"Das Blaue vom Himmel" is a German 100-minute movie from 2011. This one was directed by Hans Steinbichler and ritten by spouses Robert and Josephin Thayenthal. Steinbichler is probably the most known from the trio and he has been active in German film for quite a while now. There is one recent film by him about Anne Frank that I thought was really good, but there is also at least one film I found horrible (the one starring the very overrated Rosalie Thomass). His work here is somewhere in-between I would say. If you look at the cast, it is easy to see that he had some really well-known and successful German actors at his hands and taking that into account, the film ended up especially disappointing. Kross Vogler and Brandt are the three male stars, but all of them really don't have a lot of screen time. It is a very female-centered movie. Herfurth, Elsner and Kähler can be seen far more frequently. This is the story of a mother-daughter relationship that has been struggling for quite a while and a journey to a former lover takes things into new dimensions. Elsner really has truly baity material in this film, but it says it all that she received no awards recognition for her portrayal. I can see why. Her whhining and screaming felt much more annoying than heartbreaking to me and the final revelation does not change anything about that. Yes it is much easier to dislike her then, maybe even hate her, but it feels very much for the sake of it, so that the movie at least has something memorable, some relevance. But it does from another perspective. I thought Karoline Herfurth was very good here most of the time during the many flashback sequences, so good that I found it a pity the film does not play entirely several decades back. It also shows how Herfurth makes much more with little than Elsner makes with a lot. I always thought the latter was a bit on the overrated side. Anyway, as for Herfurth, there is one heartbreaking sequence near the end that stayed especially memorable, namely when she is crying and holding the equally (but much louder) crying baby and realizes she will make it her own now. Completely away from her, the film also left me unimpressed in terms of sets and cinematography. I think the Latvian background could have made for a far better film from that perspective. A final word on the cast: Won't go into detail about the male actors here as Kross and Brandt have almost nothing to work with, but it was nice to see Vogler decades after being a Wenders regular. Köhler also has a character that is really not anything you could make memorable, no matter how talented you may be. Most of the time, it felt as if she was only there to make Elsner's character more significant. I think Köhler is a better actress than she shows us here, especially in that Norwegian/German movie that was submitted to the Oscars a few years ago. But back to this one here: I am not convinced, let alone impressed. My suggestion really is that you skip the watch here and go for something else instead. Nowhere near the best Germany has to offer in terms of films from 2011.
Review of Das Blaue vom Himmel
