tj_teejay | Keinohrhasen

I'm not usually a fan of German movies. Not that I go out of my way to watch German movies in the theater or on TV. There are two that I loved so much I wanted to own them on DVD: Das Experiment and Jenseits der Stille. Both well worth watching. Where comedies are concerned, I actually also loved Der Schuh des Manitu--a classic German comedy that makes you laugh every time.

However, this week I've discovered a new German movie that I absolutely love. It's called Keinohrhasen (Rabbit without Ears), and it's a romantic comedy. It was released a while ago (2007?), but somehow I never made the effort to watch it in theaters. Now I wish I had. I saw it on DVD last week, and I've watched it again tonight with the feature commentary on. It's funny, it's sweet, it's hilarious and it's touching. It has a lot of classic lines in it that I constantly wanna repeat to everyone who knows the movie. And only thinking back to some of the scenes makes me smile right here without actually watching them.

Unfortunately, it's also a movie that won't work as well for you if don't know German cinema and things and people surrounding it. There are a lot of in-jokes that will simply get lost if you don't know some of the German actors and celebrities.

All this praise coming from me actually means a lot, because I don't really like the guy who plays the lead--Til Schweiger. Not that he's a bad actor or anything, but, you know, sometimes you just don't like people, even though you can't really say why. Still, in Keinohrhasen, he did the trick. He actually co-wrote and directed the movie.

Long story short, sometimes you're looking for that movie to surprise you, for that one movie you watch and wanna get lost in and watch again all over. Keinohrhasen did that for me. So, thank you, Til and Nora. You brought much needed smiles to my face.