Very recently, actor Gustav Peter Wöhler had his 60th birthday, so I decided to rewatch his possibly most known work: "Erleuchtung garantiert" or "Enlightenment Guaranteed" is a 105-minute live action film from Germany. It was written and directed by Doris Dörrie, one of Germany's most known female filmmakers for quite a while already. The two main characters in here are portrayed by Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav-Peter Wöhler and they have the same first names in this film as they do in real life and this also applies to everybody else acting in this movie (including Ochsenknecht's sons). Anica Dobra and Heiner Lauterbach are also somewhat known, at least here in Germany and they play supporting roles. Lauterbach and Ochsenknecht starred in one of Dörrie's most known works in the 1980s, "Männer...", which was her big breakthrough. I must say I was not a big fan of that one and I am a bit undecided on Dörrie. There are works from her that I did not enjoy at all, but there are also films that I ended up liking. This one here is definitely one of the latter. It is probably my favorite film from her.
I may be a bit biased as I always thought Asia, especially Japan, was such a fascinating country, but I guess Dörrie shares my opinion here as she made more films that are set in Japan in the last decades. Actually, her most recent work "Grüße aus Fukushima" is one of these as well. And while I thought that this one was an absolutely disastrous watch, I must say that all she did wrong in her new project is what she did 100% right in her old project from 1999 here. The main reason for this is Gustav Peter Wöhler, who is just tremendous in here and delivers a career-best performance. I don't know why he is not enjoying a bigger career, but maybe it was just that the character he plays here was perfect for him and not only because the actor is actually a homosexual himself. He made this film work almost on his own. His troubles early on, his struggling, his path to happiness and finally his coming-out. It all worked so well with the approach Wöhler gave his character and I cannot believe he did not get any awards recognition for his portrayal. Next to him, Ochsenknecht looked pretty bland at times, but this was just because Wöhler was so amazing. Ochsenknecht who I don't believe is the most talented actor also did a good job here and was a positive surprise for sure. He started off mediocre, but the longer the film went, the better he became.
This is also true about the movie in general. It was okay early on, but needed a while to become really great. Maybe this was intended as it is a parallel to the main characters' state of mind and how they are finally getting on the right path in the last 45 minutes, especially Wöhler's character. It rang very true to me on several occasions and there were many stunningly beautiful shots in here. One of them would be the tent on the tennis court, which shows that no matter how absurd it may seem, it's all about the harmony and there was a lot of harmony in this final shot with the two protagonists. There are many great quotes and memorable scenes from earlier on as well. I personally am a huge fan of "Lost in Translation" and if you like Asia-themed films like I do, then this one here is exactly the right choice. Or maybe also this can give you a decent idea if you currently feel a bit without direction in your life. I highly recommend the watch. One of Germany's very best from the 1990s and criminally underseen.
I may be a bit biased as I always thought Asia, especially Japan, was such a fascinating country, but I guess Dörrie shares my opinion here as she made more films that are set in Japan in the last decades. Actually, her most recent work "Grüße aus Fukushima" is one of these as well. And while I thought that this one was an absolutely disastrous watch, I must say that all she did wrong in her new project is what she did 100% right in her old project from 1999 here. The main reason for this is Gustav Peter Wöhler, who is just tremendous in here and delivers a career-best performance. I don't know why he is not enjoying a bigger career, but maybe it was just that the character he plays here was perfect for him and not only because the actor is actually a homosexual himself. He made this film work almost on his own. His troubles early on, his struggling, his path to happiness and finally his coming-out. It all worked so well with the approach Wöhler gave his character and I cannot believe he did not get any awards recognition for his portrayal. Next to him, Ochsenknecht looked pretty bland at times, but this was just because Wöhler was so amazing. Ochsenknecht who I don't believe is the most talented actor also did a good job here and was a positive surprise for sure. He started off mediocre, but the longer the film went, the better he became.
This is also true about the movie in general. It was okay early on, but needed a while to become really great. Maybe this was intended as it is a parallel to the main characters' state of mind and how they are finally getting on the right path in the last 45 minutes, especially Wöhler's character. It rang very true to me on several occasions and there were many stunningly beautiful shots in here. One of them would be the tent on the tennis court, which shows that no matter how absurd it may seem, it's all about the harmony and there was a lot of harmony in this final shot with the two protagonists. There are many great quotes and memorable scenes from earlier on as well. I personally am a huge fan of "Lost in Translation" and if you like Asia-themed films like I do, then this one here is exactly the right choice. Or maybe also this can give you a decent idea if you currently feel a bit without direction in your life. I highly recommend the watch. One of Germany's very best from the 1990s and criminally underseen.