User Reviews

The main reason because of which I decided to watch "Familienfest" was basically that I watched "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" and it was made by Lars Kraume as well, the Italian-born filmmaker who also wrote and directed this film here. I was truly amazed by that movie, but not so much by this one here. Then again, this film here has no actor like Burghart Klaußner in its cast (no offense to Halmer). "Familienfest" runs for pretty much exactly 90 minutes and features an ensemble cast of 9 actors if I counted correctly.

A renowned musician celebrates his 70th birthday and has invited his ex-wife and his 3 sons who all bring their significant other. And as respectable and flawless as his career may have been, this can certainly not be said about his personal life in terms of his previous marriage and the way he brought up his sons. The strength of this film is probably the acting. Even if there is not a single performance that really wowed me, I must say that all cast members did a decent job with what they were given. Only Michaela May had a weak moment occasionally, but really she wasn't given that much to work with anyway. Same goes for Nele Müller-Stofen.

Unfortunately, there is also a lot wrong with this movie. I must say that I felt the second half was generally weaker than the first and towards the end it all crumbled, which makes it difficult to take this serious as one of the best German 2015 movies. First of all, I have to criticize the script overall. It was so over-the-top and lacked realism and credibility from start to finish. Are we really supposed that the 70th birthday of a man is at the very same time that one of his sons is about to die from cancer, another son has major debts with some truly dangerous gangsters and the last son is in a homosexual relationship with somebody he plans to adopt a child with and yet his father does not even know the other guy (who looked like Tobey Maguire's identical twin by the way). Another problem was, like I wrote earlier, the ending. As if all the drama I just mentioned wasn't enough already they took it to the next level with this one. I must say that around minute 75 this movie lost all credibility for me and it was sacrificed for incredibly lame tear-jerk coincidences. Well.. it worked on most of the audience during my viewing, so maybe it's just me. And honestly, the way 2 of the 3 sons behaved towards their dad (which was justified by the way the dad behaved), I am truly shocked they even came to visit him at all, especially with the stories about violent childhoods brought up. And don't even get me started on the way Kraume tried to excuse Halmer's character's actions at the end, by mentioning his own dad and by how he tries to bond with the 2 surviving sons.

I must say that this could have been a really good movie, but instead it just turned out mediocre and occasionally decent. really a bit of a waste in terms of the cast. This is a 100% drama, there are comedic moments occasionally, but anybody who considered this a dark comedy has not understood a thing about this film, which probably applies to many of the viewers today in my theater judging by their constant laughing. I guess that made it easier for them to deal with the more serious parts. However, this is a fault of the audience and not of Kraume or any of the cast members. All in all, an okay watch. Nothing more, nothing less and occasionally I had the feeling Kraume was heavily inspired by "August: Osage County", only that this one is mostly about the male family members.

... is the way it is put together.

In short, this movie is full of emotional conflict, which needed to be resolved, but since the presentation is flawed on a fundamental level, it doesn't quite work out in the end.

The premise is interesting, motivations are clear, the reasons given are plausible, the plot seems coherent to me. The acting is good, the characters are distinct from each other, the pacing is good overall, technical aspects are mostly well done as far as I can see it. The movie doesn't try to be extraordinary, it is simple in a good way, it is easy to relate emotionally to these everyday people. Personally, I would have prefered more food for thought, deeper insight into the characters, but on the other hand, the short revelations given and even the one sentence allusions as to why they are how they are are sufficient enough. You can work from there if you need more personal answers. But in the end everything is put together in a way that I don't feel the supposed catharsis of the family. Don't get me wrong, I feel the emotions of the characters, their anger, their frustrations, sadness, social fears, their anxiety when faced with harsh realities like being on the verge of losing your livelihood, possibly your life or at least some health, and like facing the death of a loved one. I also feel their positive emotions, caring, love, feelings of connection and belonging, and also, again on the negative side, the disconnection and rift between the old man and all others of the family and their friends/partners.

Maybe my inability to feel the old man's catharsis and the subsequent somewhat loving atmosphere, when they leave him and his wife, stems from the change being too fast, too early? My guess is though, that the family dynamics are presented in a way, that made me feel sorry for the old man, because at first I was wondering why everybody is attacking him and it felt wrong that they did. He also doesn't come across as the person they tell he is. Yes, he makes snide remarks, but except for his attitude towards homosexuality, I thought these remarks might be grounded in his experience with his ungrateful children. Then his alcoholic ex-wife tells the nurse of her experiences with the old man during her marriage, and the problem here is, that you don't know if she's lying or not. She might tell the truth, she also might be making things up. At one point the old man is so angry he cuts off the top of one of the bushes. There seems to be no further significance to this act other than him venting his anger, but at the end of the movie, after the story is concluded, we see video footage where each of the three boys stands at one of the bushes, so there was more significance to it. And finally, it is alluded that the old man has had a violent temper without specifying what he did exactly. Did he hit his wife(s) regularly? He didn't come off as a violent type. I mean, the whole family wasn't exactly nice and peaceful to him during the movie, so when he burst after one of his sons started burning all of the old man's musical scores, and wanted to punch him in his face, his anger seemed justified. Another scene which might have been planned as showing the old man's indifference towards his second wife, is when he hits her with his car, but it looks to me more like inattentiveness on his and on her part.

Moreover I often had the impression that most of the family members had childlike attitudes, they lived out their aggressiveness on their father, blamed him for everything, and seemed trapped in a kind of victim mentality. So I felt more sorry for the old man than for the others and therefore no catharsis, therefore an ending with somehow unreal new connections and a somehow forced new beginning and a friendship between the second wife and the nurse, which came out of nowhere for me, since the two didn't interact, like, at all.

But I'd still say, that "Familienfest" is worth your time, so go see it, if the subject matter speaks to you.