ophone77 Reviews

Comeback (2012–2013)

The premise is great...

[6/10 · 16 May 2024]

...but the execution is mediocre. Don't get me wrong, I like to watch something in my mother tongue, it's not like the market's flooded with films and shows in Luxembourgish. I really dig it's a show produced in walking distance to the place I live. It also starts on a high note with many funny moments, especially the music video shot in my old secondary school, which was a viral hit here in Luxembourg. But after a while this whole love triangle between Sophie, Pit and Saack takes the reins, which is a pity in my eyes. This makes Comeback too corny for my taste. It washes away all the memorable funny moments, foremost those with Saack, Mary/Bob, Néckel and Samantha.

And please, what was this about that one episode making a recap of a show which only ran for 24 episodes shorter than half an hour each?

Finally I think the show's whole story would have been perfectly told, if it would have had only half the amount of episodes.

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)

My favourite animated full feature length film...

[10/10 · 1 January 2024]

Even if its looks were already dated back when it was released.

It helps Astérix is my favourite comics franchise since I've been a child and that its creators, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, were heavily implied in this movie for me to give it the maximum rating.

I think Les 12 travaux d'Astérix pleases a wide range of audience. Children mainly with its slapstick, teenagers with its references to the antique world they're confronted to in school and grown-ups with its witty humour and critical tone towards the contemporary world when the film was released, mostly valid to this day.

It may not look like one, but in the end this movie is a masterpiece I gladly rewatch from time to time.

Superchamp Returns (2018)

I can't tell if this is the best movie from my tiny country...

[9/10 · 25 December 2023]

...but it's still excellent fun, which makes me forgive its inaccuracies to the Superjhemp comics, its source material.

Unfortunately it has something in common with the comics: You need to know the culture they originate from and its language to fully enjoy them, otherwise you probably think they're pretty mediocre. Like the comics, the movie's packed with jokes, expressions and references to things you only understand if you know Luxembourg and the local language. To even fully enjoy the movie you also need to be familiar with the comics' universe and Luxusbuerg, the "fictitious" country where the comics take place.

For an almost purely Luxembourgish production it sets the bar pretty high for similar future productions. So far it must be the one of its kind which got attributed the biggest budget and you can clearly see it.

As for the cast, Änder Jung as Superjhemp aka Charel Kuddel and Luc Feit as Inspector Schrobiltgen are definitely the perfect picks, there are most probably no other professional actors in the country who would have been better choices. I also like Jules Werner's and Jean-Paul Maes' performances. They're stellar as antagonists, the first playing a megalomaniac, the second some sort of mad scientist. I didn't know Etienne Halsdorf before, but he does a solid job playing Metti, Charel's and Félicie's son. Talking of Félicie, for purists of the source material Désirée Nosbusch must be a miscast. She definitely doesn't look like the original character, the comics character looking more like the stereotypical local housewife while the actress is quite sporty. But still, Nosbusch's a skilled actress who nonetheless delivers a performance worth seeing.

Finally to me the main attraction of this film are its filming locations as the parodies of local products and companies with which I'm totally familiar and extremely rarely see in movies. There are even real life elected national politicians and people like Andy Bausch (the OG movie director of the country) making cameo appearances. To me it's a love letter to the real country and the "fictitious" one from the comics.

Rosch, du feels eis.

Santa Claus Is a Stinker (1982)

The best Christmas movie ever made!

[10/10 · 24 December 2023]

I watch it once every holiday season. Everything fits in it, from the daring plot, to the flawless acting, the extremely funny dialogue and the perfect set (mainly a tacky Parisian apartment building). Vladimir Cosma's title and end credits music makes this masterpiece of a comedy even more special.

If you want to give this film a try, I think a decent level of French is required, I doubt there exists a good translation of it. To me French is the prime language in which you can say the most outrageous things, using the most offensive words and still make it sound poetic. Le père Noël est une ordure is proof of that.

I never understood the hype most French people have for the Bronzés movies, earlier movies by the team from the Splendid. But I fully agree with the one they have for Le père Noël est une ordure. Its director Jean-Marie Poiré will later work on other excellent comedies, like Opération Corned Beef and Les visiteurs, but never reach the père Noël's level again.

If you are interested in French culture, this film is a must see. If you are fluent in French and haven't seen it yet, may I ask you if you have been living under a rock?

The Ninth Day (2004)

A haunting depiction of nazi terror, unfortunately with inaccuracies...

[8/10 · 13 May 2023]

...namely the fact Luxembourgers up to this day very rarely speak German when they're among their fellow country people (or standard German if you consider Luxembourgish a German dialect), especially those who during German occupation didn't appreciate the nazis. In those times they basically only spoke German if they were forced to.

Another inaccuracy in this film are the nazis calling Luxembourgers by their official first name, which were usually of French origin. During occupation there was a whole operation by the nazis to germanise the Luxembourgers' names. The main character would not have been called "Henri" by the nazis but "Heinrich". And then there is the very common practice of Luxembourgish "nicknames" totally omitted by the film, like calling a "Henri" "Heng" or a "Roger" "Rosch" (his brother),

Nonetheless this film depicts hauntingly how the nazi occupiers acted, not only by using brute force but also by trying to mess with their victims minds, how gruesome the conditions were for prisoners of concentration camps and how powerless the catholic church of the occupied territories was opposed to nazi terror.

These depictions alone make this film worth to be seen.

Eldorado (2008)

Relatively dull but a love letter to Wallonia

[6/10 · 30 April 2023]

The beautiful Belgian landscapes, whether the plains (I guess those were shot in Flanders) or the hilly country side of the Ardennes, are clearly the main attraction of this film. It's also rare to see the run-down mostly red brick houses typical to Wallonia in a movie.

When it comes to the plot, there are quirky moments which are worth a chuckle or a fright, but in general this film is rather long-winded, making it boring at a few instances even if it only has a run-time of roughly 80 minutes.

Nonetheless it has its touching moments, especially when both protagonists visit one of them's parents and the end scenes.

But in the end Eldorado is not a film I would recommend, except to people who are fond of Belgium.

Man Bites Dog (1992)

The best French comedy is Belgian

[10/10 · 18 April 2023]

This is the cult film of my youth. A brilliant mockumentary with a Benoît Poelvoorde in an olympic form and many grotesque but extremely funny situations.

This film was released in a time when documentaries about "common" people became very popular. Maybe it also has been a wink to "Striptease", a Belgian programme which was quite popular in French speaking countries, even if you didn't hear the film makers nor a narrator in that. Narrator who also misses in C'est arrivé près de chez vous by the way.

You definitely have to understand French to fully appreciate this movie, especially due to the Belgian accent the actors have, foremost the older ones like Ben's mother and his grandparents.

It's also nice to see Belgian towns with their red brick houses in a French language film, even if it's filmed in black and white, and a typical Belgian pub.

Finally it's the film which made Benoît Poelvoorde famous in the French speaking world and probably his best performance as a film actor to this day.

Trouble No More (2010)

Better than its predecessor

[7/10 · 4 April 2023]

Better because here the main spoken language is Luxembourgish, with some French and even a few sentences in Portuguese sprinkled in, which is more in line with the actual general linguistic situation in Luxembourg at least when you're a Luxembourger.

While still silly with its many funny and relatable language expressions and slightly surrealistic situations, this film is more sombre and sad than its two predecessors. It's probably a film of mourning dedicated to Thierry van Wervecke who played Jacques Guddebuer/Johnny Chicago in the two previous films and who died the year before Trouble No More was released.

To sum it up, while this film will never reach the cult classic status of Troublemaker, it's still nice to watch.

Back in Trouble (1997)

A hyped sequel back then...

[6/10 · 1 April 2023]

...but which disappointed me.

The rough edges of Troublemaker are missing, leaving us with something more generic you could compare to productions for television from that time even if there are a few audacious scenes in it. Then there is even more German language than in its predecessor, a language which was already a tad too prevalent there for my liking. The musical soundtrack is a downsize too, here as well more in line with stuff you'd hear in a telefilm, we had quality live music in the predecessor after all. Also there seems to be something off in the acting chemistry between Thierry van Werveke (Johnny Chicago) and Ender Frings (Chuck Moreno). The chemistry between those two was one of the first film's highlights.

In general the acting is not as good, too much in the stiff style you'd see in many German films, especially television productions. Lines don't follow as naturally, especially when van Werveke replies in Luxembourgish to German spoken lines. One acting highlight though is the scene where he is alone with Nicole Max (Jenny Jacoby) outside the Chinese restaurant. The scene where Johnny meets with then local news anchor Sandy Lahure would be a national meme nowadays. To see the films' director Andy Bausch as pizza deliverer is worth a chuckle and hearing in Germany born Oscar Ortega Sánchez (Coco Moreno) uttering a few sentences in Luxembourgish is funny. Although to me the best acting performances go to André Jung (playing a small role of a pimp) and Luc Feit (the Luxembourgish police commissioner).

To me the producers tried too much to make this film popular in Germany too (I guess a good chunk if not most of the budget funds came from there). Instead of having a sequel as classic as its predecessor to at least tiny Luxembourg, we're left with a rather mediocre product.

Troublemaker (1988)

A cult classic (if you're from Luxembourg)

[9/10 · 31 March 2023]

The movie that elevated both main actor Thierry van Werveke and director Andy Bausch to national stardom.

You might think that's not much considering the country's tiny size, but for many Luxembourgers it's a corner stone of national cinematographic history.

This film contains a lot of cult scenes many Luxembourgers are able to recite word by word. We even saw it when we were still primary school pupils, although the film's not a kids' movie. Quite the contrary because there are sex and violent scenes in it.

We were simply happy it's been a film in which people spoke Luxembourgish and which took place at places we knew being used to watch almost exclusively foreign movies taking place abroad.

It's also a love letter to the Minette region in the south-west, which at that moment still suffered the repercussions of the major steel industry crisis that hit the region in the 1970s. It definitely shows Luxembourg is not just rich people.

For those times, and taking in account it probably didn't have a big budget, the film's generally well shot and its mostly bluesy soundtrack, some of it even played live, sets the mood right.

There are just two things I crticise: First in some scenes the lighting is too weak, a downer compared to most other scenes. Secondly they speak too much German in this film. Unfortunately they probably had to, because Troublemaker is a German-Luxembourgish co-production. But in the end it also gave us a few scenes with people speaking German with a heavy Luxembourgish accent, which is always hilarious and relatable to.

I get it though if you rate this film lowly, you have to understand Luxembourgish to fully appreciate it.

Black Cat, White Cat (1998)

To watch and to rewatch

[10/10 · 30 March 2023]

Quirky to the max with its characters, lively Balkan music and chaotic plot, this movie was an instant cult classic back then when I still went to school.

I recently rewatched it and it hasn't lost an ounce of its quality. Always a great time to meet again the Destanovs, the Grgas, Ida, Dadan, Bubamara and the others all accompanied by the intoxicating musical score and the camera shots of the beautiful Danube landscapes taken in the summer sun.

As for the actors I attribute best actor's performance in this film to Srdjan 'Zika' Todorovic. Every time I watch the film, I have the impression he's indeed Dadan Karambolo.

Finally this film is one of my all-time favourites I'd easily put on my personal top 10 movies list if I had to make such a list, it's that good.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Sergio Leone's best movie

[10/10 · 30 March 2023]

Although not as funny as other Leone films, thinking of Eli Wallach's performance in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" or Rod Steiger's in "Duck, You Sucker!", "Once Upon a Time in the West" gets everything else right: From the epic camera shots, the intriguing plot, the engrossing scenes, the great performance of the actors to the magnificent soundtrack which goes under the viewer's skin (one in which the already excellent Ennio Morricone surpassed himself) everything fits.

It's also the only Leone film I know where a woman is in the main cast, in this case an outstanding Claudia Cardinale in her best years, that's welcome for a change.

The thing I appreciate the most in Sergio Leone movies is, although they're usually long, they don't get boring. He mastered to encapsulate suspense with his long lasting camera shots.

To me this film is Sergio Leone's best and one of the all-time classics everybody should've seen at least once in their life.

The Corsican File (2004)

A mediocre French comedy

[6/10 · 30 March 2023]

I watched this film recently on a French public TV station.

In the hope I'll see something in the vein of "Opération Corned Beef", one of my favourite French comedies which also stars Jean Reno and Christian Clavier, I got disappointed by this one. The dialogues between this duo aren't as memorable and performed not as snappy as in the aforementioned film.

Sure the Corsican landscapes and towns captured by this film are beautiful, it's not by coincidence people call Corsica "L'île de beauté" (The island of beauty) and the main actress is very nice to look at, but I think something like the comics album "Astérix en Corse" incapsulates better the Corsican mentality than this film even if there are a lot of parallels between these two.

In the end I have to admit I never read the comics which inspired "L'enquête corse", maybe I would have enjoyed the film more if I did.

Deutsch-les-Landes (2018– )

What a let down!

[6/10 · 21 March 2023]

Being fluent in German and French this series should've been right up my alley.

Unfortunately its production value is similar to the one of many lower budget telemovies you can see at European public broadcasters.

I watched Deutsch-les-Landes with original voices. Later in the series most Germans talk German to the French and most French speak French to the Germans whilst everyone understands each other on the spot, that's definitely extremely odd.

It also leaves its viewers with major cliffhangers at the end of the last episode. I doubt there will be a second season, the first having been published in 2018, that's five years ago (although with the Corona crisis during that time).

I still give it a score over average due to the excellent play of most actors the many funny jokes and the many stereotypes you can encounter in real life in both countries.