MovieChat Forums > Lola rennt (1999) Discussion > this is a good german movie, others i've...

this is a good german movie, others i've seen are depressing

posted 15 years ago by aaartnaz
15 replies | jump to latest

i borrowed from my library as many german movies i could take out (i want to learn german). this was the exception among them that had a happy ending. are many german movies bleak and pessimistic? i watched 9th day, downfall, and lives of others. they're all real depressing. i want to watch some more german movies but hope someone can recommend me to some more positive movies. danke.

also, this was very stylish. i like this type of movie if there are more out there =).

[–] sweiland75 15 years ago

No. Germans are very depressed people. They don't make many things that are happy.

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ You can help change the world.

[–] meininki 15 years ago

I thought "The Lives of Others" ended on a rather positive note, but the other two are about WWII, it's no wonder they're depressing.

Some personal favourites of mine are:
"Goodbye Lenin!" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/
Im Juli (In July)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858/
Those two should be easy to find.

If you can get a hold of them I'd also recommend:
Sommer vorm Balkon (Summer In Berlin)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858/
(there's an English trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m00G24-87Ag)
Sonnenallee (Sun Alley) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177242/
and especially
Absolute Giganten http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177507/
and
Kammerflimmern http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412888/
(German trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMEZ4zzP1aY)

[–] pacekissa 10 years ago

Thanks for posting the IMDB links with your suggestions.

[–] puschit-1 15 years ago

What do you exspect from war movies, especially one called "The Downfall"!?
And Lola doesn't really have a happy ending. Maybe watch it again.

If you want movies with happy endings, why don't you watch comedies then? Stuff like "Keinohrhasen" or if you prefer gritty black humour you might want to try "Bang Boom Bang - Ein todsicheres Ding".
Then I have to agree with the poster above me: "Absolute Giganten" is a must-watch (it's from the same guy that made Lola), but you may find it also depressing (if you interpret everything correctly, however, it isn't).

[–] meininki 15 years ago

Small correction: "Lola rennt" was made by Tom Tykwer, "Absolute Giganten" was made by Sebastian Schipper. It's the same production company though and Sebastian Schipper does appear in Lola (he plays Mike, the guy who tries to sell Lola the bike). He also has small parts in two other Tykwer films and plays one of the leads in Tykwer's upcoming film "Drei".

And yes, I like both Tykwer and Schipper a lot.

[–] puschit-1 15 years ago

Tom Tykwer is credited aus "Produktion" together with Stefan Arndt on my DVD of Absolute Giganten.

[–] meininki 15 years ago

Yes, as I said, it's the same production company (of which Tykwer is one of the founders), but saying it's his film is still misleading, wouldn't you agree?
"Absolute Giganten" was written and directed by Sebastian Schipper.

[–] puschit-1 15 years ago

I said "made" not "directed", I don't see why this should be confusing. And my point was that there is a connection between Lola and Giganten. Foreigners won't know either Tykwer nor Schipper anyway, so all that matters is that there IS a connection.

[–] meininki 15 years ago

I said "made" not "directed", I don't see why this should be confusing. And my point was that there is a connection between Lola and Giganten.

It's just that when it comes to film, "making" is usually associated with writing and directing, not so much producing.
Was "The White Ribbon" made by Veit Heiduschka (and Stefan Arndt and a few others) or was it made by Michael Haneke? See what I mean?

Foreigners won't know either Tykwer nor Schipper anyway, so all that matters is that there IS a connection.

Many of them will know Tykwer, but agreed anyway.

[–] hubcap18 15 years ago

I saw Der Tunnel for the first time today, and was very impressed by it. It does have a positive ending, and the star played Ronnie (the guy Manni has to pay) in this film.

Being inconsistent is better the being consistently bad.

[–] x0064 13 years ago

[–] puschit-1 13 years ago

That's mostly because for some reason war/holocaust movies resepctively movies about fascism/(neo)nazism seem to be the ones that people exspect from german cinema.

There are lots of other movies with a happier note and positive ending but the rest of the world seems to not be interested with some exceptions of course.

Männerpension http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117135/
Keinohrhasen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960790/
Good Bye Lenin! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/
Bang Boom Bang http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135790/
Der Wixxer (Edgar Wallace parody) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313021/
Der bewegte Mann http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109255/

The thing is, if nobody bothers to translate those, non-germans won't check them out.

[–] Pvt_Murphy 11 years ago

Do yourself a favor and get your hands on Bang Boom Bang! :3 It's a hilarious German movie.

[–] ktowny 11 years ago

Check out Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (Himmel Uber Berlin). I'm not sure if it has the happy ending you are looking for but it is a very spiritual film. To me it felt very uplifting.

Love's turned to lust and blood's turned to dust in my heart.

[–] yoo 11 years ago

Actually German cinema is known (within Germany) for its romantic comedies more than anything else. The two most successful German films in Germany since tickets are counted are comedies (Otto - Der Film and Der Schuh des Manitu).

My favorite German movies are
1. A story about a serial killer (M)
2. A romantic comedy (Der bewegte Mann)
3. This one

Have a look at Der bewegte Mann, a screwball comedy that can hold its ground against the best ones from Hollywood. Hilarious dialogues, great characters, an all around funny story and (most important) excellent timing. The last 30 minutes are about the funniest sequence I've ever seen on the screen ("Und der Metzger hilft beim tragen... METZGER!!")

If you want to delve a little deeper into the German disposition, have a look at the early Buck movies, most of all Karniggels and Wir können auch anders. (Buck went on to make the equally excellent but quite different (and not funny) Knallhart.)