"Das schönste Mädchen der Welt" is a German 100-minute movie from 2018 and it is the 4th theatrical full feature film by writer and director Aron Lehmann. But the more known name is perhaps the one of his co-writer Lars Kraume because of his recent successes. And I also think that his name here is the main reason why this film received this much awards recognition, including an German Film Awards screenplay nod, which is certainly fairly unusual for a movie made mostly for younger audiences. But sadly, it is mostlly make-believe. The key story here is about a teenage boy who moonlights as a successful rapper wearing a mask where he hides his big nose and said nose brings up all kinds of insecurities when it is uncovered, so he is a bit of an outsider in his class at school. He has a good friend and also falls for the new girl, who obviously likes him as well, but lets not get too deep into the story. So yeah, the key message is that talent counts and prevails. If you take a look at the cast, there's probably not too many known names in here, not even for German film buffs. Of course Anke Engelke is easily identifiably despite her big fake nose and Heike Makatsch is actually better than usual playing a permanently fed-up school teacher. But it is not unusual. Frequently the child actors are not too known in these kind of movies. I still think Aaron Hilmer in the lead did a decent job, also with the rapping parts. Sinje Irslinger did not win me over and somebody else should have been cast. Admittedly, there was also quite a bit of bad about her character, like how she enters the film swearing at her dad or how she all of a sudden is a talented rapper too. Their battle was maybe the most significant scene of the film, but it was pretty cringeworthy. Probably speaks for Hilmer he made it almost work. Hardung well he was means to the story and did okay with what he had to work with. He was never really at the center of the story. As for the story itself, there were too many moments for me when the film felt a bit unrealistic. Or more than a bit actually. You will recognize them when you see them or maybe you will think the same about other moments than I did. But there's no way this can be seen as a realistic coming-of-age movie. The music parts were sometimes okay, sometimes not so much, but as I am not too big on rap music and hip hop, maybe my bias here results in me seeing the film more difficult than I should have. But it still plays a vital role in my perception. So eventually, it needs to be said that the idea and premise here are ambitious, but the outcome is shallow and does not do any justice on the subject at all honestly. People who really struggle with similar insecurities like the protagonist here deserve better. This movie is not a failure, but I still give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
