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Simply Perfect

Absolutely Fantastic

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

I approached this film with only a basic understanding of spoken German, enough to order at a restaurant, ask for directions etc. As it was, the version I found did not have subtitles, so I decided to try without. This was in fact not necessary, because this film speaks the international language of terrible film. The plot makes no sense, a fault so expertly delivered that no dialogue is needed to convey this to the audience. The acting is bad in any language, and then there's the real kicker: the editing and camera-work. It feels like something someone filmed for YouTube (back before professional YouTubers with high production values came along), the only hint that this isn't the case is the main character performing in concert venues. The sound quality, the picture quality and the slightly shaky picture betray that this was likely filmed on a home-video camera. The editing is virtually non-existent, with a general feeling most of the video clips were hastily stuck together in Windows Movie Maker. Overall, a must-see for lovers of bad film. It doesn't matter whether you speak German or not, you will still be able to enjoy this bombshell.

The 80-minute "Daniel der Zauberer" or "Daniel the Magician" is a German film from 2004, so this one is already over 10 years old. The writer and director is Ulli Lommel and he is known for acting in the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. As a filmmaker himself, however, Lommel is known for having come up with many films that received very bad reviews for the most part and his fairly recent effort here is probably where he hit rock-bottom. German audiences may still be aware of the phenomenon that was Daniel Küblböck earlier this century, a young man who became third in the German version of "American Idol" despite hawing a pretty awful voice and he made up for it because of his uniqueness and style. That's the way it was and everybody knew him back then. I guess this is why Lommel thought a movie would lure many fans to theaters. But it turned out a huge flop.The quality of this film is not debatable. It looks extremely amateurish and I find it shocking that this is the work of a filmmaker who has been in the industry for decades. At least, Küblböck and his family do not have any experience which somehow explains their terrible performances. This looks like the work of a 20-year-old filmmaker who never made another movie, but Lommel is the exact opposite. All quantity, no quality it seems. The cast actually includes more people other than Lommel who worked with Fassbinder on several occasions and I find it pretty sad how low they have sunk here. The film's biggest problem are the production values. Be it directing, editing, sound work, music, acting or most of all writing, you name it, it is extremely flawed on many occasions from start to finish. You will find advertising in this movie on the most blatant occasions, such as a couple bottle of alcohol standing randomly at a baker's shop. The sound was really bad too. The music was loud and the voices of the actors were almost impossible to understand, especially Lommel himself.This movie had many references about religion. The bad guy (Brem) is shown clearly as an equivalent of Satan while the way Küblböck kept saving people from death is not only extremely cringeworthy but also completely void of realism. There is talk of a man about to drown who saw Küblböck as an angel and survived thanks to the singer. Or the woman who intended to commit suicide, but found a reason to live for in Küblböck's music. The only somewhat solid aspect was the plot twist with the angel being Daniel's dead grandpa. But this alone was far from enough to make up for all the abysmal stuff in here. A tremendous failure. Don't watch.

It's unfortunate that the only place this can be tracked down is Germany's Amazon. As much as they may be sick of it, this is a bad movie buff's wet dream. It's unintentionally funny from start to finish, even if you can't understand a word of the dialog. The mistaken "consummate entertainer" at the heart of this mess, Daniel Küblböck, is a sexless clown who spends the entire film in old lady sweaters while he writes the most banal, oppressively bland pop songs imaginable. Some goth weirdos show up to stalk Daniel outside his home and backstage at his concerts, muttering their intentions while Daniel croons away like a dying cat. They're lead by a shady nogoodnik who bares a distracting resemblance to Peter Stormare. Their acting, especially that of the long haired, brooding guy in black leather had me laughing out loud. An actual "wizard" of sorts shows up at one point as well, but what his significance is, and whether he's simply a product of Daniel's diseased mind, is totally incomprehensible to me.There are far more unbearable films to pick up for Bad Movie Night. This is Germany's "Ben & Arthur". Track it down on their Amazon, it's the equivalent of about five American dollars and well worth it.

I am so, so sorry.I am not sorry for this movie. I am sorry for myself. Vain? Certainly. But vanity, I'm afraid, is a virtue in this instance.Daniel Der Zauberer (or Daniel the Wizard) is a movie about German...entertainer (...?)...Daniel Küblböck. It is apparently supposed to be an art movie about how his singing inspires thousands, but instead of just a bunch of dancing and singing (like the ego trip known as Moonwalker), it seems to have a plot. My German is negligible in this case, so I didn't understand *any* of the dialogue, but according to the handy Internet, a Goth band tries to kill him because his music is better than their's, or something like that.There is a character who I guess is supposed to be "the Wizard" of the title, Johannes Küblböck. Based on the fact that they share the same last name, I assume he and Daniel are father and son, but we never really learn whose side the Wizard is on; I was perplexed. Sometimes he helps the Goths, then he apparently is playing Santa or something for young Daniel (?). And there's something about a girl and her father, who are No. 1 fans trying to help him, although I honestly don't know what happened. The girl looks a little young for him, is it his sister? The ambiguity, perhaps, is the balancing factor of this movie. In many instances, ambiguity can set up a nice atmosphere, provide a bit of mystery...but this isn't a horror or mystery movie. It's an art movie, and an art movie where I really don't have a clue what's going on. My main problem was that it was hideously boring and the acting was terrible.Oh, and of course, I was especially creeped out by Daniel's...choice of dress. He's not gay, I'm sure, it's just...Ah, well. Terrible. And my favorite movie is Manos: The Hands of Fate.