Bummm! (2006)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Alain Gsponer

Writers:

Alex Buresch (writer)
Matthias Pacht (writer)

Release Date:

8 March 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Katja Riemann	...	Sybille Spatz
Ulrich Noethen	...	Roland Spatz
Hannah Herzsprung	...	Florina Krüger
Josef Mattes	...	Linus Spatz
Volker Bruch	...	Charles Spatz
Gerald Alexander Held	...	Happy Krüger (as Alexander Held)
Juliane Köhler	...	Katharina 'Kätzchen' Krüger
Martin Feifel	...	Hannes Wendling
Timo Dierkes	...	Stefan Kowalski
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bernhard Baier	...	Graue Eminenz
Susanna Fernandes-Genebra	...	Frau Ruiz (as Susana Fernandes-Genebra)
Katja Gaub	...	Claudia
Michael Holz	...	Nachbar
Kathrin Kestler	...	Krankenschwester
Christian Koch	...	Verhandlungsführer (as Christian A. Koch)
Gesche Picolin	...	Headhunter
Gerhard Polacek	...	Reinhard
Isis Schabana	...	Angestellte im Wellnesscenter
Sebastian Schäfer	...	Headhunter
Florian Schmidt-Gahlen	...	Schroeter
Michael Stiller	...	Notarzt
Barbara von Münchhausen	...	Zahnarztgattin
Susanne Weckerle	...	Frau Peters
Anna Windmüller	...	Renate Wendling

Also Known As:

Bummm! Feindliche Übernahme (Germany) (working title)
Das wahre Leben (Germany) (new title)
Life Actually (International: English title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Germany | Switzerland

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Company:

TV-60 Filmproduktion

OK, but not great

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

What was I missing? The plot was quite interesting although I've seen a lot of similar stories. The popular cast did a good job. The soundtrack was OK. But sometimes I felt like I was watching a television movie instead of a cinema movie. Almost all characters are stereotypes: The husband who lost his highly paid job. This causes a personal crisis and he tries to gain back his family but fails. The bored, cold wife who tries to find the meaning of life in art. The two teenage children. One is gay and joined the army. The other is shy and blows things up by self-made bombs. So, what's up? Is the film a statement against neo-liberalism? It's not clear enough. In this regard "Le couperet" by Costa-Gavras is a far better example. I guess it's a film about all these little and big lies which we live with day in, day out and which will destroy us at a certain point. The pull down of the wall is an obvious symbol (a bit too obvious!). If you like to see a masterpiece about lies within a family, you should see "The ice storm" by Ang Lee. Actually, the relation ship between the shy son and the neighbor's daughter is almost a copy of Adam Hann-Byrd's relation ship with Christina Ricci in "The ice storm". But while I was very touched by Ang Lee's film, "Bummm!" never managed to touch me in any way, though it's not an intellectual film in all respects.