jürgen fauth’s muckworld

Barely acceptable even by the extremely formulaic conventions of the romcom. As if it wasn’t insult enough that in the stateside adaptation, Nick Hornby’s soccer obsession morphed into Red Sox fandom, it’s now demoted to “what’s wrong with this guy” plot hurdle to be taken by lovers Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Falllon. The movie’s at its best (and that’s not saying much) when he’s charming her in act I; all the disappointment over the missed Yankees game or whatnot is ever so much chaff.

What I fail to understand is why anybody would want to mistake these bundles of clichés shoehorned into a preconceived plot for real people. It’s one thing to use cardboard stiffs as an excuse for popcorn action, but shouldn’t a love story center on more or less recognizable, likable, lifelike characters? Instead we get the one-trait-per-person cartoons that, at least since Sex in the City, somehow pass for urban realism but in truth offer less depth and verisimilitude than your average Marvel superhero book. And doesn’t the “comedy” half of it at least suggest the occasional joke?

Fever Pitch. Bobby and Peter Farrelly, 2005. *

Some movies are harder to judge objectively than others. The title of this behind-the-scenes doc about the German soccer team during the 2006 World Cup translates as “Germany: A Summer’s Fairy Tale.” In case you didn’t follow it, nobody expected much from them, but expat coach Jürgen Klinsmann brought a sunny California attitude that somehow clicked and led the team on an extraordinary series of wins which sent the country into an ekstatischen Freudestaumel. From what I am told, Germany had not seen such wholesome national joy since–ever.

As you might imagine, a movie about a transformative event in the old country can infect an exile like me with a particularly nasty strain of homesickness, a complicated emotion that combines longing with cringing overfamiliarity. As much as I liked listening to the players’ unaffected German, did they really have to play “Marmor Stein und Eisen bricht” on the bus?  And who was that dismal no-flow rapper on the Fanmeile?

Poor musical choices and personal issues with the Vaterland aside, Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen offers a privileged peek at the world of high-powered sports with their team psychologists, penalty shoot experts, and visits from Frau Bundeskanzler. There are even a couple of nekkid shower scenes, and Klinsmann’s rousing half-time speeches are something to behold. I was riveted by Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen, but it’s difficult to know if I would have found it half as charming if it had been a movie about the Canadian curling team.

The Sommermärchen ended with the semi-finals against Italy, a match that carries its own set of bad memories for me. I watched some of the games at Zum Schneider, but for the semi-finals, I was at Astoria Beer Garden, and in the general madness after the second goal, my Moleskine disappeared. The team might have lost the Cup that day, but I lost my notebook, and I’m still not over it.

Deutschland: Ein Sommermärchen. Sönke Wortmann, 2006. ****

• The Guardian: German director scores with World Cup documentary
• Official Site
• Here’s the trailer:

[tags]film, deutschland, expats, german, 4 stars, trailer, youtube, fussball, astoria, jurgen, soccer, moleskine, astoria, beer garden, zum schneider, ilja richter, disco, drafi deutscher, sönke wortmann[/tags]

Good times at Zum Schneider.