Review of Life is All You Get

"Das Leben ist eine Baustelle." is a German movie from 1997, so this one will have its 20th anniversary next year. The writer and director is Wolfgang Becker and he got help with the script from Tom Tykwer here. The cast includes a handful known names, such as Jürgen Vogel, Martina Gedeck, Christiane Paul, Armin Rohde and Andrea Sawatzki, all people who are still (maybe even more than back then) very well-known here in Germany for their work in the last over 2 decades. Vogel plays the main character, a man whose life crumbles no matter where he looks. His girlfriend leaves him, he has no stable long-term relationships with women, his father dies, he loses his job etc. So yeah, he is pretty screwed. But from these ruins, a new love and new friends emerge as well and they may help him in finding happiness and stability once again in his life. But then, a truly dangerous suspicion arises. Does he have the HIV virus? This virus was still seen entirely different back in the 1990s compared to how people see it today (not just in medicine, but by everybody). These references were maybe also the best thing about the film, even if including an HIV positive beggar in the subway may not have been the most subtle and intelligent way honestly and the ex-girlfriend with the virus being randomly in the subway too is just one coincidence too many for sure. On another negative note, I never really ended up caring for the main character's life or fate at all, but this may also have to do with the fact that I am not a great fan of Vogel's early works. And lets be honest: The relationship story with Paul's character was never working at all. They did not fit together at all and I felt zero chemistry there, which made it impossible for me to cheer for them becoming an item. As a whole, despite a solid moment here and there, the negative outweighs the positive and the film also has some lengths at almost two hours. I give it a thumbs-down and I cannot share the praise. I especially wonder what the German Film Awards were thinking. it must have been a very weak year if Vogel wins Best Actor for this. You can watch "Life is All You Get" (completely different title than the original "Life is a construction site.") to understand that I am 100% correct with this review, but I suggest you save yourself the time and watch something better instead. Maybe I also ended up not liking this one because I found Becker's (and Tykwer's) work generally not too inspiring.