Honig im Kopf

A beautifully filmed but ultimately disappointing film. The first hour, watching an utterly clueless couple in complete denial about the mental state of the husband's father isn't funny - it's painful and disturbing. The saving grace is that this is probably how so many people really do try to deal with a loved one with dementia. Apparently no one in the family knows how to look up more information on the Internet about dementia and caregiving. No idea whatsoever as to why the husband stays with the wife, who is completely unsympathetic. The grand-daughter and grandfather are charming - but that no one intervenes when, say, they see this young child removing this old man's pants on a train is just unbelievable. The film is worth watching to explain to someone what dementia can look like, but it is NOT a good film for explaining how to care for someone with such (except to say "Here's what NOT to do.").

Go and see this film, next week, tomorrow, right now!

No matter how old you are or of what gender or what you think about both Til Schweiger or Dieter Hallervorden. Go and see this film. It's worth it. It will touch you, even if you're a tough guy. It will amaze you. It will make you silently cry into your tissue. Silently, because you don't want to miss out on the next joke. Yes, this film is drama and comedy and character study and at the same time not shy to do fart jokes. It's the best by and with Til Schweiger I've seen and I certainly don't fancy him. But he knows so well what he is doing and in this film he placed himself rather in the background.

Because the foreground is taken by Dieter Hallervorden, known for silly silly silly comedies in the 70s and 80s and delivering here a performance which is prizeworthy. And by Emma Schweiger, who is not only an actor's cute daughter dragged in front of the camera to make daddy happy, but she can act and very well so and carries with her eleven years one half of the film on her shoulders.

Go and see this film. And you, distributors out there in the world, make sure people around the world CAN actually see this film and bring it to lots and lots and lots of cinemas. Everywhere. North, south, east, west. Please. I never give ten out of ten, but this time there was no other choice. I couldn't give eleven out of ten.

See. This. Film!

The best about this German movie who was one of the biggest hits in 2014 are some of the performances. I always thought Hallervorden to be a good actor even in his often unfunny 70ies and 80ies comedies. Jeanette Hain is also good as the antagonist. Schweiger himself has made worse and better movies in the past. In the last years he became notorious for putting his friends and kids in his movies. Same here, but his daughter Emma is at least not as annoying as her elder sister Luna who also gets shoehorned in many of his movies. First off, the movie about a little girl and her grandfather, who has got Alzheimer disease, is just a bit too long. I think this movie could easily be 30 minutes shorter. In my opinion the movie shows quite good what Alzheimer does despite it is not in all details realistic. But Schweiger again ruins the portrayal of his main character by his crude style of humour. Here, for example, the main character Armandus is fond of grabbing tits or pees in the fridge. So you get wrongly the impression this may have not been a good man before he became demented.

That's his character might not remember it. Dieter (or Didi as he's known in Germany) Hallervorden is a talented actor and he pulls off this role, which is a touch one to pull off. Is it unrealistic and does the movie draw too many cheap jokes? Yes it does, but with Hallervorden in the middle of it, acting his way out, even when you think it's impossible to salvage anything from what is happening, you can forgive such things.

The girl (daughter of Schweiger) is better in this, than she was in previous roles she got through her father. That doesn't mean she evolved into an actress yet, but let's give her the benefit of doubt and maybe she'll manage (some would argue, that it won't be hard to overshadow any "acting talent" her father has, but that's a different story). If you don't mind how over the top this is and how silly most of it is, it actually kind of works (which surprised me a little bit)

Misses the point of telling the difficulties and tragic of dealing with Alzheimer's. The story is set to pull at heart-strings while providing eye-candy. And nothing of it works because of the cheesy and immature way this story is told. I think the fact that this movie was a success in Germany tells a lot about the German people and their perception of "entertainment" in combination with serious topics. There are so many ways to tell a story about Alzheimer's and the people who have to deal with it, this is not one of them. This was all about packing as many known faces of Germany's movie industries into one and at the same time forcing the non-existent "talents" of Schweiger's daughter down the throats of the viewers. I feel very sorry for everyone who personally knows about the trauma of Alzheimer's disease and watched this movie in good hopes of watching something to relate to.

Sorry, Til Schweiger - total am Ziel vorbei geschossen, zumindest für jedes Publikum ausserhalb Deutschlands.