Momo (1986)

In the village of Momo the pace of time goes very slowly. Nobody is bothering about stress but everyone has time to chat and rest - until the day the grey men arrive. With a great selling ... See full summary »

Director:

Johannes Schaaf

Writers:

Johannes Schaaf (screenplay), Rosemarie Fendel (screenplay),

Stars:

Radost Bokel, Mario Adorf, Armin Mueller-Stahl

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Radost Bokel	...	Momo
Mario Adorf	...	Nicola
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Chef der grauen Männer
Sylvester Groth	...	Agent BLW / 553 X (as Silvester Groth, Sylvester Groth)
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Beppo
Ninetto Davoli	...	Nino
Concetta Russino	...	Liliana
Bruno Stori	...	Gigi
Francesco De Rosa	...	Herr Fusi
Elide Melli	...	Frau Daria
Pietro Tordi	...	Ettore
Hartmut Kollakowsky	...	Grauer Herr
John Huston	...	Meister Hora

Storyline

In the village of Momo the pace of time goes very slowly. Nobody is bothering about stress but everyone has time to chat and rest - until the day the grey men arrive. With a great selling strategy they offer the people an account to collect time. Now everybody is in stress in order to gain time for collecting, except for Momo who obviously is the only one without stress. Watching her former friends having no time at all for friendship and other social activities she deceides to fight the grey men. The story is a modern fairy tale about how to use time.

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Plot Keywords:

time stop | cigar smoking | foreign language adaptation | time loop | time freeze | 

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Genres:

Family | Comedy | Mystery | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

West Germany Italy

Language:

German

Release Date:

17 July 1986 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Momo e o Senhor do Tempo

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinecittà, Iduna Film Produktiongesellschaft, Rialto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Dark City (1998)

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Soundtracks

"La canzone di Momo"
Performed by Angelo Branduardi

User Reviews

one of the most beautiful German films of the 80s

Beautiful images of an Italian village, a heart-warming story and great acting by Adorf, Mueller-Stahl, charming little Radost Bokel and the less known actors make this the ideal family movie. The Men in Grey, Master Hora and turtle Cassiopeia add depth to the plot, so you are free to read it as a warning of the neo-liberal episode we're in, with multinational trusts sucking the living soul out of everyone who falls for their false promises. You might even get an advice on how to overcome it -- if you want to.

Had Fassbinder lived long enough and had he not been as kaputt, he might have made this movie. Had Wenders understood a thing, he might have done it. Thanks to little-known director Johannes Schaaf at least one of Michael Ende's novels, Momo, has been adequately transformed into a great movie.