Tag: humor

“Miss Merkel” TV Series Review

Katharina Thalbach as retired-chancellor-turned-amateur-detective Angela Merkel, in “Miss Merkel” on MHz Choice. Courtesy of MHz Choice

This review covers two German TV movies under the title “Miss Merkel.” Yeah. It really is that one. In this pair of tele-films from 2023 and 2024, the premise is that the eponymous retired chancellor moves to a small city, seeking peace and quiet after decades in the international political arena.

The producers of the shows give this Angela Merkel (Katharina Thalbach) a fictional husband, Achim Sauer (Thorsten Merten), a bodyguard, Mike (Tim Kalkhof), and a pug, Helmet, for her life of relaxation. But rest doesn’t come naturally to such a character, and when murders occur, she lights up with the chance to start doing the Miss Marple/Jessica Fletcher thing. And she does it delightfully.

This incarnation of Angela Merkel is sharp, witty, energetic and a bit caustic. Thalbach looks convincingly like her character, albeit shorter. Achim and Mike regularly urge her to steer clear of intrigue and danger, but she’s as unsinkable as Molly Brown.

The one who REALLY wants her out of the way is lazy, loutish local detective Hannemann (Sascha Nathan) whose greatest desire is to write off any suspicious death to suicide or accident, despite ample evidence to the contrary. He hates Merkel’s quest for truth, because it could force him to do actual police work. The guy makes Zorro’s Sgt. Garcia and Hogan’s Sgt. Schultz look positively Holmesian, while lacking any of their charm.

The first involves the death of a preening baron whose lifestyle and multiple marriages provide a healthy array of suspects with understandable motives. In the second, the mystery revolves around two funeral home operators who had been partners before becoming bitter rivals. Don’t worry about the details of either case. Let Miss Merkel do that. This light-hearted fare is mainly a character comedy, with sleuthing just the horse its riding.

The scripts are cleverly written, giving Merkel a slew of throwaway lines and wisecracks about famous figures and events encountered in her career. The digs are a big plus, and must have been great fun for the writers to insert. Merkel is portrayed as energetic and courageous, with method in her seeming madness. She also displays an admirable warmth and sincere concern for her new neighbors and cohorts. Think of a less frumpy version of Margaret Rutherford’s Miss Marple, with a touch of Lt. Columbo in her manner.

I expect the real Merkel to have been amused by this fictional avatar.

The first film was somewhat more satisfying than the second. The new set of writers and director added a fantasy element to the latter that came close to jumping the shark. If you dive in, see them in order, since some characters and plot lines continue as if occurring a few months later. The films were well-cast, and the locations were lovely, giving its lead picturesque environs for her new life.

Comedians joke about Germans lacking a sense of humor. I submit these two as exhibits for their defense.

“Miss Merkel,” in German with English subtitles, is available streaming on MHzChoice starting Tuesday, Oct 22.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

“Miss Merkel” TV series on MHz Choice

COMPARTMENT NO. 6 – Review

Seidi Haarla as Laura in the Finnish drama COMPARTMENT NO. 6. Photo credit Sami Kuokkanen/Aamu Film Company. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Two strangers on a train, a young Finnish woman (Seidi Haarla) and a rough Russian miner (Yuriy Borisov), share a compartment on a two-day trip north from Moscow to the Arctic coast, in the surprising COMPARTMENT NO. 6. The trip is more than a physical journey, and this strangers on a train Finnish drama has won multiple well-deserved accolades since its release and is a leading contender for the Best International Film Oscar.

The film is set in Russia not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and although it is primarily drama, it has elements of humor and romance too. It actually starts, not on a train but at a party, in a spacious Moscow apartment, where a glittering mix of intellectuals and artsy types have gathered in bohemian hipness, led by charismatic hostess Irina (Dinara Drukarova), an academic at the Moscow university where Finnish student Laura (Seidi Haarla) is studying anthropology. Irina is also Laura’s lover, and the pair were supposed to embark on a trip to the Arctic together the next day, to see some ancient petroglyphs that Irina had been gushing about to Laura. At the last minute, something comes up and Irina can’t go, but she insists that Laura still go, alone.

COMPARTMENT NO. 6 is directed by Juho Kuosmanen, whose previous film THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI blended drama, self-discovery, humor and romance is a decidedly unique but deeply human way. Some of those same elements are here as well, taking this new film to a deeper, more profound level than we at first expect.

The two-day train trip is more than a physical journey, but a kind of journey of self-discovery for the characters. Without Irina, Laura feels untethered from her life in Moscow and is forced to reflect on her life’s direction and choices, who she is and what she wants. But those contemplations are interrupted by the obnoxious person assigned to the same compartment, a talkative young miner who is also traveling to the Arctic coast for work.

Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov) is rude and crude, and starts off with asking Laura if she is a prostitute. Clueless about her revulsion and unapologetic, he proceeds to hit on her while calling her Estonian instead of Finnish. Laura rebuffs him sharply, and with confident style, but she still retreats to the dining car for the rest of the day. When she asks the woman in charge of the train compartments to move her to another berth, the conductor refuses, claiming there is no room and cooling saying, with perfect Soviet bureaucratic indifference, “what did you expect.” Well, not that.

Laura is sharp-witted and able to stand up for herself but it hardly makes for pleasant traveling. She is relieved when a woman with a baby is also assigned to the compartment and later a young Finnish musician but neither stay long. Meanwhile, Ljoha keeps up his attempts to win over Laura, efforts that begin to hint at something more beneath the crude surface.

Over the course of the journey, both actors peel away layers of their characters. Although the whole story takes place on this journey, we are not always on the train and Laura has a surprising number of adventures and revelations along the way.

During the course of the trip, it becomes clear that Irina was more sending Laura away than it had seemed at first to the Finnish student, and Laura has to process that fact. Laura is completely enamored of Irina’s sparkling intellectual life, a life she really wants to possess. She wants to be Irina as much or more than she wants her as a lover.

The writing and acting are superb, with plentiful twists and nice performances by Seidi Haarla and Yuriy Borisov, as their characters travel on their differing internal journeys and shared train-bound one. Creative photography by Jani-Petteri Passi, who also shot the fine multi-part HBO historical drama “Chernobyl” as well as the director’s previous film, brings a touch of mystery and the magical to the train trip, and provides support for the strong script and performances. The trip finds the travelers in an unexpected place in life when they arrive at their Arctic destination, and the film wrapped up in a poignant yet satisfying place for audiences.

COMPARTMENT NO. 6, in Russian and Finnish with English subtitles, opens Friday, March 18, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

HAND OF GOD – Review

(l-r) Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo and Teresa Saponangelo, in THE HAND OF GOD by Paolo Sorrentino. Photo by Gianni Fiorito. Courtesy of Netflix.

Memory can be a powerful thing. The vivid autobiographical tale from Oscar-winning writer/director Paolo Sorrentino, THE HAND OF GOD is a coming-of-age tale about an awkward teenage boy growing up in 1980s Naples, a sun-splashed, gritty, quirky place where he is surrounded by loving family and colorful characters, a place where the mundane and the magical exist side-by-side. Soccer and cinema are his obsessions but fate or luck – the hand of God – steps in and shapes the direction of his life.

Fabietto Schisa (Filippo Scotti) lives with his parents Saverio Schisa (Toni Servillo) and Maria Schisa (Teresa Saponangelo), older brother Marchino Schisa (Marlon Joubert) and a sister we never see because she is always in the bathroom, sharing an apartment near the the port city’s old harbor. They, and Fabietto’s extended family, are a talkative, entertaining lot, and the teen lives in a world of family and warmth filled with colorful characters, and the striking quirkiness of the place and the time.

Humor and heartbreak suffuse Sorrentino’s autobiographical film. THE HAND OF GOD is a glorious mix of joy tempered with tragedy, a story packed with colorful, out-sized characters, and filled with wild tales and warm family ones, all presented through ravishingly beautiful images by cinematographer Daria D’Antonio.

Sorrentino is famous for the bold cinematic style of his films, on full display in his Oscar-winning THE GREAT BEAUTY, IL DIVO and other films. In THE HAND OF GOD, Sorrentino’s most personal film, his usual flamboyant visual style is more muted, to put the focus on the characters. Muted but not absent, as there are plenty of moments of the magical.

An opening scene encapsulates some of the film’s mundane and magical dichotomy, with a sequence where a beautiful woman, waiting for a bus on a busy, nighttime street, is called over by a rotund man in a limo claiming to be San Gennero (Enzo Decaro), the patron saint of Naples. He is offering a ride and a promise to meet the “Little Monk,” a Neapolitan myth, and claims to know her secret sorrow, that she does not have a child. What follows feels like something out of Fellini, until she returns to the real world, dropped off on a dim street.

Reality or fantasy? The beautiful woman is Fabietto’s Aunt Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri), whom he adores. Patrizia is a sad, half-mad woman with an unconscious sexiness, who longs for a child and fears her abusive, jealous husband. Luisa Ranieri is haunting as Patrizia, whose unthinking sexiness and pervasive sadness, touches her sensitive nephew. Memorable characters, touching ones like the aunt or bizarre ones like to scornful mother-in-law who wears her fur coat to a picnic, populate this marvelous film.

And what characters they are, starting with Fabietto’s parents. Teresa Saponangelo is wonderful as the teen’s playful mother Maria, a prankster prone to practical jokes and occasionally juggling. She and Fabietto’s father Saverio, played with charm and dignity by Toni Servillo, are still in love, and whistle to each other in a distinctive way as an expression of that love.

The teen is close to his older brother, played masterfully by Marlon Joubert. Fabietto’s handsome, outgoing brother Marchino longs to be an actor, even trying out for a role as an extra for Federico Fellini at one point, but he seems to lose energy as time goes on. Betty Pedrazzi is marvelous as the Baronessa, the family’s imperious older neighbor. Biagio Manna’s bold speedboat-driving smuggler Armando zooms into the picture and takes Fabietto for a wild ride.

There are crazy scenes and quiet ones, and the story unfolds in a rambling style as does real life. One highlight is a sequence where the extended family gathers for a summer-time picnic, and all manner of craziness happens. The delightful comic sequence has the flavor of a oft-told family tale.

Fabietto is obsessed with movies, soccer and, of course, sex. In the 1980s, everyone in Naples is obsessed with soccer and with legendary soccer star Diego Maradona, who is rumored to be considering a move to the more working class city’s more modest team. At one point, the boy meets a filmmaker, Antonio Capuano (Ciro Carpano), who was Sorrentino’s actual mentor, but not until much later, after a tragic event provides a turning point in the boy’s life. Both the director and the soccer star play pivotal roles in the boy’s life, as he heads towards adult life.

While some parts of this tale are based on real events, the director cautions us that the line is blurred between fact and fiction, This is the world as he imagines it, as he wants to remember it, narrative fiction, not documentary. Fact or fiction, or some of both, THE HAND OF GOD certainly is a marvelous experience, one of the director’s best and perhaps his most accessible.

THE HAND OF GOD, in Italian with English subtitles, opens nationally Friday, Dec. 3 in select theaters, Dec. 10 at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and Dec. 15 streaming on Netflix.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

HAIL SATAN? – Review

Lucien Greaves delivering a speech in front of the state capitol building in Little Rock, AR in HAIL SATAN?, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

“We’re not what you think we are,” says a spokesman for the Satanic Temple near the start of the documentary HAIL SATAN? That question mark in the title is important, as neither director Penny Lane (NUTS!, OUR NIXON), nor we, are never quite sure how sincere the members of the Satanic Temple are about being a church. What we are sure of is their sincerity about championing the separation of church and state, and freedom of religion.

The question mark in the documentary’s title HAIL SATAN? is director Penny Lane’s, not the members of the Satanic Temple, who loudly and proudly use the phrase in their events. But they do not actually worship Satan, as spokesman/co-founder Lucien Greaves quickly makes clear. Rather, they call themselves a “non-theist” religion, and consider Satan to be a term that religions have applied to outsiders the scorn, to the “other,” Members are a mixed of heavy-metal music fans, goths, performance artists, Dungeons and Dragons players, along with lawyers, accountants and others with an independent streak who want to stand up for freedom and diversity.

There is a lot of weirdness and uncomfortable symbolism but also a bit of the old Merry Pranksters, the 1960s group who orchestrated clever pranks with a political message, about the Satanic Temple. A major activity of the group is to organize actions to support separation of church and state, opposing the placement of religious symbols, like the Ten Commandments monuments, on government property. They demand equal representation for their religious symbols, hold rallies with a statue of the satanic god Baphomet, and bring lawsuits to place their monument next to the Christian one. Their argument is that if Christian symbols can be there, so can theirs.

Not many Bible-belt states are thrilled to have a Satanic statue on state government grounds. HAIL SATAN? starts out amusingly entertaining, as we watch the members of the Satanic Temple confront members of the Christian Right at rallies, or go on local news programs, where reporters approach them with a mix of fascination and fear. Spokesman Lucien Greaves notes with bemusement that some people even bring holy water with them. Particularly amusing are appearances on Fox News with Megyn Kelly, who appears nearly dumbfounded by them. In an early scene in the documentary, the group is announcing their intention to petition for the placement of a Satanic monument next to the Ten Commandants monument just erected on state property when someone in the crowd shouts that the speaker is “going to hell.” “Looking forward to it,” the speaker replies. Clearly not the response the heckler was looking for.

That kind of glib humor, quick wit and deadpan delivery is typical, as the group presents their case. The members of the Satanic Temple are perfectly aware they are being provocative and, in fact, that is part of the point. It doesn’t mean they aren’t serious about being a religion.

Director Penny Lane follows the group as they set up a headquarters church in – where else? – Salem, Massachusetts, establish branch temples in several cities, and engage in actions. Several are challenges to the placement of Ten Commandment monuments on government grounds in various states. At a rally on the Florida capital steps, the media-savvy Satanists, decked out in black robes and horns, chant “Hail Rick Scott! Hail Satan!” in support of Governor Rick Scott’s decision to allow school prayer, and then apply to have one of their prayers included.

Not content to just entertain us with the group’s antics, director Lane dives deeper. The documentary gives the background on the founding of the Satanic Temple, its roots in the ’90s parental hysteria over Satanic cults in schools, precursors like the Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, and this group’s surprisingly kindly and distinctly un-satanic basic principles of conduct. There is even a bit on Adam and Eve, told hilariously through clips from old animated films. Among the fascinating tidbits Lane uncovers is the 1950s origin of the Ten Commandments monument so many conservative Christian groups use, which began as a give-away stunt to promote the movie “The Ten Commandments,” as well as the Cold War origins of the idea of the U.S. as a Christian nation.

Although Satanic Temple members insist they are quite sincere about being a religion, we are not sure how seriously to take that, which is one of the things that makes this documentary so interesting. Despite their unconventional nature, the Satanic Temple has many of the characteristics of any church – a surprisingly un-satanic and kind creed they follow, a sense of unity and fellowship, ceremonies they conduct, a community place from which they operate. We follow the Satanists as they organize blood drives, pick up trash along the highway (with pitchforks), and organize an afterschool club, like any religion.

It all adds up to an entertaining and intriguing documentary look an uncoventional group of people who embody some basic American ideas, like freedom and individualism, to a surprising degree. HAIL SATAN? opens Friday, May 17, at the Tivoli Theater.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars