"Ruhm" or "Glory: A Tale of Mistaken Identities" is a German movie from 2012, so this one has its 5th anniversary this year. It is one of the lesser known adaptations of the works by Daniel Kehlmann and the writer and director here is Isabel Kleefeld. For her, this film that runs 100 minutes approximately is certainly among the more known efforts, maybe even her most known. This has definitely to do with the cast as there are more than just a few names in here that are really well known for a long time here in Germany. And Austria probably too as the country being involved in the production of this movie results in some fairly famous Austrian actors being part of the performers list here as well.
I made the Babel reference in the title of my review and with that I mean that here we have a German episodic drama film that involves several characters at different parts of the world. Violence/Death is an issue, but so are the interhuman relationships in general, the fates of individuals closely connected to one another. I would not be surprised if Kehlmann or Kleefeld were inspired by the Alejandro González Iñárritu movie and eventually very little works out in here. The film sure tries to make an impact on an emotional level too on many occasions, but it never really succeeds, which hurts the film a lot. It's always a bit of a negative deal breaker when the ambition is there, but the execution / the talent aren't. The actors try their best, but it isn't really enough either, maybe also because of the script. I have not read the book, so I cannot really say if the problem here is the base material or the adapted material, but my guess is the latter as story-wise it sounds interesting at times I would say. It's probably a mix of several inferior production values that made me dislike this film as a whole. Or that they made really not much out of potentially good base material. This is probably the weakest Kehlmann adaptation I have seen so far. Thumbs down and I do not recommend the watch.
I made the Babel reference in the title of my review and with that I mean that here we have a German episodic drama film that involves several characters at different parts of the world. Violence/Death is an issue, but so are the interhuman relationships in general, the fates of individuals closely connected to one another. I would not be surprised if Kehlmann or Kleefeld were inspired by the Alejandro González Iñárritu movie and eventually very little works out in here. The film sure tries to make an impact on an emotional level too on many occasions, but it never really succeeds, which hurts the film a lot. It's always a bit of a negative deal breaker when the ambition is there, but the execution / the talent aren't. The actors try their best, but it isn't really enough either, maybe also because of the script. I have not read the book, so I cannot really say if the problem here is the base material or the adapted material, but my guess is the latter as story-wise it sounds interesting at times I would say. It's probably a mix of several inferior production values that made me dislike this film as a whole. Or that they made really not much out of potentially good base material. This is probably the weakest Kehlmann adaptation I have seen so far. Thumbs down and I do not recommend the watch.
