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That was an excellent one.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Erntedank. Ein Allgäukrimi" is a German television film from 2009, so only two more years until this one has its 10th anniversary. It runs for slightly under 1.5 hours and was directed by Rainer Kaufmann, a pretty experienced and established filmmaker. The protagonist is played by Herbert Knaup and he returned on several other occasions as cop Kluftinger who is not interested in new technology, tiny soy meals and humor in general you could say. Yet the people around him result in several funny situations and this film is actually among the very first of many that bring a tone of humor as it is common, almost unique, in certain areas in Germany these days, in South Germany in this very case, namely in the Allgäu. All these movies bring certain peculiarities with the that are especially defining for the people there and they combine these peculiarities with a crime plot in the center of it all. This time we have murders happening with strong similarities to local legends where the one who gets punished usually had it coming his way and it was not entirely uncalled for. As for the beginning, the idea of a new cop coming to town and promptly colliding with the local officers, i.e. his new colleagues is a nice one that never gets old. I personally enjoy these movies and I will certainly check out the sequels for the Klüftinger/Allgäu edition. The famous cast members are good and so are the lesser known. The story is fine too and eventual plot weaknesses are quickly made up for by the comedy/charm of the characters. For example I did not like the solution this much here. Maybe Noethen's character being the killer would have been better. But it was somewhat expected who did it since the first time Klüftinger met the ones responsible. Still we get the funny arrest scene of the son and that makes up for it. Also the last scene between Knaup and Noethen was really good. It looked a bit as if they could build up the latter as a bit of a recurring antagonist. Shame they didn't. I hope the sequels are as good as this one. It is all that Tatort tries so hard to be, but will probably never achieve. Go check it out. Oh yeah, it is by no means necessary to have read any of the books to enjoy this one.

As a "native Allgäuer" I have to say this production has some flaws. I mean, the whole Kluftinger series seems not to be taken one hunded percent serious but a few simple details corrected and this could be a highly regarded movie throughout Germany. But this way it is just interesting for speakers of the south German dialects... And speaking of dialects: It is absolutely unrealistic that a police officer speaks in Allgäu dialect while on duty! That's more than ridiculous! I talk about the female officer in the beginning. And yeah, when I hate something then when a director tries to put his "talent" on something that is by default descripted by the original book authors. Kluftinger too doesn't speak dialect - or let's say that way.And here's one of the main problems: Although Herbert Knaup was born in the Allgäu, his dialect is not authentic - which makes is again unbelievable and stupid. One more point that wasn't well made: The supporting actors were mostly terrible. If they had casted some real actors instead of amateurs, it would have really been better. And since for a production like this no budget for special fx or cgi etc. is needed the production money should be invested in good direction and actors!

Those who like the Allgäu-detective novels by the author duo Klüpfel/Kobr will hopefully agree with me that this was a perfect adaptation of the novel "Erntedank". The novels offer not only well-constructed whodunits, but also a very loving portrayal of Allgäu characters, peculiarities and myths. The TV movie earns my respect by capturing all of that. Even if Herbert Knaup doesn't look like you would have imagined Kluftinger, he does a very good job of impersonating this detective with a taste for Wurstsalat (don't even begin to ask!) and a certain ineptitude with modern technology, a detective who solves his cases with experience, creativity and instinct. The supporting characters were also well-acted, bringing the dialect-mischmasch of Kluftinger's colleagues just as well to life as the arrogance of a Dr. Langhammer. The two novelists have cameos, too. The direction of Rainer Kaufmann and the camera-work of Klaus Eichhammer convey very well the mythical quality of the Allgäu landscape. This was fun to watch, so I hope there'll be more adaptations of Klüpfel/Kobr's works.