This is another one of those films that I have seen a while back, and I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't actually written anything about it. Maybe it was because I watched it prior to starting to write reviews on movies, though since I watched it back in the days of the SBS cult movie show, I'm sure I would have been writing about it then. Anyway, this is one of those films that is an absolutely delight, and a right laugh - the fact that it is German just adds to it.
Basically it is about these two guys, both of them in the late stages of incurable diseases, one of them having an inopperable brain tumor, the other having bone cancer. While they are lying in their hospital beds realising that this is the last place they are going to be, they basically say 'stuff it', steal a baby blue Mercedes, that happens to have a million dollars in the back, and go for a cruise to the beach, namely because neither of them have seen the sea. Mind you, Baby Blue Mercedes tend not to just be lying about the place, particularly if there is something like a million dollars in the boot, and if they are, then you probably don't want to get on the wrong side of the people that actually own it.
Yeah, we have a couple of incompetent goons who are supposed to be delivering a package to somebody, but these guys just can't get anything right. So, after knocking a kid off his skate board, they leave the car, unlocked, with the key behind the visor, and take him into the hospital. Oh, and our heroes are wearing nothing but their pyjamas, so because they basically have nothing left to lose, a crime spree is also on the cards, though of course only one of them happens to be a criminal, the other is basically just along for the ride, and the police all think he is a hostage anyway.
Yet there is more to this film that a couple of goof ball crooks, and two guys that are taking advantage of their last few days left on Earth, there is some pretty confronting drama as well. The thing is that these guys are dying, and this isn't hidden away - in fact in many cases it is front and centre. In a way it is also a quest, a quest to get to the sea, because, well, there is just something magical about the sea. Yet it also makes you wonder what one would actually do if you literally had nothing left to lose, therefore no need to abide by those social restraints.
This is actually a pretty bleak movie, but it is also very entertaining - a black comedy if you will. In fact some have suggested that it could almost be considered Germany's Pulp Fiction. Look, personally, I don't think so, though it does come pretty close. However, in many cases it is a film that pretty much stands on its own two feet, and it is also one of those films that you simply could not remake, even if it is to appeal to the English speaking world. In a way it is made in such a way that the skill and artistry of the director pretty much means that nobody ccould build upon what he has already created.
Basically it is about these two guys, both of them in the late stages of incurable diseases, one of them having an inopperable brain tumor, the other having bone cancer. While they are lying in their hospital beds realising that this is the last place they are going to be, they basically say 'stuff it', steal a baby blue Mercedes, that happens to have a million dollars in the back, and go for a cruise to the beach, namely because neither of them have seen the sea. Mind you, Baby Blue Mercedes tend not to just be lying about the place, particularly if there is something like a million dollars in the boot, and if they are, then you probably don't want to get on the wrong side of the people that actually own it.
Yeah, we have a couple of incompetent goons who are supposed to be delivering a package to somebody, but these guys just can't get anything right. So, after knocking a kid off his skate board, they leave the car, unlocked, with the key behind the visor, and take him into the hospital. Oh, and our heroes are wearing nothing but their pyjamas, so because they basically have nothing left to lose, a crime spree is also on the cards, though of course only one of them happens to be a criminal, the other is basically just along for the ride, and the police all think he is a hostage anyway.
Yet there is more to this film that a couple of goof ball crooks, and two guys that are taking advantage of their last few days left on Earth, there is some pretty confronting drama as well. The thing is that these guys are dying, and this isn't hidden away - in fact in many cases it is front and centre. In a way it is also a quest, a quest to get to the sea, because, well, there is just something magical about the sea. Yet it also makes you wonder what one would actually do if you literally had nothing left to lose, therefore no need to abide by those social restraints.
This is actually a pretty bleak movie, but it is also very entertaining - a black comedy if you will. In fact some have suggested that it could almost be considered Germany's Pulp Fiction. Look, personally, I don't think so, though it does come pretty close. However, in many cases it is a film that pretty much stands on its own two feet, and it is also one of those films that you simply could not remake, even if it is to appeal to the English speaking world. In a way it is made in such a way that the skill and artistry of the director pretty much means that nobody ccould build upon what he has already created.