"Heimat zu verkaufen" is an Austrian/German co-production from 2010, so this film has its 10th anniversary this year. Nothing to be proud of though. The language is German, but the accents are Austrian from beginning to end here because of where the film is set, so to me it definitely felt more of an Austrian movie than a German film. The running time is 1.5 hours, slightly under, just like the vast majority of German television films. Or I should say German-language in this case. The director is Karl Kases, a pretty prolific filmmaker who is now almost 70 years old. However, the more interesting thing about his body of work is not what he did as a director, but what he did as a cinematographer. Surely there he was involved with some projects I did not see coming at all. And he started working a long time ago, so this one we have here is certainly among his more recent efforts. "Walker, Texas Ranger", "Lemon Popsicle", Falco documentaries. Enough said. You can check out the rest for yourself, but I can only say I would not have expected him to direct this movie here. The inclusion of writer Susanne Zanke is less surprising. Her body of work as slightly more normal, even if it must be said that she was a more prolific writer than director. But still wrote the story for a handful projects. She turns/turned 75 this year and has been retired for quite a while. This project here was one of her swan songs. Not a good way to bid farewell though. As for the cast, I cannot say too much about the actors. The only really familiar name is Richter-Röhl for me, but not because she is a good actress, but rather the exact opposite. The male central characters, not just the lead, but also the main antagonist have familiar faces, but I cannot come up with the names without looking at the cast list. They slightly managed to elevate the script I would say, but not to a particularly memorable level either. For that, the script is simply too bad. I won't deny that there was a moment here and there, especially early on, when I felt that maybe I could give 4 stars out of 10 and not just two, but every time I was close to thinking like that, the story quickly took a turn for the worse.
There are many examples for that. Some characters added absolutely nothing like the Aloisia character. How she saw that the male protagonist was interested in the business woman was pretty exaggerated and not in a good way, for example when she says that it's the first time that he goes to a special place with somebody he does not know that well. And what happens there is really what absolutely confirmed that this film is nothing but a failure. I am of course talking about the kiss. And bascially also about everything that happens afterwards between these two. The moments of denial when the audience was supposed to be worried they could not end up together etc. And then finally of course the really simple twist that she gives up her business life and starts living with the man up there in the mountains. By the way, also looking at how beautiful the location of this film is, the looks (cinematography etc.) were fairly disappointing. Not even that they managed to do convincingly and this really has nothing to do with the bad story, almost nothing with the production values in general. Oh well, this film is definitely not the brightest hour for everybody involved. In front of the camera, but also in terms of the crew working on this one. What else is there to say? Oh yes, the village where this takes place has the same name like the area where I grew up. Just a random snippet of information. I must say I like Austrian films. A lot of the time, they are far superior to German films, especially if we are talking comedy movies. But this one here is really the one movie that is the big exception. Maybe the exception that confirms the rule as we say here in Germany? It is this bad and basically the same incredibly low level like the many ARD Degeto films constantly shown in the afternoon in my country. Some of them are even older than this one here. But of course, this one here is also so bad that there is not the slightest justification for it to be still shown a decade after its original release. It was already shot back in 2008, so it is even older if we go by that. Like I said, not an anniversary to be proud of. The entire story about the man losing his home about which he has so many precious memories feels pretentious and all for the sake of it. Emotion never gets to the audience because the film is hitting all the wrong notes and lacks subtlety completely. The soundtrack is very much over the top and the characters feel highly gimmicky, especially in terms of how they wanted to manipulate the audience in how we should see them. The best example is when the bad guy says something to his assistant like she should sleep with the guy if it helps the business. Oh well, you see the level. The only despicable thing here is the lack of talent in the story. Really sad that the writer was already in his 60s when this was made, basically at the end of her career, and still she does not have any talent apparently. Or at least enough experience to make sure she does not come up with a story as low (and predictable) as this one here. Best is if you stay as far away as possible from this film. Highly not recommended. Oh and by the way, the title is also incorrect because it was exactly at the center of the movie that his home is NOT for sale. They just picked something that sounded easy to remember. Again, no creativity involved. Even there. That's all. A bad, bad movie.
There are many examples for that. Some characters added absolutely nothing like the Aloisia character. How she saw that the male protagonist was interested in the business woman was pretty exaggerated and not in a good way, for example when she says that it's the first time that he goes to a special place with somebody he does not know that well. And what happens there is really what absolutely confirmed that this film is nothing but a failure. I am of course talking about the kiss. And bascially also about everything that happens afterwards between these two. The moments of denial when the audience was supposed to be worried they could not end up together etc. And then finally of course the really simple twist that she gives up her business life and starts living with the man up there in the mountains. By the way, also looking at how beautiful the location of this film is, the looks (cinematography etc.) were fairly disappointing. Not even that they managed to do convincingly and this really has nothing to do with the bad story, almost nothing with the production values in general. Oh well, this film is definitely not the brightest hour for everybody involved. In front of the camera, but also in terms of the crew working on this one. What else is there to say? Oh yes, the village where this takes place has the same name like the area where I grew up. Just a random snippet of information. I must say I like Austrian films. A lot of the time, they are far superior to German films, especially if we are talking comedy movies. But this one here is really the one movie that is the big exception. Maybe the exception that confirms the rule as we say here in Germany? It is this bad and basically the same incredibly low level like the many ARD Degeto films constantly shown in the afternoon in my country. Some of them are even older than this one here. But of course, this one here is also so bad that there is not the slightest justification for it to be still shown a decade after its original release. It was already shot back in 2008, so it is even older if we go by that. Like I said, not an anniversary to be proud of. The entire story about the man losing his home about which he has so many precious memories feels pretentious and all for the sake of it. Emotion never gets to the audience because the film is hitting all the wrong notes and lacks subtlety completely. The soundtrack is very much over the top and the characters feel highly gimmicky, especially in terms of how they wanted to manipulate the audience in how we should see them. The best example is when the bad guy says something to his assistant like she should sleep with the guy if it helps the business. Oh well, you see the level. The only despicable thing here is the lack of talent in the story. Really sad that the writer was already in his 60s when this was made, basically at the end of her career, and still she does not have any talent apparently. Or at least enough experience to make sure she does not come up with a story as low (and predictable) as this one here. Best is if you stay as far away as possible from this film. Highly not recommended. Oh and by the way, the title is also incorrect because it was exactly at the center of the movie that his home is NOT for sale. They just picked something that sounded easy to remember. Again, no creativity involved. Even there. That's all. A bad, bad movie.
