The Lives Of Others

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: February 9th, 2007 (limited)

Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muehe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme 

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 

Premise: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie debut focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany. In the early 1980s, the successful dramatist Georg Dreyman and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland, a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more...

[MacGuffin]

Oscar winner "Lives of Others" set for remake

The Oscar-winning German spy drama "The Lives of Others" is set to be remade as an English-language movie, Daily Variety reported in its Thursday edition.

The trade paper said the project would be developed by former Miramax Films chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and filmmakers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella.

"We would just desperately love for that film to be something that reaches more people (via remake)," Pollack was quoted as telling the paper. "We haven't gotten locked into making it yet, but we're working hard at trying to get it going."

Pollack and his partners worked on the deal with "Lives" writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who won the foreign-language Academy Award on Sunday for his debut feature. It was not clear what the Oxford-educated filmmaker's involvement with the remake would be.

"The Lives of Others" revolves around a secret agent in 1980s East Germany who wiretaps the apartment of an artistic couple, and finds himself sucked into their lives, with tragic consequences. After three weeks in limited release across North America through Sony Corp .'s Sony Pictures Classics, it has sold $1.3 million worth of tickets.

The Weinstein brothers are developing through their Weinstein Co., while Pollack and Minghella are partners in Mirage Prods. Pollack won Oscars for producing and directing the 1985 movie "Out of Africa," and Minghella won a statuette for directing 1996's "The English Patient"

[A Matter Of Chance]

Because a wide release would cost so much more.

[MacGuffin]

Director of German Oscar-winner says Pollack right man for remake

The director of "The Lives of Others," the German spy drama that scooped the Oscar for best foreign-language film, has said he would be happy if Sydney Pollack directed a planned Hollywood remake.

"If this remake happens, then I hope Sydney Pollack makes it. He is a wonderful director," Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck told the new edition of Focus news magazine which appears on Monday.

"'Tootsie' and 'Out of Africa' were great films. I know my film will be in good hands," he added.

The film industry magazine Variety reported last week that a Hollywood remake of the film was already in the pipeline, just days after it won the Oscar.

It said Pollack and British film director Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for "The English Patient," had teamed up for the project which would be distributed by the Weinstein studios.

"The Lives of Others" tells the story of an agent from the feared East German secret police, known as the Stasi, who is assigned to keep tabs on a successful playwright and his lover.

The experience shakes his beliefs as he begins to sympathise with the couple.

The film was a box office success in Germany which remains deeply marked by the Communist era almost 18 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

[pete]

Because a wide release increasing the literacy rate of this country would cost so much more.

[adolfwolfli]

I should have suspected that an Academy that gave that hysterical, screaming woman from American Idol an award for being an "actress" couldn't have much taste in foreign film.  "The Lives of Others" is mediocre at best, and at several points had me wishing that the Berlin Wall had never been torn down, because the movie's otherwise interesting setup is repeatedly undermined by a sappy, "western", Hollywood-ized predictability; a high level of almost-laughable melodrama; and a sappy, poured-on score of swelling I'm-going-to-tell-you-how-to-feel strings worthy of Spielberg.  In fact, Spielberg comes to mind repeatedly, and his influence is especially present in the ludicrously spoon-fed multiple endings that essentially spend 20 minutes explaining everything we just saw (?) and tying themselves up tighter and neater than a room full of wedding presents.  Yes, the impulse behind the making of the film is courageous and ethically sound, but on a cinematic level it's not worthy of the attention its being given.  Is this what has become of German film?  I think I heard Fassbinder rolling in his grave... 

[matt35mm]

I should have suspected that an Academy that gave that hysterical, screaming woman from American Idol an award for being an "actress" couldn't have much taste in foreign film.  "The Lives of Others" is mediocre at best, and at several points had me wishing that the Berlin Wall had never been torn down, because the movie's otherwise interesting setup is repeatedly undermined by a sappy, "western", Hollywood-ized predictability; a high level of almost-laughable melodrama; and a sappy, poured-on score of swelling I'm-going-to-tell-you-how-to-feel strings worthy of Spielberg.  In fact, Spielberg comes to mind repeatedly, and his influence is especially present in the ludicrously spoon-fed multiple endings that essentially spend 20 minutes explaining everything we just saw (?) and tying themselves up tighter and neater than a room full of wedding presents.  Yes, the impulse behind the making of the film is courageous and ethically sound, but on a cinematic level it's not worthy of the attention its being given.  Is this what has become of German film?  I think I heard Fassbinder rolling in his grave... 

The Spielberg comparison is off the mark, and using this one film to make such a generalization of the state of German film is ridiculous.

I certainly didn't hate the movie as much as adolfwolfli seems to, but it's true that it's not really that brilliant of a film.  It's interesting at times, and generally works well enough as a thriller, but its psychology is not as sophisticated as it seems to think it is, and all the political stuff is pretty hollow.  There is much of that time period and political environment that is incredibly interesting, but the film takes a pretty easy route of distilling history into bad guys and good guys.  "Sonata for a Good Man" is repeatedly referenced, and the "good man" is told several times that he is a good man.  Things like this.  And, yes, the last 15 minutes or so are kinda stupid, making things too neat and so on.

The performances are good, and the construction of the film is good enough to suck a lot of the audience into the story, even if it didn't really grasp me so much.  For those who do get sucked in, I'm sure it's very entertaining.  Go for the entertainment, because it is not much else.

(In short: Pan's was better.)

[Ghostboy]

Pan's Labyrinth was definitely better, in my opinion, but I did manage to get sucked into this, to the point that the thumbprint reveal really did surprise me. I don't know how it did, but it did and I loved being caught off guard like that (the denoument with the book, though, was pretty unncessary, and definitely Spielbergian). The rest of the movie I thought was a good bit of espionage; the characters' dramatic shifts were pretty clean cut, but enjoyable to watch. In many ways, this is similar to Pan's Labyrinth in that it has a degree of well-written predictability; the three acts are clearly delineated, and it's not hard to guess what's going to happen in each, but this is due not so much to lazy writing as it is to classical narrative structure.  You can see the plot beats coming from a mile away, but when they do they're hit so perfectly that it's actually quite satisfying.

[SiliasRuby]

This reminded me obviously of 'The Conversation'. Heavy shades of that film are in this and while it can be seen whats coming from around the corner some times, its all exciting anyway. Its fun seeing artists getting spied on. I never thought I'd say that. I came into this film with low expectations for some reason but this is such a well executed film that I was captivated from the very beginning. The main actress is Gorgeous in this, with a capital G.

[Gamblour.]

I think I commented on this elsewhere, about it being remade (which is so awful). But I'm surprised this got a little beat up on here, and it's funny to see that this film was getting compared to Pan's Labyrinth for some reason that in retrospect seems a bit myopic (we've been doing it with the Wrestler and Slumdog this year, strange how we do these things).

I thought this was a wonderful film, hardly anything to shame the entire cinema of Germany for. It felt more like Hitchcock than Spielberg certainly. Even the hamminess of the ending felt correct (it was sad to see that the main actor died recently). I absolutely loved the writing, it was so fucking solid and clean and refined. The strength of the film's merits really blew me away.

I will boycott and protest screenings of the remake with copies of the original film for people to see.

[Fernando]

...and it's funny to see that this film was getting compared to Pan's Labyrinth for some reason that in retrospect seems a bit myopic

Both were nominated for an oscar and this won, so I guess that's why some ppl compared them.

I will boycott and protest screenings of the remake with copies of the original film for people to see.

I hear that, hope the project is dead for good as it's ridiculous to remake such a great film.

[MacGuffin]

'Amendment' gets going at Warners
Von Donnersmarck eyeing presidential drama
Source: Variety

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is in talks to direct Warner Bros. drama "The 28th Amendment," which has emerged as a strong contender to be one of Tom Cruise's next star vehicles.

The German helmer hasn't directed a film since his 2006 pic "The Lives of Others" won the foreign-language film Oscar, and he recently signed with UTA to move into Hollywood films.

According to sources, the filmmaker is in talks with the studio to make the movie with Cruise. "Star Trek" scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the duo that originated the project as a spec in 1999, are rewriting the script.

The drama revolves around a U.S. president who discovers the existence of a secret cabal that runs the government and wants him dead.

Basil Iwanyk and Richard Donner are producers.

Cruise had been mentioned as being keen on the movie last year, possibly to pair with Denzel Washington, but chatter on the film died down.

Cruise came off "Valkyrie" with an aggressive mission to find new projects -- he is currently considering five different pictures for two potential 2009 slots -- but "28th Amendment" recently emerged as a strong candidate, its chances helped by the highly regarded von Donnersmarck.

Among the other projects Cruise is considering is MGM's "The Matarese Circle"; Spyglass' "The Tourist"; DreamWorks' "Motorcade"; Fox's "Wichita"; and Universal/Working Title's "Lost for Words."