Honig im Kopf (2014) Reviews

• A long good bye to senses

  Ralfscheapthrill2015-04-06

  Thanks to the reviews of AccessCardRequired and feyza-balak for pointing out some of the astonishing weaknesses of "Honig im Kopf". In addition to that: The problem of the editing is not just about the film's length in general and the louche number of "subplots" (which are more or less excuse for showing the audience proudly the desire of almost every known actor and celebrity in Germany to be a part in a new Til Schweiger movie at least for a second. It seems to be the latest fashion...). Though the story itself urges for intimate scenes where the actors have space to show their talent in favor of their role and the scene, it's high-speed edited in a unnecessary way I've barely seen before. Even the most simple dialog between three people there's hardly one image that stands longer than two seconds. It seems like no one is trusting the impact of the story here. Why else should you cut a quite relaxed dialog like it's an action movie's final car chase? "Honig im Kopf" is a perfect example for what happened to a part of Germany's filmmaking in consequence of 30 years of (bad) commercial TV: it's not about telling a story anymore, true to it's idea, it's characters. It's just about creating a chain of small plot points which have to peak in something that is supposed to be "highly emotional" oder "just funny". The rest is eye-pleasing: interior design out of the cheesiest life style magazines, spectacular shooting locations and of course: super expensive super-slow-mo-camera from time to time just to watch parents and child reunion like they show football-players these days, celebrating themselves after they managed to score. The sad thing is - no one of the teams seems to see or care, though they all did their job far better before (like in "Kokowääh", the first one. the sequel was hell) . And of course: If there'd be anybody out there who could tell Til what kind of path he's walking down, he could easily say: "What do you want? Almost 7 Million Germans went to see my movie, they cried and laughed. So get lost, stupid artsy fartsy guy!" So after all: Is it just a matter of taste? No it isn't. It's a matter of success, that's eating itself. What comes out of that still might look like success, and 30 years of fly-breeding might give you the impression that it's still a success, but if you just take your time - little more than 2 seconds, and check your senses you will realize the smell. Til doesn't seem to have nor time nor interest - no wonder, he's shooting film after film. Even his character here is like that: After Tilda burnt half of the super high class kitchen, he comes home and instead of taking a breath and wondering about the likely smell, his wife has to explain where all this soot is coming from. In it's mixture of lowest level storytelling, high level emotionalizing and inhibited jokes which mostly refer to farting and flippancy - here you have the wiedergänger of the infamous regular UFA-entertainment from once upon a time...

• The beautified story of a traumatized child and a non-emancipated mom

  feyza-balak2015-02-17

  I would like to talk about two characters and the way their attitude is being dangerously idealized in the movie: First of all, Tilda, the small child almost takes over the responsibility of her parents, taking her grandfather to a trip abroad. She witnesses how her grandpa slowly loses the capability of leading his own life and this is simply not something that a child can handle psychologically. For a child to carry such parental responsibilities is being referred to as a severe trauma in psychology and it shouldn't be idealized in a movie. Moreover, when she takes off with her grandpa, interestingly no one ever wonders where she may be and what may happen to them. So instead of being deeply worried for her, Niko and Sarah brush up their sex life. Really?! Secondly, Sarah, Niko's wife is portrayed as a very unpleasant character and in the movie, this is tied to the fact that she doesn't want her husband's father to live with them. At the end, where the character transforms into an ideal (!) woman, she quits her job to look after Amandus and to spend more time with her daughter. This is nothing but a gender stereotype being reinforced in a very emotionally abusive manner. Again, such experiences have caused and are causing many women in the world to have traumatic experiences when it comes to having a family and wanting to realize themselves. I was very disappointed to see so many gender stereotypes being reinforced in the movie. The people of this world have endured enough traumas and they should not be idealized in any way, let alone in a movie by Til Schweiger that is guaranteed to reach millions of people.

• Basically what you would expect

  Horst_In_Translation2015-03-07

  "Honig im Kopf" is the newest film written by, directed by ans'd starring German actor Til Schweiger. (Also one of his daughters plays a central character once again.) Just like in his films "Keinohrhasen" and "Zweiohrküken", the title is a metaphorical reference to a quote in the film. The main reason I watched this movie was Dieter Hallervorden. His "Sein letztes Rennen" (probably also why he was cast for this role here) is one of my favorite performances and films from last year and when I heard he will play a character here who suffers from dementia (aging gracefully just like in "Sein letztes Rennen"), I expected great things. I was not disappointed. Hallervorden is the heart and soul of the movie, but sadly there are some parts which keep me from describing this as a great viewing experience. One would be the many many scenes of vulgar humor which really hurt the emotional impact this film could have made. Maybe teenagers would find this funny, but I surely did not. It really hurts the dramatic plot if they randomly start talking about nuns doing nasty things with cucumbers. Then there's all kinds of obscene swearing only included for the sake of it and with no real purpose and some nude-related humor like the naked ass of an old man. The only thing of that kind was the peeing-into-the-fridge scene. I laughed about that a bit because it was so random. Anyway, looking past that, the movie had some moments of greatness. All of these featured Hallervorden of course and these were his scenes with Schweiger's daughter, for example when he gives her the note or when he finally does not recognize her anymore. The final scene with the girl lying in the grass and the sheep noise was good closure too. What i did not like, but what is common with Schweiger's works is that even the very tiny roles are all cast with very known faces, at least here in Germany. That's not really necessary and they could have given the minor parts to lesser known actors instead of casting Sarnau, Kurtulus, Reinhardt, Liefers, Prückner or Thalbach. It's a bit of a road movie as all characters in the film have to find their way somehow, emotionally, but also geographically. One of these 4 central characters is played by Schweiger himself and he was, once again, totally forgettable. The storyline with him and his wife was very forgettable and added almost nothing to the movie for me and they could have left out a lot of it in my opinion, so the film would not have run for much considerably longer than 2 hours. "The "I love you" moment which was supposed to be his emotional highlight really fell flat for me too and seemed to have come completely out of nowhere. His wife was played by Jeanette Hain. Admittedly she gives a better performance and also plays a more interesting character. I never knew where she was going. Her behavior early on made me think she will be a bit of an antagonist and finally leave Schweiger's character for good, but she did not. I even thought at one point Schweiger's character would actually get together with the woman working at the home for the elderly. Anyway, I felt her change from spiteful (including a hug based on schadenfreude) to caring daughter-in-law was not entirely credible. It was just too much of a transformation. It is occasionally a cheesy film, but Hallervorden made it watchable. I found the way all the characters acted with so much compassion to Hallervorden's and Emma Schweiger's characters cringeworthy at times. And even if the film seemed vulgar only for the sake of being hip and trendy at times, I would recommend watching it. But you will have probably seen some of Schweiger's earlier work if you consider watching this and should make up your mind based on that if you want to see this one. There's nothing really new here that you have not seen in his previous works already I guess. His co-writer here worked on the "Traumhotel" movies which certainly did not help the matter. "Honig im Kopf" is not a bad film by any means, but should have been kept a bit more essential and less stereotypical. The music in this film could also be described like the movie itself: good, but not outstanding by any means.

• u have got to be kidding

  selena-710962015-12-01

  I totally agree with Meta Pomieske and other reviewers who gave this movie one star. I lasted 20 min, may be,just could not take it any longer. First of all nothing is realistic in this movie and it is on the edge of being an absurdous one. The girl was seriously overacting in my opinion,her father a talented actor, was underacting, they made an idiot of the senile grandpa. Everything looked and sounded faked and forced. The movie starts with an underage girl traveling by train with a senile old man hugging a soft toy and it is presented as nothing is wrong with it. Then she allegedly overlooks his absence. Give me a break.

• Disappointing, beautifully filmed movie

  jcravens422017-12-27

  A beautifully filmed but ultimately disappointing film. The first hour, watching an utterly clueless couple in complete denial about the mental state of the husband's father isn't funny - it's painful and disturbing. The saving grace is that this is probably how so many people really do try to deal with a loved one with dementia. Apparently no one in the family knows how to look up more information on the Internet about dementia and caregiving. No idea whatsoever as to why the husband stays with the wife, who is completely unsympathetic. The grand-daughter and grandfather are charming - but that no one intervenes when, say, they see this young child removing this old man's pants on a train is just unbelievable. The film is worth watching to explain to someone what dementia can look like, but it is NOT a good film for explaining how to care for someone with such (except to say "Here's what NOT to do.").