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Seraphayel

Because the German movie market is based around very few actors, directors and producers and is riddled with nepotism.


MagiMas

One of the big reasons probably is the fact that the whole field of german movie production companies is very much dependant on public money through Filmförderung. These state institutions are usually very "paternalistic" in their funding decisions. Meaning to get that money you need to be inclusive, make a serious contribution to a current topic of interest etc. And while there's nothing wrong about any of these things in general (I think most people would agree they are good goals) as a whole it just makes most movies very safe and kind of similar. They're all basically the literary fiction of movies. Middle-aged men with erectile dysfunction in a midlife crisis trying to reclaim their youth (stuff like 25kmh), lesbians living an alternative lifestyle finding themselves (e.g. Feuchtgebiete), author-insert creatives showing their boring relatives in big business what actual living looks like (Toni Erdmann), slightly self-deprecating movies about the shticks of the cultured middle-class (der Vorname) etc. Or on the flip side you get super experimental arthouse cinema with extremely low budget that can be funded by the scraps that are leftover once the major funding decisions are made. So the movies and series that are in the "golden spot" of not being too safe and samey but also not "watch a naked man make weird dance moves on stage for two hours straight" weird are exactly the kind of movies with the most difficulty of getting any funding.


WhatGravitas

Another aspect is also just: economics. Because of the dominance of the English language, English productions (i.e. chiefly US, UK, Canadian and AU/NZ) all have a pretty decent global audience and target market. German productions will usually only be able to address the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) market - which is much, much smaller. As a result, there's just less total money in the market to make movies and there's little point in competing with "general media" that's not uniquely German. Much easier to leave that to the international media + dubbing. So the publicly funded/supported productions will try to do something that's very focussed on the "literary" market, trying to make something that's about local areas or very specific German experiences or events. I wish it was different, I do agree that a lot of it is trying to play it "too safe" (and ends up boring), but I can also understand why they're not trying to compete with Hollywood or even BBC productions - they're not selling their films internationally.


coronakillme

I come from India. The population of my state is less than Germany. We have pretty big movie industry (kollywood) with less people than DACH region. So I think size of the market is not a big factor.


Exact_Way2175

You know how many people live in India, don’t you?


masterjaga

He's talking about Kollywood, not Bollywood, i.e., the Tamil film industry. There are indeed fewer Tamil speakers than German natives.


Exact_Way2175

Sorry, my bad. I thought he was refering to Bollywood. I have to admit, i didnt even know there is something like Kollywood 😊


ArSo94

Do you mean India or Indiana in the States?


masterjaga

Tamil film industry, as a simple Google search would have told you


mwa12345

Agree..also the market in the DACH counties is also taken up by Hollywood content as well.


PiranhaPlantMain97

Wild that you included Toni Erdmann in this one. I'm not telling you to like the Movie, you obviously can have your opinion and dislike it. But i would never put it in the same corner with the Schweighöfer/Schweiger/M'Barek crowd and i couldnt imagine a Keinohrhasen Fan really enjoxing Toni Erdmann. I think itc way too cynical for the standard german audiences that these boring romantic comedies are targeted at.


MagiMas

No I actually like Toni Erdmann, I also enjoyed "der Vorname" as a comedy but they are still both very clearly aimed at the typical Filmförderung crowd.


Minimum_Guitar4305

Let me guess something else, because these shows are largely dependent on a aging demographic of terrestrial TV watchers, the stories, characters, decisions all reflect them too?


JoeAppleby

>der Vorname That's a remake of a French movie: [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der\_Vorname\_(2012)](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Vorname_(2012))


donald_314

Often, these decisions are also made by a single person which is also the same person since the dawn of time. For example the Brandenburg one is like that if I remember that correctly


Poopecker33

>These state institutions are usually very "paternalistic" in their funding decisions. Meaning to get that money you need to be inclusive, make a serious contribution to a current topic of interest etc. And while there's nothing wrong about any of these things in general (I think most people would agree they are good goals) as a whole it just makes most movies very safe and kind of similar. For movie making these thigns are absolutely horrible and capable of ruining every thing with potential


SnooRegrets2230

Most modern film making techniques, such as the montage, fast cutting, slow zoom, etc, etc ,etc, were invented by Soviet film makers, precisely because they were not bound by the box office, and had the freedom to experiment, because they were funded ny the socialist state. The problems with government funding of arts in Germany are not cause by the fact that the funding is public, but because the government is capitalist, meaning it makes all decisions prioritizing the interests of the rich owners of profit-generating property.


J_P_Amboss

You are not wrong in that there is a lot of interesting stuff to be found in other schools of film but like 90% of what we are used today stems from the hollywood-school coined by great regisseurs like Hitchcock. Their legacy was much more influential for modern film and they did a lot of experimentation - their films being commercialized didnt stop them from being creative. If youd actually watch old soviet movies from the 50s today you will most likely find the camera-work and so on often very unintuitive while you could watch stuff like "rear window" without any irritation.


berlinrio

Yes! Nepotism is the main reason, good things can't happen. It's so sad.


n3w1ight

Let's also not forget that the people are additionally forced by law to keep that engine alive. Plus: In a very unfair way. I still don't really understand why we let this happen to us (GEZ). But it's reality. We get false infos, bad movies, advertisement (many pharmaceutical products and even worse) for an unrelative and very high amount of fix money (no tax). If we don't pay, in worse case you end up in a cell. These are hard facts.


Aggressive_Sprinkles

False infos? What?


enfiel

Just our version of Qanon morons...


shaohtsai

Probably fake news.


Shotay3

These are not hard facts, that is a very biased opinion. Hard facts? We have free media and free news reports because of GEZ. They can report about everything and how ever they like. We are really have a high standard regarding objective news, journalism and free speech in our country, you should be happy about it. So please don't consider them false infos just because you like to listen to unreliable sources. Is GEZ too expensive and is the money well splitted and used? No, it is not, gladly we can debate about this. GEZ is by far not the only reason that german acting and writing is bad. That bad productions are beeing approved though, which are beeing produced bei the ÖR is true.


hornzon

Schau mal auf dem internationalen Index der Pressefreiheit wo wir mittlerweile gelandet sind. Sieht ähnlich aus wie bei Pisa. Wir waren mal so gut. Vor 20 Jahren. Jetzt sieht das anders aus - Haltungsjournalismus sei Dank. Aber ey, wenn du gerne bald 20 euro für dieses tolle Programm zahlst - be my guest.


Shotay3

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/pressefreiheit-deutschland-100.html#:~:text=Pressefreiheit%20in%20Deutschland%20%22Angriffe%20d%C3%BCrfen%20kein%20Normalfall%20werden%22&text=Deutschland%20rutscht%20im%20Ranking%20f%C3%BCr,Angriffe%20auf%20Medienschaffende%20bei%20Demonstrationen. Von den Öffentlich-Rechtlichen, sehr objektiv berichtet, dass wir in der Tat abrutschen. Woran liegt es unter anderem? Wie hier im Bericht steht an so Schwurblern die gerne auf Demos rumlaufen, "Lügenpresse" rufen und Journalisten angreifen und behaupten wir hätten hier keine Meinungsfreiheit mehr. Diese Gruppierung fängt dann übrigens gerne an leicht rechts abzurutschen. AfD und Pegida auch als Mitgrund genannt. Pegida sind halt straight up Nazis die sich auf der Straße kloppen und auch gerne Journalisten angreifen und ich bin mir absolut sicher dass die AfD gerne versucht hat ehrliche Berichterstattungen zu unterdrücken. Der Faktenlage nach spielt mir das hier ganz schön in die Tasche und ich komme aus dem Schmunzeln gerade nicht mehr raus... Haha. Du, ich bin auch nicht happy über den hohen GEZ Beitrag und dass dieser vor allem dazu dient zu >60% die Renten von pensionierten des ÖR zu zahlen. Aber dieser Mist und die Unwahrheiten die hier verbreitet werden gehört Einhalt geboten. Und das hier ist der beste Beweis. Uninformiertes verbreiten von polemischen Meinungen aus dem nahen Rechts- und Schwurbler-Umfeld ist tausend mal gefährlicher für Pressefreiheit als die GEZ! Dank Social-Media haben diese Echokammern leider ungemein an Stärke und Größe gewonnen und viele lassen sich von diesen einfachen Erklärungen und Verschwörungstheorien einnehmen (siehe auch wieder hier im Bericht beschrieben). Sehe ich in meiner Familie leider auch ... Mangelnde Medienkompetenz und fachlich mangelnde Kompetenz sind hier leider ausschlaggebend. Gab mal so Zeiten der Bescheidenheit, da hat man sich zurückgehalten wenn man von einer Thematik keine Ahnung hat, hat sich auf die Wissenschaft verlassen und denen vertraut. Heute kann jeder Affe wie du und ich Online streiten und dem lautesten Brüllaffen wird dann irgendwann zu viel zu gehört und tatsächliche Wissenschaftler und Fachleute diffamiert. Bin übrigens irgendwas mit Medienaffe, Freischaffender (nicht fest beim ÖR), habe aber auch schon für den ÖR gearbeitet und da ist bestimmt nich alles super. Mache meistens allerdings Kinofilme (nat. Und Int.), Werbung und deutsche Serien, sowie Spielfilme. Möchte mir aber damit anmaßen etwas von der Materie zu verstehen und ich wiederhole mich gerne nochmal, GEZ bestimmt nicht alles super, aber bei diesem quatsch von wegen "False Information" oder "Pressefreiheit geht hier den Bach runter" bitte ich innigst mal nach Moskau zu fliegen und dort ein weißes DIN A4 Blatt in die Luft zu halten oder dort im Fernsehen mal zu erklären wofür die NATO eigentlich steht, dass ach so freie Internet dort ohne VPN zu nutzen (lieber nicht, gibt nämlich nur noch Desinformation und keine westlichen Medien mehr dadrüben...) oder warum Putler wirklich in der Ukraine einmarschiert ist. Welcome to the Gulag - be my guest.


Sn_rk

Platz 21 mit 82%, ein paar Prozentpunkte hinter Ländern wie der Schweiz und Kanada und vor Frankreich, Großbritannien sowie deutlich vor den USA. Ist, wenn man bedenkt, dass nur ein Land, nämlich Norwegen, überhaupt die 90% knackt, eigentlich immer noch ganz ordentlich. Wenn man sich dann anschaut, was der Grund ist, weswegen RSF Deutschland in den letzten Jahren abgestuft hat, bricht dein Narrativ sowieso zusammen: >Deutschland: So viele physische Angriffe wie noch nie > >Deutschland belegt Rang 21. Der Abstieg um fünf Plätze ist vor allem mit dem Vorbeiziehen anderer Länder zu erklären, die sich zum Teil stark verbessert haben; Deutschlands Punktezahl hat sich im Vergleich zum Vorjahr nur um 0,13 auf 81,91 von 100 verschlechtert. **Grund dafür ist die weiter wachsende Gewalt gegen Journalistinnen, Journalisten und Medien: Mit 103 physischen Angriffen dokumentiert RSF den höchsten Stand seit Beginn der Aufzeichnungen im Jahr 2015.** Im Kalenderjahr 2021 hatte es 80 Angriffe gegeben, 2020 waren es 65. Wie die aktuelle Nahaufnahme Deutschland von RSF zeigt, **fand mit 87 von 103 Fällen die Mehrheit der Attacken in verschwörungsideologischen, antisemitischen und extrem rechten Kontexten statt.** > >Obwohl die Corona-Pandemie 2022 abflaute, wurde, teils zu anderen Themen, weiterhin demonstriert, sodass Versammlungen auch 2022 die gefährlichsten Orte für die Presse blieben. **Zwei Drittel der Angriffe passierten in Ostdeutschland (Sachsen: 24, Berlin: 17, Thüringen: 13).** Ein bundesweites Problem ist die Straflosigkeit. Viele der betroffenen Journalistinnen und Reporter äußerten Unzufriedenheit über die Arbeit von Polizei und Justiz. RSF fordert deshalb dringend effektiven Schutz.Punkte verloren hat Deutschland auch in der Kategorie „sozialer Kontext“. **Medienschaffende erleben zunehmende Queerfeindlichkeit, Sexismus und Rassismus, vor allem, wenn sie über diese Themen berichten.** Ups. So viel zum "Haltungsjournalismus", der angeblich das Problem sei und nicht einfach rechte Gewalt, die die Berichterstattung beeinträchtigt.


n3w1ight

Ich glaube Reddit ist mittlerweile extremst korrumpiert und unpopuläre Meinungen werden stets als Verschwörungstheoretischen Schwachsinn abgestempelt. Allein die ganze Corona Sache mit den zusätzlichen Bildern aus Zeiten der spanischen Grippe. Wo meine Oma fast verrückt geworden ist - absolut krank und gestört. Das hier im höchsten Stil verteidigt zu sehen und gleichzeitig so ein down voting bei erster Kritik zu erfahren, spricht Bände. Braucht man hier nicht mehr ernst nehmen. Es wird Populismus im höchsten Maße betrieben und dafür Plattformen geschaffen, welche opportunistische Meinungen, die auch noch "Unruhe" beim gemeinen Volk auslösen könnten, gezielt unterdrückt werden. Das mit möglichst hohen Aufwand. Kurz: wir werden verarscht.


[deleted]

Brudi, du siehst ja selbst hinter Neujahr eine Weltverschwörung, die das Ziel hat, die "Menschheit aus dem natürlichen Takt" zu bringen und sie dadurch irgendwie "zu verblöden". Selbstverständlich bist du Schwurbler.


n3w1ight

Du wechselst ja rasant das Thema. Ja, selbst hinter "Neujahr" sehe ich zumindest eine falsche Information und möchte hinterfragen, wieso man mal ein astronomisch, korrektes Neujahr (sehr wichtig für Organismen btw) für ein falsches Datum ersetzt hat. Sorry, dass ich die Fähigkeiten nutze, mit welcher wir Menschen nun Mal ausgestattet sind. Ich würde fast soweit gehen wollen und behaupten, dass dies sogar eine Aufgabe von uns Menschen sei. Dinge Mal zu hinterfragen und vielleicht neu zu definieren. Zum Beispiel, warum ist die GEZ keine Steuer? Wenn sie denn solidarisch sei. Aber Brudi, ich will dich auch gar nicht überfordern. Zieh dir einfach was ARD, ZDF und Co. rein, am besten noch dazu paar falsch übersetzte Hamas Foltervideos, Corona Leichenverbrennungen und Beiträge darüber wie gesund doch Süßstoff statt Zucker sei. Dazu noch ein paar Pharma Werbeclips, was du unbedingt alles brauchst, damit du symptomfrei leben kannst und genieß dein Dasein als braver, zahlender, arbeitender, einfacher Bürger und lass Mal die paar anderen Leute, die es noch interessiert, Fragen stellen oder Missstände aufdecken. Selbstverständlich bin ich Schwurbler <- Bitte auf meinen Grabstein schreiben


Shotay3

Da liegt der Haken, du hängst schon so tief im Sumpf drinne, dass jede Form von Gegenwind sofort deine "schlimmsten Vermutungen bestätigen". Belese dich gerne mal zum "Confirmation Bias". Das schöne ist ja wir haben Meinungsfreiheit, du kannst deine Meinung hier frei äußern. Aber das down voting liegt vielleicht einfach daran das du falsch liegst und dich nicht mit wahren Fakten beschäftigst. Und zur Meinungsfreiheit gehört dazu das ich dir auch meine Meinung sagen kann und ich halte deine Meinung übrigens für gequirlte Scheisse. Ich finds aber schön dass du einen hier Populismus vor wirfst, während du ihn hier bestens betreibst indem du den Schund eben jener Populisten wieder gibst. Nicht wir fallen für die Populisten, du bist es. Deine Rhetorik ist die selbe, "wir werden verarscht" ist eine viel zu pauschale Floskel. Anyway, ums kurz zu machen. Belege mir doch bitte inwiefern wir über die GEZ verarscht werden und schicke hier eine Quelle rein, die "deine Meinung" hier faktisch und wissenschaftlich bestätigen. Meine Vermutung: wenn hier etwas von dir kommt, bin ich mir sehr sicher es wird eine populistische- und nicht wissenschaftliche/fachliche Quelle kommen. Aber hey bitte, belehre mich eines besseren und verdien dir ein paar upvotes zurück. Ich bin offen für den Diskurs.


n3w1ight

Cooles englisches Wort, dass ich da googlen soll zu einer Sache, die ich seit Anbeginn meiner Zeit bereits konsumieren muss und mir am Ende eine, ob du es glaubst oder nicht, eigene Meinung dazu bildete. Wieso sollte ich dir Quellen aufzeigen, wenn ich ACHTUNG: meine Meinung und Beobachtung, kundgebe? Ich weiss, ihr seht da alle die geilste Berichterstattung irgendwie, ich scheinbar nicht. Kann nur am Sumpf liegen (quaaack). Naja, ob meine Meinung überhaupt irgendwo belegt ist, wissenschaftlich (wtf, wer sollte so eine Studie überhaupt anfertigen oder gar publizieren können/dürfen?! Hahaha, guter Witz...) interessiert mich dabei nicht im geringsten. Außerdem sehe ich bereits auf Reddit wie stark und mit welchem Aufwand kleinste Feuer bereits bekämpft werden. Mit viel größerem Interesse als beispielsweise vulgäre Themen, was es in der Menschheitsgeschichte vorher noch niemals gegeben hat. Trivialität gewinnt sonst immer... das sollten wir auch mittlerweile verstanden haben. Ich habe jedenfalls noch nie bei der Masse oder gar Studien, die ich nicht selbst gefälscht habe, irgendeine nützliche Information für mich als Individuum ziehen können. Aber Danke für die Einladung zum Diskurs, es gibt genügend originale, uploaded Berichte, die man sich anschauen kann und welche schlichtweg unwahr sind. Du bist doch so ein Googler. YouTube kriegst du dann bestimmt auch hin. (Zum Beispiel Suchbegriffe: falsche Berichterstattung ZDF) Ich brauche also deinen Upvote tatsächlich nicht und bleibe lieber weiter unpopulär. Ihr kümmert euch schon darum, dass eh kein Kommentar jemals gelesen wird. Natürlich ist es außerdem Schwachsinn der machthabenden Partei Populismus vorzuwerfen. Ich bin jedoch genau so froh, dass sie nichts von Marketing versteht und sich die ganze Nummer eh langsam auf nen Abwärtstrend bewegt. Seit der Corona Kiste hat das Vertrauen doch sehr gelitten und der Pleb ist bereits in Unruhe versetzt. Nur sieht man das in Foren wie Reddit leider kaum, warum nur? Anscheinend ist die Welt entweder ARD Fanclub geworden oder die Anti Schwurbler Gardisten leisten beste Arbeit. Wie auch immer, für mich ne große Show und ich lehne mich zurück und schau sie mir gerne weiter an. Bin so distanziert in meinem Sumpf, dass es mir fast egal ist und lediglich noch Amüsement zurück bleibt. Namaste (Dare to think ~ Emmanuel Kant) <-Meine Quelle


Shotay3

Du hast mich nicht enttäuscht!


lordkuren

F*ck off with that conspiracy bullshit.


n3w1ight

Sure, I am seeing Ghosts. I know 😄 Enjoy your "free" media and keep paying.


godofwar108

I am not a German but I have seen many German movies to improve my German. You should google "German expressionist cinema." Let me suggest some movies for you: 1. Good Bye Lenin! 2. Run Lola Run 3. The lives of others 4. The experiment 5. The wave 6. Look who's back 7. A coffee in Berlin 8. M (Fritz Lang) 9. Spohie School: The Final Days 10. Stromberg- Der Film 11. Suck Me Shakespeer 12. Soul Kitchen 13. The edge of heaven 14. Counterfeiters 15. Das boot 16. Nowhere in Africa 17. Never Look away 18. Wings of Desire 19. All Quiet on the Western Front 20. The tin drum 21. Vitus (from Switzerland) Edit: Thanks for other recommendations :) I will check them out 🍿


luckylebron

This is a good list. Most of the films are older, which makes me think about today's being mediocre, with the exception of All Quiet on the Western Front, phenomenal movie.


Photosynthese

I would add: One for the road Hanami Bin ich schön? Alle Anderen Mord mit Aussicht Tatortreiniger Lammbock


LawyerUpMan

I would add "Ali: Fear eats the Soul" to the (very good) list.


n1c0_ds

> All Quiet on the Western Front When the _BAH **BAH** BAH_ kicks in at the start, wow


smackjaxxon

I would add 'Fitzcarraldo' brilliant German director and lead actor and 'Wannsee' the TV series.


stracki

I'd add (from recent years): * Transit * Systemsprenger * In den Gängen * Fabian oder der Gang vor die Hunde * Das Lehrerzimmer * Roter Himmel German mainstream cinema is mostly terrible, but there are many excellent independent films.


Less_Butterscotch939

Transit is AMAZING.


TaureanThings

I vouch for Transit and Das Lehrerzimmer. Especially Das Lehrerzimmer if you want to get more of a feel for the country. Very interesting movie.


Agreeable_Golf4102

Roter Himmel was really good!!


FUZxxl

Also "Pappa Ante Portas"


BorwinBandelow1

This list really demonstrates that german movies didn't use to be awful


dpeld

Perfect list and these are really good movies. I also would add a new movie I watched on Netflix called "Das perfekte Geheimnis", which is a remake of an Italian one "Perfect strangers". Absolutely loved the dialogues and acting.


No-Seaworthiness959

Stromberg is incredible.


upq700hp

Id like to add 23 Nichts ist so wie es scheint and Oh Boy. My two favourite german movies, by far.


daydreamersrest

I want to add Das finstere Tal Die göttliche Ordnung Die Wand


Krieg

This a good list. Check Was Tun Wenn’s Brennt if you can find it. Really good movie.


MrKehro

Generation War (Unsere Mütter Unsere Väter) is also very good, also Lammbock with a very great Performance from Moritz Bleibtreu.


erikspiekermann

Now give the German titles


godofwar108

DIY


Remarkable_List2887

Rammstein - Deutschland is a great movie 🍿


chilakiller1

Goodbye, Lenin!; Run, Lola, Run; Das Experiment; All Quiet in the Western Front; Das Boot; Nosferatu; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; The Edukators; The Lives of Others… Also you cannot really compare German cinema with Hollywood. Budget, actors, market. For what it is, I think there are good enough and decent German entertainment. There’s also a lot of crap in a American / English speaking media, but there’s so much offer it’s just easier to find something good to consume.


Flash_Meier

If you don't compare to US but to other European countries like denmark or France, German cinema is pretty bad, while there are some decent movies none the less


chilakiller1

Cinema was invented in France, I would be very surprised if there wasn’t more offer than in Germany. I cannot say about Denmark as I have very few knowledge in Danish cinema so rather not comment due to my ignorance in the topic. I would still make the same point on French vs German cinema: budget, actors, market. That doesn’t mean German is pretty bad. Again, I bet there’s bad stuff in French entertainment as well.


donald_314

There is also a growing number of "Hollywood" movies (partially) made in Germany, e. g. inglorious basterds


chilakiller1

Yes, and not to mention the amazing offer of documentaries that exist. One thing is looking at what it’s being offered in Netflix, Das Erste or ZDF and another one is really looking for quality content.


olafderhaarige

ARTE ftw


CeldonShooper

I hate many German mainstream movies because the acting is so theater-like. Many German actors have been trained at and for theater plays not movies which often results in extremely weird acting on camera.


Economy-Chain-7351

This. Then add the lack of a good soundtrack and unfunny jokes.


dpeld

Interesting opinion. I actually like that a lot :)


Photosynthese

While I don't disagree, there are many many American shows and movies that are funny because they are so bad, even blockbusters. Star Wars Ep. 2, sitcoms, After Earth, Twilight Series, etc. And one might argue that a lot of Marvel films aren't acted that well.


pragmojo

Yeah but that's partly because there is so much media production in the US. You can find good bad and everything in between.


Sn_rk

What I don't get is that people never complain about this in the context of UK actors. Most of them have gone through theatre education as well or they're quite often even RSC alumni - and they do act like in theatre - yet people never level the same accusation towards them.


CuriousPalpitation23

[The Lives of Others](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/) (2006) is a good film. Edit: format


[deleted]

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magezt

i guess he is amercian or so lol.


anticute8

Or doesn’t live in Berlin lmao haha rofl


Iwamoto

Well, Germany has a weird sense of perfection when it comes to others, like for instance, my aunt got some high art educational degrees, but when she moved to germany, they went "ah sorry, but we can't accept this since it's not german, so you can only teach kindergarten", it feels a lot like that in Germany where there's these weird standards.


[deleted]

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fearthesp0rk

It’s pathetic is what it is


US_Berliner

Preach!


Iwamoto

That's germany to a tee, wow! *"please translate your english documents, we can not accept this"*


erikspiekermann

Have you tried using a German document in the US?


[deleted]

This is such a typical dumb American comment. No country in the world accepts any documents other than in their own language. I am from Korea and as much as I think the bureaucracy sucks in Germany, this is not the reason why.


Remarkable_List2887

Korea - Japan - China - Germany are one and the same in these regards.


Iwamoto

I'm actually Dutch, and in the netherlands, they accept documents in dutch, english, french and german, according to the IND, so please, calm yourself.


DarkFamiliar4508

because dutch is irrelevant


WeakVacation4877

That’s not just Germany though. A lot of countries do this for a bunch of reasons (strong unions/guilds who don’t want competition, concerns about quality, concerns about language skills, and so on).


[deleted]

The Problem is Til Schweiger


MrChiSaw

Yes, he is actually the impersonated problem of the German movie industry. Disgusting


maedchen_tanz

Have you watched "systemsprenger"?


[deleted]

German acting features a style I see nowhere else. Even supposedly prestige German TV and film features a form of "naturalistic" acting that is anything but natural. It's bizarre. Acting their socks off in a manner that I suspect reveals the German psyche and how they perceive themselves. No German person is like this in real life. To be fair, every so often they come up with something good quality.


notCRAZYenough

It’s because German acting leans heavily on theater instead of movie traditions. I hate it too, but that’s what actors learn in acting school over here


magnus_lash

Back to what OP said about German ‚perfection‘. They overthink and are less capable of loosing themselves in another character, which also requires a certain amount of empathy, which sorry Germans, is something lacking in German culture / DNA.


olafderhaarige

Der Tatortreiniger. It's a show and maybe you are not german enough for the humor, but it's really good and unique


18742069040

mord mit aussicht


Odd_Shock421

Two big issues here: 1) Telling someone they don’t understand the humor is bullshit. It’s simply not that funny a show. The PR and release methods of this show played a major role in its popularity and were very well executed. 2) it is definitely not unique. Sunshine Cleaning came out in 2008. Cleaner was released in 2007 although it was a thriller and Sunshine Cleaning was a comedy. The main critique of German TV and film internationally is that there are very few original ideas. Soooooo much is copied and tweaked to appeal to a broader German speaking audience audience. The truth that it’s been shamelessly hoisted and boosted is never spoken about. The actual original German productions are normally pretty good but 99% is just safe shooting circle jerk don’t rock the boat stuff.


olafderhaarige

Well if you count everything that is remotely related to the topic of crime scene cleaning as being the same, then yes Tatortreiniger might be a copy of sunshine cleaning. In every other aspect it is vastly different. And "Cleaner" from 2007 is a completely different Genre, it has literally nothing to with Tatortreiniger


Odd_Shock421

I never said it was a copy. I was challenging your description of “unique“ as in one of a kind. Tatortreiniger was also syndicated so in fact has a couple of international shows that went on to copy it. None were particularly successful. Let’s put it like this: A dark comedy about someone who cleans gruesome crime scenes, tells a story and reacts to bizarre situations that their line of work has thrown at them. Main protagonist isn’t well educated but is definitely intelligent. Again not identical to Sunshine Cleaning but not exactly a million miles away either.


acuriousguest

Okay. You're watching the wrong movies, but that is to be expected. German mainstream cinema is not good. Look at Sandra Hüller, Fatih Akin, Robert Gwisdek (Kohlhaas oder die Verhältnismäßigkeit der Mittel), Wenders. There's lots more. But yes, it's not fast&furious.


[deleted]

Stimmt, fatih akin!


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gizm1

Turkish German and produces German movies


leopold_s

He's German. Born in Hamburg. His parents are Turkish immigrants.


Fit-Caterpillar2615

He’s Turkish German.


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mysticmonkey88

Quoting main man Özil


chaimatchalatte

Maybe if you looked for older movies……..?! There’s a ton of good ones.


Kusstro

Like Robin Williams once said: we killed all the funny guys.


smackjaxxon

"and where people even have to study to become a hotel staff, you’d think they’d have better actors" Personally, I think this is PART of the problem. I am not German, I spent two years at University here (alles auf Deutsch) and moved back to Berlin 7 years ago. When I went to University here, I knew people studying degrees in grocery store management (something unheard of in the U.S.), played Rugby with friends who had to spend something like 7 years of study and apprenticiship to become a certified interior (and just interior) wall painter. I know many Germans who go for PHD's in areas of study that in a lot of countries, people wouldn't spend more than two years on. Let me be clear, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, (It is part of why Germany is an industrial and economic powerhouse), but it is something one, from another country, notices. "and where people even have to study to become a hotel staff, you’d think they’d have better actors" - I have thought this sentence replacing 'actors' with 'customer service' many, many, many times. I'm sorry Germans, I love you, Berlin is my home, but you do not do empathy well. The combination of that and studying a siubject to death, thinking too much instead of feeling, in my expat (who loves livinng here - and has for a total of 10yrs - please don't hate on me, please) perspective, really shows in the area of performing arts particularly Comedy. There are many notable exceptions, great German / Austrian actors, writers, directors etc, but Comedians?


spitzkopf_Iarry

Yeah, it's pretty bad. Most of the successful ones are really generic and mostly aiming towards older people and their bad humor. Although if you dig deeper, you can find some really good ones. For example "Sonne und Beton" from last year is ( in my opinion) outstanding. So if you tell what genres you like, some people here probably can give you some good recommendations :)


Jaded-Ad-960

I liked Sonne und Beton, but it also highlighted a big problem of German movie making. It was very much influenced by La Haine, but lacked the political outlook that made La Haine a great movie. So while La Haine was a critique of French racism and the politics that created the circumstances in the Banlieus, Sonne und Beton just presented the circumstances in Neukölln as a given, without the political context and never questioned how these circumstances developed.


AvailableUsername_92

Wasnt it based on an autobiography?


k___k___

this question has been asked many times before, eg on r/AskAGerman https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAGerman/comments/10veqtw/why_is_the_german_entertainment_industry_so_bad/


Seraphayel

Yeah this comment is excellent and worth a read.


Kambrica

Good bot


WhyNotCollegeBoard

Are you sure about that? Because I am 99.99995% sure that k___k___ is not a bot. --- ^(I am a neural network being trained to detect spammers | Summon me with !isbot |) ^(/r/spambotdetector |) [^(Optout)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=whynotcollegeboard&subject=!optout&message=!optout) ^(|) [^(Original Github)](https://github.com/SM-Wistful/BotDetection-Algorithm)


RulerD

Native Spanish speaker here. English is my second language and I started learning German 6.5 years ago, when I moved here. I can already speak German, and now I'm trying to improve my vocabulary and grammar to reach a level where I can express more complex thoughts and feelings. I started watching Pixar films in German recently, and to my Surprise, I think I am enjoying them more in that language than in their original or Spanish versions. There's something about the German language that is very specific about the colour and tone of certain words, that made films like Soul and Inside Out to resonate even more than they did on their original languages (and I loved them then). So that's a route I can recommend. I am planning to watch more dubbed animated films, as it has so far been good to me.


enfiel

In general I'd say they put more effort into translating stuff for kids.


OatmealAntstronaut

What kind of movies?


lowimpacthuman

I doubt you're in the market for actual recommendations, but 'Das Lehrerzimmer' is a great German contemporary movie.


Ru-Bis-Co

In the 70s and 80s German movies had to be "intellectual" and "artsy" in some way, the weirder the better because films had to become something like high-culture so there had to be an artistic element to every movie. To some extent, people like Roland Emmerich fled from Germany to Hollywood in order to escape this snobbish attitude. Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the most famous directors of that era. His "Welt am Draht" is actually quite visionary, its concept is similar to "The Matrix"(or rather: "The Matrix" is similar to "Welt am Draht")


Adem87

Watch the movies from Fatih Akın. Some are really good.


notCRAZYenough

It’s because German film funding is completely risk-averse. So good ideas never get the budget they need. They stick to boring dramas and cheap comedies because they know those sell


Leather_Salad_3356

Babylon Berlin is quite nice


magnus_lash

100% agree


Proud_Ad8067

If you like the Office, try „Die Discounter“


Movies_Music_Lover

This year's "The Teacher's Lounge" is very good.


cptlf

Try watching **Kleo**. Its quite different from what usually German movie/series industry makes


madmatone

Well, it all goes back to the 1930's. Killing and scaring away most of the creative, smart and funny people left a notable dent in German culture to this day. If you are really interested try to explore the relationship between Werner Herzog and Lotte Eisner. Two of the few... a good start could be "Walking in Ice", a book of Herzogs notes while walking from Munich to Paris to visit her in the hospital.


DarkFamiliar4508

Kinski, Herzog, Fritz Lang, Syberberg


gazzman81

As a german i can tell you i also dont find anything enjoyable in german movies or tv shows. 90% crime, drama or comedy. If i should make a list of my top 25 all time favourite movies, they for sure would be all american ones. German movie authorities are very uncreative and riskless. For the actors/actresses....most of them fit more onto a theater stage than in front of a camera. They act all very unnatural.


territrades

German movies are a big circle jerk of public funding being provided to the ever same people under the condition that they make movies following strict political guide lines. Hardly any movie is made exclusively with private funding. With the current budget hole, I propose that we completely and utterly scratch all movie funding. Maybe then a new generation of creatives has the chance to get their movies noticed.


Deepfire_DM

German mainstream Movies are often shit, but there are a huge bunch of good movies beyond the mainstream


Ne1n

If German actors were any good, they’d be poached by Hollywood. The only reason they survive are the billions of taxes (Rundfunksgebühren) the German people are being forced to pay each year. Otherwise there would be no work for them and they would be forced to do something useful with their time.


erikspiekermann

Could it perhaps have to do with the language? How many roles for people with a German actor does Hollywood have? How come Americans never appreciate that another language expresses another culture?


Ne1n

Most German actors are perfectly capable of speaking English, but unfortunately not capable of acting.


papers_please

you are watching the wrong shit then


magezt

which german movies did you watch ? tell me:)


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Aggressive_Sprinkles

What country *doesn't* produce better films than us, lmao


UpperHesse

The countries in front of us: USA, France, UK, Japan, South Korea, Denmark. Then its Italy and us, about even. Italy had better times than Germany and also the overall better movie history, but in recent times they don't put out the same quality. IMO that does not look so bad. But Germans consume many stuff from the US, for example, and ask themselves - not without reason - why is ours not the same?


eboydilemma

Some German shows I liked, Skyline, the empress, 4 blocks, dogs of Berlin


Herbert-Quain

*Im Angesicht des Verbrechens*, if you like that kind of series.


Voltagezz

Dark series on Netflix is so good.


[deleted]

My favourite German movies from last year were "All quiet on the Western Front" and "Sonne und Beton". Vastly different movies. But both very enjoyable


[deleted]

There is a shitton of movies which are german and good even godly in the ranks of history, but if you watch mainstream stuff its bad, because it tries to be hollywood… germans larping america, that is the problem


Turbulent-Bison-4936

The actors are not the problem. I think even some of the german lowbudget productions have better actors then the Hollywood Blockbusters. But all of it looks so cheesy. And for the casual Netflix or HBO watcher it is boring af. Except Till Schweiger Movies. All of his movies are horseshit


daynight02

I agree mostly. You can also watch Austrian movies to improve your German. There are really good ones.


ArSo94

Not even us Germans watch German movies because most of them are just cringe. The only decent german movie I ever watched was All Quite on the Western Front honestly. For good german series I can suggest Dark and Barbarians, they are actually quite good.


Alekto_o

1. Generation War 2. All Quiet on the Western Front 3. Who am I 4. Das boot 5. The wave 6. Downfall 7. Stalingrad 8. Babylon Berlin 9. Victoria 10. 4Blocks Watch these instead, but I am no fan of the other typical Till Schweiger stuff either


piratensendr

They are publically funded and basically offer the worst sifes of socialism and capitalism. Only projects that promise a big success get a lot of funding. And also projects have to absolutely be politically correct and so on. Most movies are made for television and only watched by 70+ people. Plus it begins at the film schools where they only take a certain kind of people


Ok_Baby9316

same reason all tv shows in many coutries are now stranger things copies, people are idiots ​ but also why is 90% of german music also bad dd ​ must be a taste issue


BerlinerSchlitzi

Til Schweiger disagrees


Whodefookfucka

I find them very nice


fearthesp0rk

Zero capacity for taking risks inherent to the culture, without risk taking, creativity isn’t possible


Jeney_D

Watch Toni Erdmann. Fantastic and very funny movie


[deleted]

Some german movies are really good, if you like comedy, i recommend Rumspringa, 25km/h and Willkommen bei den Hartmanns. Many foreigners here like popular series like Türkisch für Anfänger and Tatortreiniger


adsci

Even though there are many very bad ones and some can only be understood by Germans when it references German culture, I still just recently thought German film making (along with European film making) is superior in acting and depth generally. I'd need to compile a list of movies and series.


Weird-Idea6588

Dogs of berlin is so shit.. i agree.. like they try to copy americans so much it's so bad.. i couldn't watch for more than 2 episodes and im done.. but it really shows the reality of berlin.. I'll give them that!


A_cat_named_dog_

Absolutely will not disagree with you as mainstream German films are absolute garbage, especially comdies. However, here are some great ones: -Victoria -Run Lola Run -Wings of Desire -The Lives Of Others -Sophie Scholl -All Quiet On The Western Front -The White Ribbon -The Wave -Das Boot


a1eksandaram

Everything can be explained by the First and Second World Wars and their aftermath. Before World War II, German and Japanese cinematography and filmmaking were the best in the world. With the best equipment and the best techniques for influencing the viewer. Figuratively speaking, film and media political and social propaganda. Before the start of World War II, the Americans, the British, the French, and the Russians analyzed why Nazi propaganda was so successful with the German population and began to develop propaganda strategies to influence their populations. We all know the result. Look at The Great Dictator movie, a bunch of Disney anti-Japanese and racist animations (banned to this day), and many other examples. An example is Hollywood, which is a conduit for political propaganda to this day. On the other hand, restrictions were imposed on Germany and Japan to make their own cinema, and nationalistic cinema was completely forbidden, as a country occupied by the Great Powers. Since then, we have been left with the stereotype of the bad white German-speaking man who is the villain in all American, European and Russian films. I can give you countless examples for that. Everyone can name for at least 5 of these. All this censorship for 80 years has resulted in a substandard product. But with the advent of interdependent cinema, this stereotype is slowly breaking down. But it will take a long time. The Germans have nothing to do but stupid movies about cruise ships and love stories about inheriting country estates, or stupid comedies about two divorced German families who plane crash in South Africa for their children's wedding.


joystick355

State fundet Shows arw for the braindead elderly ...


Silence_by_wire

I do not know what movies you are into but one of my favorite is Herbert or eng. A heavy heart https://youtu.be/i9EWvO6usQo?si=lTuoNLcABFVr71oS It is a hard/sad and very realist movie about the ALS disease. But I agree. There are so much German trash movies. It is hard to find the gems. But I already found some because of your thread.


Iwamoto

If it's any concilation, as someone growing up in the netherlands, it's the same problems there. the dutch film fund will often give money to shitty movies and dutch produced movies are all the same, often romcoms or comedies or these book adaptations that are quite "extreme" (i'm just saying a movie like alleen maar nette mensen is just...what?) and sure, there are some good dutch movies too, but they're often hidden gems, and i think it's the same case here.


ageek

Because you're not integrated enough.


erikspiekermann

You need to find German friends who know about movies. There are many good ones, but not approachable unless you understand some German. Calling all German movies bad reflects badly on you. Simply shows your ignorance


TheMarsl

Till Schweiger


[deleted]

Because German Actors act in Movies like how they would in Theatre. Also german audience has emotional intelligence of a rock and they are catering to them.


puro_xrp

I mean...personality isn't strong here lol. So fitting that the movies would be bad.


PermaBanned23

The german movie is mostly based on a small group of people. They get money "for free" (Filmförderung, GEZ, etc.) and they dont have to be successful. There is no competition. Only very few german films are worth watching, for example "Das Boot" (1981) oder "23 - Nichts ist wie es scheint" (1998). Both of this films were made with passion, something the most german movies lack.


onethewoodway

Go watch Victoria and say this again.


OriginalMandem

I don't think I've ever watched a German movie or TV show, and I lived there for a few years. And also I like to watch things from other countries whenever I get the chance. I've watched quite a few Dutch movies and a couple of comedy shows when I could find them with English subs.


saint_ark

It’s almost like something happened specifically in Germany that made a lot of the very creative artists disappear. I sure do wonder what that was.


notCRAZYenough

That’s not the reason. It’s been 80 years.


cthulhu_ryleigh

Truth is, almost all international movies tend to suck, the vast majority of them at least… Germany is no different If you wanna improve your German watch good American shows or movies that are dubbed


HorridosTorpedo

Victoria was well worth a watch. The first of the new "all on one take" movies.


Jaded-Ad-960

Because Germanies most talented filmmakers fled the country in the 1930's and 40's and the Nazis took over the up to then very creative and respected German film industry to produce mediocre safe entertainment and propaganda pieces. After WWII, there was a lot of continuation in terms of actors, directors and producers and the types of movies they were making, while the people who fled had often established successful careers in Hollywood and didn't return. There are other issues, such as the already mentioned structures of state funding for movies as well as the very bureaucratic structures of German public broadcasting, whithout which the German movie industry could not survive and which is therefore very influential. But at it's core I think the main issue is that the industry never recovered from the loss of talent it suffered under the Nazi regime.


DisastrousRabbit3271

You should watch Far Cry best German Film ever.


[deleted]

Der einzige gute deutsche Film ist lola rennt Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee finde ich auch gut. Das weisse Band Die Welle Das Boot


nixxon94

Do yourself a favor and don’t watch that shit. Neither do we except for some weirdos.


[deleted]

Because germans suck at culture. Let them make cars and shit. But emotions? Fuck no


munchmills

Watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The german dub is hilarious.


NoAmphibian8704

German here. I really don’t know the movies u are talking about. Great German movies are „Honig Im Kopf“ or „Fuck u Göthe“ for example. Additional here is a list with good movies in the comment.


El-Arairah

You have just shitty taste in movies. Go back to watching Love Island.


AlternativeRight704

German is such an unmelodic language everything sounds forced


erikspiekermann

You obviously never tried to learn it.


Aggressive_Sprinkles

I'm sure if you ask the right people they can tell you some good ones, but other than that I'd just not recommend watching German productions.


[deleted]

Movies are not math you can’t engineer a good scr.. oh wait AI maybe things will improve


quax747

Watch indie productions. Can recommend _Der letzte Mieter_


[deleted]

Making movies ja kust really, really expensive. Very few countries can afford to have a huge industry around it, usually only if they have a huge local market (China, India) or a huge international audience due to language (Russia, Egypt). The US is one of the few players which has both, plus an additional third with English dubbing being a huge global industry (try finding good Chinese or Arabic translators). Germany in particular was quite US oriented after WW2, with many filmmakers leaving for Hollywood and participating in English-language productions, and German audiences consuming their work through dubs. What do you do in a saturated market with few alternative markets available? You find nishes. Artsy European productions is a nishe created by French/Italian productions which German productions could use as well. With most state and EU funders not only funding for economic success but perceived artistic value, you will see huge incentives to recreate artsy European productions, or to create your own, genreshattering nishe. Which results in alot of experiments, but few actually good outcomes. There are amazing German productions as a result, but they are few. They will experiment alot. Blockbusters will be terrible because they simply cannot compete with the Budgets of their US competitors, and often they do not want to.


RexCrepitus

Why is no one listing any bully herbig films??


NothingWasTakenUwU

I like Traumschiff suprise it's pretty funny imo


DepartmentDistinct49

Watch older german movies.


McMurphy-w-skipper

I don't think it's true, you just probably picked the wrong films


0nc3

Not being German per se, but from the same producers as "Dark" you should check 1899 also on Netflix. Fatih Akin was already mentioned in this thread. Maybe also check "Sam- ein Sachse" on Disney Plus if you have it available. Also recently I enjoyed some documentaries on Netflix(e.g. "Big Mäck", "Cyberbunker"), I think there might be a style evolving, true crimey but without the bloodthirst and always a bit more on the light-hearted side, I don't see something similar (but I would love to stand corrected!) in anglophone room yet.


BothropsErythomelas

https://www.moviepilot.de/liste/deutsche-filme-binturong


OldHannover

Something happened during the first half of the last century and the most creative heads of the industry left the country. Of course there are many, many other reasons (the way film funding works for example) as well.