This is the third feature film by writer and director Sylke Enders. "Mondkalb" is 8 years old and runs for roughly 100 minutes. The two lead characters are played by Juliane Köhler, one of Germany's most known actresses, also abroad, and Axel Prahl, who is liked by very many people thanks to the "Tatort" series. Early on, Köhler is the central character, but as the film goes on, it switches more and more towards equality between the two, maybe even with a slight edge to Prahl. The young actor who played his son in here has also come up with a respectable career in the last 10 years. Köhler I am not always a fan of, but I thought she did fine here as a woman released from prison who struggles to adjust to life outside these walls again in terms of professional and private life. It was also a bit of a change to see her with such a different haircut. Prahl is definitely a very likable guy, but you could say that he has a tendency to play pretty similar characters. Still, he is usually much much better than his "Tatort" colleague Jan Josef Liefers who I do not consider a particularly talented actor. That's why it was also pretty refreshing to watch Prahl in here with a pretty brave character selection. There are really a lot of layers to his character here, from morning widower to single male with a crush on a woman and finally a violent father.
The two lead actors really carry this nicely and make this certainly worth a watch. Looking at the number of ratings it has here on IMDb, it is definitely criminally underseen. Another aspect I liked was that it was brutal and graphic at times and did not go for feel-good moments and sacrifice all realism for these only to make audiences satisfied. I am talking about audiences that don't have the slightest clue what a quality movie has to be like and are stupid enough to appreciate a film only if it has a happy ending no matter how credible it is in the grand scheme of things. These people should not watch this film. Everybody else who knows better can give this one a go, especially if they appreciate German movies. It's difficult to find something wrong with this film, maybe that I did not like the title very much as it is just a reference to an insignificant quote from very early on. Still, here we have a well-written piece of film with pretty good subtlety and character development. Thumbs up.
The two lead actors really carry this nicely and make this certainly worth a watch. Looking at the number of ratings it has here on IMDb, it is definitely criminally underseen. Another aspect I liked was that it was brutal and graphic at times and did not go for feel-good moments and sacrifice all realism for these only to make audiences satisfied. I am talking about audiences that don't have the slightest clue what a quality movie has to be like and are stupid enough to appreciate a film only if it has a happy ending no matter how credible it is in the grand scheme of things. These people should not watch this film. Everybody else who knows better can give this one a go, especially if they appreciate German movies. It's difficult to find something wrong with this film, maybe that I did not like the title very much as it is just a reference to an insignificant quote from very early on. Still, here we have a well-written piece of film with pretty good subtlety and character development. Thumbs up.