Wow what a movie. Now if you’re only into explosions, gratuitous sex, bathroom humor, manly brawling, car chases and alike this is not the movie for you. While I can very much enjoy many of the above qualities, sometime I do branch out.
If you’re into something well paced, with interesting location, excellent acting and very solid story this is a movie you should see.
First thing is this is a foreign (German) film and it is subtitled. I have a thing sometimes for subtitled films, maybe it’s that it requires more participation in the movie? Be forewarned that the subtitles move a little fast every once in a while.
The movie was perfectly paced for me, my wife thought it started a little slow. The was plenty of time for you to get to know the characters, understand the scenarios and get an overall understanding of the time, the place and the people. I’m not always the sharpest when it comes to flowing along with some movies, but this movie flowed well, I always knew where we were at. No crazy time sequencing, no out of context scene’s to confuse, no tricks for fluff or elaborate plotting I guess you could say the movies pacing and story flow matched the stories context, somewhat methodical, basic, functional… See next section.
I found the movie very, very interesting visually. Based on East Germany in the early 80’s I can only guess that what being shown was similar to the reality. There was a starkness and simplicity that appealed to me, an odd mix of nostalgia and functionality. This must be tempered by the fact that those in the movie were of some means (or better) and starkness and simplicity trickles down to little and nothing to those of lesser means.
The acting was strong. First of all one bonus of foreign films is often you have never seen many of the actors before. I think this is very refreshing. I personally didn’t see a weak link in the cast. Each role was well performed and very creditable. You believed them and in turn believed in them good or bad, right or wrong, they were who they were. There was none of the character compromise I find in some movies, where you had to accept the character. This might be attributable to the people, places and things going on being so different to what I am familiar with.
The story was convincing and thought provoking. You had a real sense of the circumstances that was each characters life in the movie. At times it gave plenty of pause for thought about how very much different others lives could be, in a way that is pretty hard to fathom. The story itself was very real and creditable to me, although someone with more knowledge and exposure to the times and situations might have a different perspective. Only for one quick instance was there a question that jogged me out of complete immersion and belief. With out giving anything away, how did he change gears so fast, sympathies wise. I was not disappointed by the ending at all, I think it important that this movie ended appropriately. At one moment I though the ending was going to be a bit of a letdown, but it was brought back around nicely.
Well, that’s enough of that. This is what I thought and felt about it. In my opinion if you want to see a basic movie with a strong story and great characters, one that is historically interesting and thought provoking, a movie that doesn’t need any tricks to keep your interest see “The Lives Of Others. This is a movie that had more take away or impact for me than most.
If you’re into something well paced, with interesting location, excellent acting and very solid story this is a movie you should see.
First thing is this is a foreign (German) film and it is subtitled. I have a thing sometimes for subtitled films, maybe it’s that it requires more participation in the movie? Be forewarned that the subtitles move a little fast every once in a while.
The movie was perfectly paced for me, my wife thought it started a little slow. The was plenty of time for you to get to know the characters, understand the scenarios and get an overall understanding of the time, the place and the people. I’m not always the sharpest when it comes to flowing along with some movies, but this movie flowed well, I always knew where we were at. No crazy time sequencing, no out of context scene’s to confuse, no tricks for fluff or elaborate plotting I guess you could say the movies pacing and story flow matched the stories context, somewhat methodical, basic, functional… See next section.
I found the movie very, very interesting visually. Based on East Germany in the early 80’s I can only guess that what being shown was similar to the reality. There was a starkness and simplicity that appealed to me, an odd mix of nostalgia and functionality. This must be tempered by the fact that those in the movie were of some means (or better) and starkness and simplicity trickles down to little and nothing to those of lesser means.
The acting was strong. First of all one bonus of foreign films is often you have never seen many of the actors before. I think this is very refreshing. I personally didn’t see a weak link in the cast. Each role was well performed and very creditable. You believed them and in turn believed in them good or bad, right or wrong, they were who they were. There was none of the character compromise I find in some movies, where you had to accept the character. This might be attributable to the people, places and things going on being so different to what I am familiar with.
The story was convincing and thought provoking. You had a real sense of the circumstances that was each characters life in the movie. At times it gave plenty of pause for thought about how very much different others lives could be, in a way that is pretty hard to fathom. The story itself was very real and creditable to me, although someone with more knowledge and exposure to the times and situations might have a different perspective. Only for one quick instance was there a question that jogged me out of complete immersion and belief. With out giving anything away, how did he change gears so fast, sympathies wise. I was not disappointed by the ending at all, I think it important that this movie ended appropriately. At one moment I though the ending was going to be a bit of a letdown, but it was brought back around nicely.
Well, that’s enough of that. This is what I thought and felt about it. In my opinion if you want to see a basic movie with a strong story and great characters, one that is historically interesting and thought provoking, a movie that doesn’t need any tricks to keep your interest see “The Lives Of Others. This is a movie that had more take away or impact for me than most.
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