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Das Licht (The Light) review – mystical satirical romp channels German anxiety over refugees
Veteran director Tom Tykwer sends a magical Syrian cleaner into a bohemian yet unhappy family, bringing with her a flashing-light treatment for depressionHere is a weirdly incoherent and very long aria of semi-comic dismay from white-liberal Europe, and from a Germany whose bold “Wir schaffen das” – or “We can handle this” – Angela Merkel-era attitude to refugees has turned to anxiety. Veteran German director Tom Tykwer has created a heavy-footed magical-realist romp lasting two hours and 40 minutes about a complicated extended family in Berlin whose painful lives are turned around by a magic refugee whose purpose is to salvage their happiness. The film twice uses Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to provide a jukebox blast of energy – the second time at the very end, worryingly indicating that the classic track is being brought on to save the day because the film is out of ideas.Lars Eidinger gives a muscular, unselfconscious performance as Tim, a thoroughly modern cool dad who writes advertising copy for environmentally conscious brands, cycles everywhere in the driving rain and has a disconcerting habit of stripping naked when he gets back to his bohemian apartment. Nicolette Krebitz plays his wife, Milena, who is trying to establish a community theatre in Africa with a German government grant. But their teen children, eco-protester Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer), who has just had an abortion, and VR gamer nerd Jon (Julius Gause) are unhappy. There is also Dio (Elyas Eldridge), Milena’s son by Godfrey (Toby Onwumere), with whom she co-parents. Continue reading...
Veteran director Tom Tykwer sends a magical Syrian cleaner into a bohemian yet unhappy family, bringing with her a flashing-light treatment for depression
Here is a weirdly incoherent and very long aria of semi-comic dismay from white-liberal Europe, and from a Germany whose bold “Wir schaffen das” – or “We can handle this” – Angela Merkel-era attitude to refugees has turned to anxiety. Veteran German director Tom Tykwer has created a heavy-footed magical-realist romp lasting two hours and 40 minutes about a complicated extended family in Berlin whose painful lives are turned around by a magic refugee whose purpose is to salvage their happiness. The film twice uses Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to provide a jukebox blast of energy – the second time at the very end, worryingly indicating that the classic track is being brought on to save the day because the film is out of ideas.
Lars Eidinger gives a muscular, unselfconscious performance as Tim, a thoroughly modern cool dad who writes advertising copy for environmentally conscious brands, cycles everywhere in the driving rain and has a disconcerting habit of stripping naked when he gets back to his bohemian apartment. Nicolette Krebitz plays his wife, Milena, who is trying to establish a community theatre in Africa with a German government grant. But their teen children, eco-protester Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer), who has just had an abortion, and VR gamer nerd Jon (Julius Gause) are unhappy. There is also Dio (Elyas Eldridge), Milena’s son by Godfrey (Toby Onwumere), with whom she co-parents. Continue reading...
