Good Bye Lenin!
So in my efforts to keep more up to date with my movie viewing posts I give you my latest feature. I got knocked out of poker early tonight, so I had a chance to round up my last $6 and catch the late showing of Good Bye Lenin! (Yes that '!' is actually in the title) It was pretty much what I expected. The story revolves around a East German family who's mother goes into a coma only to awake 8 months later, completely missing the fall of comunmism and the fall of the wall. In her weak condition doctors worry that any shock might trigger another heart attack, so her son attempts to shield his mother from all that has happened while she was asleep. Of course hijinx ensue as he tries to explain away certain things that manage to creep into her life (appearance of Coke posters, foreign cars, etc). I guess from the previews I was expecting something more comically centered, but insted it focused a lot more on the family aspect of the story, giving it a more touching feel. That's not to say there wasn't plenty to laugh about too. That still made it into the movie. The whole story was rather reasonable and well done, considering the difficulty of covering something like that up. The film also came through in the one area that a lot (i.e. MOST) movies fail, and that was the ending. The movie ended perfectly in my mind. Not a really a happy ending, not really a sad ending, couple things left for the viewer to wonder about, but no loose ends left untied. It ended much like the entire movie progressed. It wasn't great or spectacular or overly unique, but rather it was just solidly done. It's not something that I have to have for my collection or that I'd rush out and see again, but it's still a movie that I'm glad I did see (and not jsut so I can say that I've seen every movie at Cinemapolis/Fall Creek, which I hope to wrap up next week with Super Size Me, Bon Voyage, and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring). So if you do have the time I'd recommend catching this one. And who knows, if you see it in Ithaca you just might catch me back there again.
RATING: Worth a Full Price Ticket, Worth a Rental