Love Steaks

How much realness do you need? Seems some festivals deemed this had more than enough. And to be clear the central performances of the two lead actors is amazing - especially the female one in this. The male part is played by someone well known for his quirkiness - at least in roles. If he's completely different in real life, than kudos to him.

The movie overall has won a lot of prizes as imdb is stating, which is a little bit surprising ... at least to me. Can't be the script really, considering this plays a lot like an improvised experiment with some pillars set to give actors orientation. Feels like they're doing most, if not all of the work in that department. Which comes through in things being repeated and work place being ... well let's just say far removed from German efficiency ... or what people would imagine that to be. A lot of silliness going around and a strange love connection occurs ... an unlikely one some may say, but opposites attract so I would argue the opposite ... no pun intended.

If you are into German independent movies that are ... weird to say the least, this may be quite the experience for you. Everyone else be wary of what you let yourself into. This is not an easy watch. Some sensuality and sexuality included (with a bit of nudity)

I see people weight it like a boring film, but I think it is not a boring film. I liked the fragment per fragment like narrative and mostly enjoyed the film because of it's dynamic style of storytelling. Need to mention that the way characters are uncovered for the viewer is good directorial decision and I liked the film visually as well. Unfortunately I also see, that the stylistic approach of director is not a purely defined and original. The story itself is not a very interesting one for me, however the details (and some scenes) were engaging.

To conclude: 7/10 in its league. Not in open competition. It is shot with 100k under the Babelsberg film school.

Summary

A special love story, crossed by the work environment in which it takes place, which knows how to combine an almost documentary or reality imprint with others that are particularly poetic.

Review

Lara and Clemens (Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski) are two probationers at a luxurious spa hotel on the Baltic. She as a kitchen helper and he as a physiotherapist. Over time, a special bond will emerge between the two.

This Jakob Lass film could be defined as a particular love story between two totally opposite beings to which picaresque elements are added, due to the way in which Rogowski's character confronts some of the women in the story. Clemens is rather shy, respectful of hierarchies and interested in his work. Lara is impulsive, irreverent, perhaps in this job not by choice and with alcohol problems. As they bond, she is the one in control, making it a series of challenges for Clemens. They are two opposite poles that somehow attract and need each other.

But in the film by Lass (also a co-writer), just as important as the relationship itself is its setting. The power dynamic between Lara and Clemens is part of broader ones corresponding to the workplace, where the interference of managers, colleagues and clients is forcefully felt. On the other hand, the kitchen and the physiotherapy and massage sector could not be more different, a contrast very well marked by the film, although a sequence marks a comical parallelism in part related to the title of the film. It is interesting to compare how both behave inside the hotel and outside it, in that landscape of cold Baltic screens.

Apparently, the only professional actors in the film are the ones that make up the leading couple, while the rest are made up of real hotel staff. This contributes to the imprint at times dry and almost documentary (or reality) of a film that contrasts with others of strange poetry focused on the leading couple.

Cooper achieves with his difficult character all the nuances so as not to hate her and even love her, while Franz Rogowski (later an acclaimed actor in Transit, Undine and Great Freedom) perfectly embodies the naive, slightly angelic and sensitive young man necessary for any story in part picaresque, but at the same time not fully aware or believed in his charm and sensuality and what they provoke.

This should have been an easy movie to like: coworkers discover romance while fighting their personal demons. And it feels weird and wrong to cry, "Too much realism!" But that was the problem, for me. Sous-chef Lara is a likeable person, when she isn't drinking. When she drinks, I'm reminded why I avoid alcoholics and other addicts like the plague - they're just unbearable to be around... and to watch. The acting was so good I couldn't stand it, on a par with Ben Gazzara in "Tales of Ordinary Madness" (Italy/France, 1981). And it doesn't help that she works with a bunch of only nominally adult jackasses in a kitchen where the noise never ceases.

Masseur Clemens is portrayed annoyingly well, too. When his #HimToo moment occurs, he reacts with neither extreme of "hot diggety" nor "get the hell out until you can behave". Instead, he dithers, uncertain and insecure. And he continues to dither through much of the movie, although who can blame him when the object of his affection is a boozehound? The resulting plot is just a little too real-time, like a novel that hasn't had its first edit.

It's difficult to enjoy a romance movie when you don't feel much affinity or affection for the characters. Building that affinity would require prologue, I think. It's not a bad film, but it could be better.

We are a guest in the lives of two German young people who work with all their naturalness. Immersive, emotional, funny, the film makes you experience the story. The acting is successful, the director jakob lass does a good job. Romantic drama lovers should not miss it. I liked it very much, I recommend it. My grade is 10/8.8. Enjoy watching.