Good Bye Lenin!

"You were in a coma eight months." Ariane

☆☆☆☆☆ Classic 

Good Bye Lenin! (2003) is a charming and poignant comedy about the lies we tell to protect our loved ones.

Directed by Wolfgang Becker.


Starring Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova and Florian Lukas among others.


We don't remember our past as it really happened and neither do the characters in Wolfgang's film. Daniel's character uses the same nostalgic story telling scheme that Ethan's character does in Alfonso Cuaron's, Great Expectations (1998). Wolfgang's characters color their story with a nostalgia colored lens to help their mothers character delay her impending death. Becker creates a simple, wonderful film that is both funny and poignant. German audience will get more meaning from the film's German unification plot subtext than others. This does not in any way take away from the films beautiful story about love, redemption and hope for the future from a sad past.

Daniel really holds the film together with his simple, understated comedic performance. The comedy is mostly between the lines and Brühl manages to bubble the comedy out of each scene. In the scene below watch Daniel bring humor to the scene. I especially enjoyed Chulpan's hysterical reaction moment. The film is filled with many similar moments that leave you feeling satisfied with the plot and through line of the story.

Film Scene

Trivia - CGI was used throughout the film to de-Westernize East Berlin for the production.

Film Trailer

Film Posters - Photos

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Film Transcript

Great Expectations (1998)

"Everything I've ever done, I've done for you." Finn

☆☆☆☆☆ Classic

Great Expectations (1998) is a spellbinding visual romance.

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron.

Starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Cooper, Hank Azaria, Robert Deniro and Anne Bancroft.

Alfonso starts the film by having Ethan say, "I'm not going to tell the story the way it happened. I'm going to tell you the way I remember it." Telling the story as you remember it, not as it happened, is the golden rule of cinema. Cuaron understood that Charles Dickens classic story needed a visual interpretation not a literary reproduction.

Film is a visual medium first and foremost. Get the visuals right and the audience will disappear into the story and elevate it to great heights. There are four key visual elements to why this film works for its audience. The director, cinematographer, artist and actors all help create a visually stunning story that allows the audience to inhabit the world they created.

The movie is breathtaking to watch. Giving a bit more background to each character would have helped the overall story. When a film has this many important persons, a director needs to find a way to give the back story of each character. Back stories help the audience empathize with each character's conflicts and dramas. I'm reminded of another film released at the same time as Great Expectations. Tom Tykwer, brilliantly handled all of his characters back stories in Lola Rennt - Run Lola Run (1998) by using photo montages. Each characters past, present and future were succinctly shown in a series of photos which informed his audience about their lives. I think back stories for each character are especially important for films using written works, as their source material. Audiences come into the movie theater having already read the story and are expecting the same level of character detail in its film version. The problem filmmakers have, is that cinema needs to condense a long story. Editing is a directors best friend in tightening a story. I need to mention the the art work throughout the film. It was created by Francesco Clemente. Francesco's art is haunting, moving, intimate and silently helps the narration of the story.

The scene below is a beautiful example of how Cuaron's masterful direction, Emmanuel Lubezki's opulent camera work and Steven Weisberg's stylish editing help make two children's simple kiss into an intimate adult memory for the audience. The power of cinema's visual grandeur to help an audience fantasize cannot be overstated. Enjoy!

Film Scene

Trivia - Ms. Dismoor's mansion in Florida is actually Ca d' Zan. John Ringling, the founder of Ringling Brothers Circus, built it in Sarasota, Florida for him and his wife Mable.

Film Trailer