Director Sönke Wortmann presents the sequel to his comedy “Der Vorname”, Javier Bardem shines as a magician in an unusual role, and Uwe Ochsenknecht becomes friends with Petterson and Findus.
Family row with Iris Berben – “The Surname”
Cologne – What do you call the sequel to a film called “The First Name”? Of course: “The last name”. What sounds so logical that you might think it’s a joke for a moment is the continuation of Sönke Wortmann’s successful social comedy from 2018.
While at that time the idea of naming a newborn Adolf became explosive fuel for debate within a family, it is now – at least in the end – about a marriage and a change in a surname associated with it. Again, this process leads to the eruption of multiple conflicts, which until now have been kept under wraps by silence, lies and bigotry. The German star ensemble from the first part is there again – from Florian David Fitz to Christoph Maria Herbst to Iris Berben.
The last name, Germany 2021, 87 minutes, FSK oA, by Sönke Wortmann, with Iris Berben, Christoph Maria Herbst, Florian David Fitz, Caroline Peters, Justus von Dohnányi, Janina Uhse
Javier Bardem shines in musical comedy
The Madrid (AP) – In the musical comedy “Lyle – My Friend the Crocodile” Oscar winner Javier Bardem is once again breaking new ground. As a bizarre and lovable, singing and dancing magician and musician who is desperately chasing success in New York, he even steals the show from a charismatic reptile singing with the voice of none other than world pop star Shawn Mendes. This is what it’s about: After another failed attempt to make it big, Valenti (Bardem) finds a young crocodile in the back room of a Manhattan pet store, singing in the most beautiful (Mendes) voice. The (computer-animated) animal cannot speak, but can sing. With his discovery, Valenti tries to gain recognition and money – but it goes wrong.
Lyle – My Friend the Crocodile, USA 2022, 106 minutes, by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, with Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy, Winslow Fegley and the voice of Shawn Mendes
News from “Pettersson and Findus”
Berlin (AP) – What does Pettersson do next to Uwe Ochsenknecht? One is known as a very lovable character from the children’s books by the Swede Sven Nordqvist, who always wears a floppy hat and almost always badly bagged pants. The other as fairly real, 1956-born actor from countless German-language film productions such as “Das Boot”, “Men” or, more recently, “Jim Button and the Wilde 13”. Now both can be seen in this mix of live action and animated strips. “The Mucklas… and How They Came to Pettersson and Findus” tells the prequel to the “Pettersson & Findus” film series. In terms of content, it’s about how the funny little creatures that also populate the stories about Pettersson and his cat Findus actually came to be with the two loners.
The Mucklas… and how they came to Pettersson and Findus, D 2022, 81 min, FSK oA, by Ali Samadi Ahadi, with Uwe Ochsenknecht, Christine Ursprechen, André Jung dpa
