A drama by Til Schweiger, a romantic comedy with George Clooney and Julia Roberts and a documentary about Alice Schwarzer – these are the cinema releases of the week.
Berlin – Romantic comedies have become rare. But nothing can go wrong with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Til Schweiger is more serious – “Dear Kurt” is about grief and death.
“Dear Kurt”: Til Schweiger films the Kuttner book
How does mourning the death of a child affect the parents? And what about the relatives and friends of these parents? Sarah Kuttner took up this topic in her novel “Kurt”. Now actor and director Til Schweiger has filmed the material.
In “Dear Kurt”, Schweiger himself stands in front of the camera as the father of a six-year-old child. In order to be closer to the son who lives with his mother (Jasmin Gerat), Kurt buys a run-down house in Brandenburg with his girlfriend Lena (Franziskamachens) and is full of energy. But then little Kurt dies.
“Dear Kurt” is a story about the path of mourning, for which there can be no panacea. Schweiger leaves a lot of room for sadness, anger and fear. His typical handwriting with softly drawn moments of harmony in slow motion and one or the other laugh is not missing. Anyone who likes films by and with Til Schweiger should also like his latest production. Be sure to pack tissues.
Dear Kurt, Mr. Brown Entertainment, 2022, Germany, FSK 12, 137 minutes, by Til Schweiger, with Til Schweiger, Franziskamachens, Levi Wolter, Jasmin Gerat, Heiner Lauterbach and Peter Simonischek
“Ticket to Paradise” with a star cast
After the two have recently made themselves somewhat scarce in the cinema, Hollywood stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts are returning to the big screen in the romantic comedy “Ticket to Paradise”. You play David and Georgia, who divorced many years ago. When their daughter gives up her career to marry her holiday flirtation in Bali and settle down there, David and Georgia travel to the island together to prevent the wedding. After the initial quarrels, the feelings from before resurface.
Director Ol Parker’s (‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’) film is full of laughs and heartwarming. Thanks to the high-spirited leading actors and beautiful images that were actually filmed in Queensland, Australia, Ticket to Paradise is an entertaining, whimsical summer film.
(Ticket to Paradise, USA 2022, 104 min., FSK 6, by Ol Parker, with George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Lucas Bravo)
Cinema documentary about Alice Schwarzer with beautiful archive finds
People in their early 20s or early 30s can probably not imagine how women were talked about in Germany just a few decades ago. The cinema documentary “Alice Schwarzer” by Sabine Derflinger gives an impression of this.
In 1976, the “Spiegel” printed the following letter from a reader in Karlsruhe: “Should a man actually be willing to get Alice to make Heide cry – I bet Germany would have one less ‘women’s rights activist’.” There are such Archive finds that make the film worth seeing. They stand for themselves, are not commented on.
There is no question that Alice Schwarzer has earned merit as the most important women’s rights activist in post-war German history. Unfortunately, award-winning Austrian filmmaker Derflinger doesn’t resist the temptation to put a halo on her. A second shortcoming of the film is that it is very long, especially in the second half. It becomes clear: In this life story there is always material for a real movie.
Alice Schwarzer, Derflinger Film, 2022, Austria, Germany, FSK 12, 100 minutes, by Sabine Derflinger dpa
