year old man talking, grinning and gesturing like a child actor as Macaulay Culkin, but many think its "sweet"), but here it looks like he intentionally avoided to give his role any depth with his constant frolicking and grimacing. Unfortunately, despite its about three friends, he is in nearly every scene.

That may sound harsh and I guess for people who are not watching many movies this will seem, kind of OK. I can only give you my viewpoint. There are a few chances (missed ones that is), the movie gives away for free, where it could've scored. While this is based on a true story (character, he also must be in the movie, if I'm not mistaken, had no idea what he looked like, but even that cameo is predictable and obvious, that it almost hurts).

The acting is mostly OK, especially considering the material on hand. There is nothing to really play of. You also get a spiritual side story, that might be true, but does not translate well on screen. Not the way it is portrayed anyways. It's not the worst movie released this year or any other year, but you could spend your time better (maybe even read the real story behind this movie, I'm sure it's more interesting)