Sunday 26 May 2013

Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot (4 Stars)


A few weeks ago I watched "Summer in Orange", which immediately became my favorite film, so I've decided to check out more films directed by Marcus Rosenmüller. He was actually born with his name spelt "Markus", but he changed it because there was already another successful German director called Markus Rosenmüller. Supposedly. The other Markus Rosenmüller also calls himself Marcus. The two men should sit down and decide that they're going to call themselves. It's weird, isn't it? Could you imagine what it would be like in America if there were a Steven Spielberg and a Stephen Spielberg?

Anyway, let's get to the film itself. It's about Sebastian, an 11-year-old boy who discovers that his mother died during his birth. He feels like he has murdered her and is scared that he will have to spend a long time in Purgatory. He thinks he can make things good by finding another wife for his father. He chooses a suitable woman, the divorced mother of a school friend, but he slips up and accidentally kills her grandmother. That means even longer in Purgatory. With the help of a local radio disc jockey he casts a spell to make his father love the woman, but the spell goes wrong and his father falls in love with the disc jockey's wife. So Sebastian makes a serious decision. The only way he can put things right is by killing the disc jockey.

Phew! It's tough being a young boy faced with so many decisions. I enjoyed the film greatly, though in my eyes it doesn't come up to the level of "Summer in Orange". It makes me want to check out more films made by Marcus Rosenmüller. Whatever his name is. IMDB lists this film as "Grave Decisions", but I don't know why because I'm not aware that it has been released outside of Germany. The literal translation of the title is "He who dies sooner is dead for longer".

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