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Pretty Good

A Major Disappointment

A Disappointing Continuation

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Pardon my omission of character names; there is minimal dialogue in this German film. Both the dialogue and subtitles fly by with the short scenes, and I missed many names. Also, nobody spoke much, which was kind of funny too. Regardless, I felt a connection with many of the people. Herr Shultze is a man in a German town who has fallen into an all too stable lifestyle with a few friends. They seem to be in their late 50s, but have been forced into early retirement (?) As did his father, Shultze plays Polkas on his accordion (instrument curiously translated as: Ship's Piano). It is a small bright spot in his life, but even that seems to be dimming. This is no action flick. The men are old friends, EX-co-workers and fellow club-members, but have little of a real social life.One sleepless night, Schultze turns on his radio and gets that potpourri of distant radio signals typical of late-night reception. He pauses suddenly upon hearing a strange kind of accordion music, but then returns to his bed. Soon, while playing his polkas at home, he finds himself picking out the Zydeco tune he'd heard on the radio. A hint of the kind of humor found in many of this film's short scenes is a shot of him playing those few measures of Zydeco that he's taught himself. The camera pans back and he's playing in a clinic office. We discover that he's consulting his doctor about his odd obsession with this odd music. Doctor assures him it's okay.Things I really liked about this film. The camera work is excellent. The ultra-stable but almost lifeless quality of these men's lives is visually present in constant cuts to shots of local landscapes that hardly move, cookie cutter track houses, or the empty hall at the chess club. The framing of scenes is so unusual, you'll find yourself checking your TV's aspect ratio; the key element of the scene may be out of view but "understood", because we already know what happens every day here. There are a few wonderful characters that pop up, and however briefly, they manage to spice up the inner lives of these guys; although usually their outer response is to gape at these "eccentrics", in silence. I've rarely had so much fun watching retired men standing by in silence as life strolls past them.The town has a sister city in Texas that has offered to fly one of the club members to their annual music festival. Shultze has not campaigned to be the one, but after daring to play his Zydeco tune at the local traditional folk tune fest, and bombing; his few supporters elect him to be their ambassador to Texas. I can't be sure where the American scenes are supposed to happen. It sure seems more like Louisiana than Texas. Alas, the music festival at the sister city is devoted to Schultze's Polka music, so he wanders off. Soon he finds himself in waterborne scenes on the Bayou. The rest of the film is a zen like study of the quality of Schultze's new life. He talks even less, now, for he knows almost no English; but every hour of every day is a new flavor, on the same old tongue. I admired Schultze's courage to keep moving ahead without any idea where he's going. I know his life is "better" now, even though he seems not to have changed that much. He seems to be smiling more, though, and even is seen exercising one morning. This is a film about how little our lives may change, but can still get better with the smallest of changes. I have chosen the "Spoiler" option because I've mentioned scenes that, though incidental, were surprising to me. I hope I've left some surprises for you.

I wish I'd noticed the review filter was set to "best reviews" straight away. Because I've been reading the intelligent raves with increasing horror. My husband and I struggled with this painfully self indulgent nonsense over THREE evenings (and I'm the type who will gasp appreciatively at four hour epics with no subtitles restored from a fire-damaged trash can found at a long defunct Romanian experimental film school). I am usually patient to a fault."Schultze" drove me quite around the bend, however. Everyone else here has said why beautifully. I am delighted to be in your critical, dreadfully disappointed but perceptive company!

This wonderful slow rich movie is truly a series of moving pictures, yes there is a simple story loosely trying to pull all of these wonderful groupings of photographs together but I found that I really just barely needed the story to enjoy the amazing pictures.I wish I had a process for creating stills from this film, I would frame them and collage a wall of my home.An wonderful example is the scene where Schultez comes out in the dark of the evening to a bench at the back of his house is as fine a piece of art as anything Hopper ever did.This is a beautiful collection of art.

I just picked up this movie in a video store. I had never heard of it and I do not think it was shown in the movie theaters where I live. Born in Germany, I always enjoy movies which portray the everyday man or woman - them - being Germans and American - colliding , last one which comes to mind was Baghdad Cafe, which was also delightful .The style of showing life and using the camera reminded me a little bit of Fassbinder movies and I very much appreciated the realistic approach. A very convincing debut. After having lived for over a quarter of a century in the States and longer than that in Germany, I usually get very frustrated watching Hollywood movies. Locations, I have been to,are made to look so glamorous that I do not recognize them any more and the same is true for actresses and actors. Everything has a tendency to be larger and more beautiful, more impressive than life. The story line is most of the time as far removed from reality as Oprah and her average viewer have nothing in common.These Hollywood movies leave me with a bitter aftertaste. Why is my life not so glamorous and why does my house, my street , my city looks so ordinary and is fraying at the edges.? "Schultze gets the blues" beautifies nothing. In the German part: A depressing little town in a depressed area of former East Germany. Though there are some attractive spots to be found too and the camera knows how to capture them. Three friends being forced into early retirement. Life in early retirement boring and very predictable. But there are good things too. Friendships, community events, the joys of a little Schrebergarten (weekend garden house) and discovering something new, like music and food from the South of the U.S.. Schultze discovers Cajun music by accident and tries to save enough money to travel to Louisiana. By a stroke of luck he wins a trip to New Braunsfeld in Texas, where he is confronted with an expatriated version of Germans, he nor I can relate to. He escapes on an adventure transporting him into the swamps of Louisiana and happens to encounter only positive experiences. He speaks not one word of English and consequently is not really able to communicate. Like in Baghdad Cafe the America shown is not glamorous, but for that reason attractive to the German visitor. There is nothing intimidating or super-power-like in a houseboat with a picket fenced roof top garden. The beach houses in Louisiana may be prime real estate, but the film shows them as not particularly attractive looking ,probably because it is out of season and the area is deserted.. Everything in the movie feels right. As I learned from the DVD, all locations were original and were not changed by the film crew. Not in Germany nor in the States. Many people participating in this film were the actual owners or employees or guests of the bar, dance hall, concert hall or retirement home. In both countries we get a realistic view of things retired people do.For me there were a bunch of comic situations in the film like Schultze entering the Jacuzzi in a tiny speedo barely visible due to his impressive corpulence. After living so long in the States, it is difficult to remember that huge bathing shorts are not worn in Germany and all men wear speedos. The German crowd in New Braunsfels dressed up in Bavarian outfits, though I am sure that only a fraction of them originally originated from this area in Germany. But somehow the personification of a German in America is a Bavarian, while in Germany you would never find a German from another region dressing up in this style. The cooking radio show which gave you time to go shopping for the ingredients and then continued the instructions. The shots in the Bayous were absolutely beautiful. The choice of bars and dance halls was superb. The acting flawless. By using so many amateurs and only original locations the film feels completely authentic. There was barely a scene in this movie which I had not experienced myself in one way or the other in either country.The only little thing which was a little bit over the top for me was the New Orleans style funeral in Germany and the fact that the houseboat lady and her daughter attended it. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and did not think it being slow for one second.P.S. In the English subtitles it says that the people consider the zydeco music as "nigger music". That is not correct. Neger in German means negro and is not used in a diparaging way. For these people it is just something unfamiliar. The word is used in the German language like black here.