Here we have the "Bayerischer Filmpreis" that was held in January 2020 and dealt with all movies basically released in 2019 here in my country Germany. The language is German of course too. This was one of the last awards shows before the corona mess started, even if it is a bit debatable if you can really call it an awards show because the winners had been selected and announmced before already and there is no attention for potential nominees. It is just the winners being announced, we get to see some scenes from the films and then the recipient shows up and holds a speech. One could only hope that they keep talking for too long because then we at least would hear the cool Bocelli tune to emphasize that their time is up. "Time to Say Goodbye" is still a classic for sure. Always will be. This awards show not so much. It was definitely too long in my opinion. Like it was closer to three hours than to 2.5 hours and that says it all basically. And there were no commercials, so it was really almost three hours material here. This takes it into Golden Globes or Oscar territory almost. And at least in terms of the important for both countries, it is a bit comparable. The Bavarian Film Awards (or Bavarian Film Gala) may not be as spectacular as American shos, but perhaps right after the German Film Awards and also after the Berlin Film festival (if e includes festivals), they are one of the biggest award nights of the year. Kinda fitting so many big names were there. I think the show started fine with the little opening that featured Bezzel and the host and also with "Leberkäsjunkie" winning the first award of the night. Honestly, it was refreshing to see an audience award go to an actually funny movie that is not the usual Schweiger/Schweighöfer/Herfurth/Fitz etc. kind of nonsense. The latter two also got their attention later on, but still. I shall get to that later. But yeah, this is really the almost only positive thing I can really say about this awards show that felt endless at times. The good thing is they kept it at least essential. There was just one music performance. Not too many clips in-between. Also don't be fooled by the title here. Bavaria (a German area in the southeast) may be mentioned in the title and it is also fitting given "Leberkäsjunkie", but overall, it is surely a national awards show dealing with movies from every German area. Oh yes, the host. I mentioned him briefly. Christoph Süß is the name (after hearing just Christoph early on I thought it may be director Hochhäusler) and apparently he is a local from Bavaria and also mostly plays in films from a recurring show and also hosts a television series. This is all I can say about him. Not familiar, only came across the name "München Mord" before. His hosting was tolerable. Could have been better, could have been worse.
As for the weak moments here, there's plenty. The first and biggest mention goes to Markus Söder. It was almost physically painful to see him in the first row all evening honestly. So extremely unlikable. I really hope he will not follow after Merkel. We will see. I am drifting a bit away now. Second mention goes to "Das perfekte Geheimnis". This is the usual kind of uninspired comedy you get to see so often here and it was featured heavily during the show. The only somewhat good thing I can say is that the terrible Schweighöfer was not a part of it. I guess he only goes for films where he is the undisputed lead, or one other lead max. But you cannot even blame the cast or filmmakers if these are the films that get millions of people into theaters and as the old are dying first and the young are mostly watching stuff like that, things will get only worse. Higgh time to question your taste in music, folks. The constant mentioned of Constantin Film, a really despicable production company with their business practices and money instead of talent being all they care about, were also a true embarrassment. This is indirectly linked to the late Bernd Eichinger, who was featured especially prominently during Lauterbach's final speech. Heiner that is. Must be said in times of Karl hanging around in every talkshow as well. Admittedly, as bad as Karl, Heiner is not. But he is also not a great actor whatsoever in terms of range, versatility and everything else. recognition value and his long time in the industry work in his favor for sure. Not a good choice for such a prestigious awards at the end really. But then again, apparently Söder picked him, which may explain it all and also for everybody else who received this Bavarian Lifetime Achievement Award in the past, it takes away some of the meaning. What else can I add? Helena Zengel is pretty cool that much is safe. Hope her international career with that Hanks movie is working out. No in memoriam sequence? Why. Come on, you make such a long show and miss out on such a crucial part even. Ratte-Polle may be an alright actress, but how she was not leaving the stage was never classy or funny. Everybody is still worshipping Lars Eidinger and it feels pretty annoying. Not just Mädel (why Bjarne? loved you on "Stromberg"), even Sherry Hormann, who apparently has no connection with Eidinger at all. Cringeworthy. Her film I really liked, so I found it especially shocking how misrepresented the movie was here in terms of contents. But as the one talking about it is ARD's Maischberger, I am not surprised at all that she is getting it all wrong with the one and only religion where such a killing could happen, bu hey, just an individual case. Nonetheless, I think you should watch "Nur eine Frau" and draw the right conclusions from it. It's a really good film. Was even on television already a while ago where it headed really quickly. Okay, what else can I say? Good news is it was not really a political event used for cheap propaganda, which is something you see way too often in America of course. Then again, there weren't any big elections coming up in January 2020. Otherwise maybe it would have been. Lauterbach may be right about Lady Gaga's lack of authenticity, but it still felt like random rambling and also does not really make him an authentic person. Which he himself kinda admitted this way, even if I am not sure if it was intentional or not. I generally prefer it when people leave really personal stuff out of this show, so I am not too fond of the one guy mentioning the tumor in his testicle. I can see why it was a crucial event in his life and wish him the best, but from my subjective standpoint, it should not be in this show. People receiving awards from cast members or people who were actually a part of the awards-winning film seems a bit cringeworthy for sure. I mean there we have a bit of the "Klüngel" again that Lauterbach mentioned. Impossible to translate this word, but it could not fit any better if we are taking a look at Söder's wife's business and how he has been pushing it through corona. Okay, getting to an end now. Some good films featured here nonetheless, such as "Deutschstunde" or "Als Hitler das Rosa Kaninchen stahl". Germans still got it for sure when it comes to war/Nazi-themed films. But also some weak inclusions. Ochsenknecht's musical number was not good at all. Not getting the hype either for Bülow (even if he almos has my name) or his female equivalent Wedler. A lot of pretense going on there, especially with the young try-hard actors. Oh well, they don't know any better. Oh yes, the usual pro-refugee message they also got in of course. Almost needles to say. They used the screenplay categoriy for that to hand the win to a really unseen movie. Probably still not underseen. That is all then. My suggestion here is that you skip the watch and go for something else instead. Not recommended, but luckily the beginning and the focus on the awards keeps it from being a failure in total, even if here and there it feels this way.
As for the weak moments here, there's plenty. The first and biggest mention goes to Markus Söder. It was almost physically painful to see him in the first row all evening honestly. So extremely unlikable. I really hope he will not follow after Merkel. We will see. I am drifting a bit away now. Second mention goes to "Das perfekte Geheimnis". This is the usual kind of uninspired comedy you get to see so often here and it was featured heavily during the show. The only somewhat good thing I can say is that the terrible Schweighöfer was not a part of it. I guess he only goes for films where he is the undisputed lead, or one other lead max. But you cannot even blame the cast or filmmakers if these are the films that get millions of people into theaters and as the old are dying first and the young are mostly watching stuff like that, things will get only worse. Higgh time to question your taste in music, folks. The constant mentioned of Constantin Film, a really despicable production company with their business practices and money instead of talent being all they care about, were also a true embarrassment. This is indirectly linked to the late Bernd Eichinger, who was featured especially prominently during Lauterbach's final speech. Heiner that is. Must be said in times of Karl hanging around in every talkshow as well. Admittedly, as bad as Karl, Heiner is not. But he is also not a great actor whatsoever in terms of range, versatility and everything else. recognition value and his long time in the industry work in his favor for sure. Not a good choice for such a prestigious awards at the end really. But then again, apparently Söder picked him, which may explain it all and also for everybody else who received this Bavarian Lifetime Achievement Award in the past, it takes away some of the meaning. What else can I add? Helena Zengel is pretty cool that much is safe. Hope her international career with that Hanks movie is working out. No in memoriam sequence? Why. Come on, you make such a long show and miss out on such a crucial part even. Ratte-Polle may be an alright actress, but how she was not leaving the stage was never classy or funny. Everybody is still worshipping Lars Eidinger and it feels pretty annoying. Not just Mädel (why Bjarne? loved you on "Stromberg"), even Sherry Hormann, who apparently has no connection with Eidinger at all. Cringeworthy. Her film I really liked, so I found it especially shocking how misrepresented the movie was here in terms of contents. But as the one talking about it is ARD's Maischberger, I am not surprised at all that she is getting it all wrong with the one and only religion where such a killing could happen, bu hey, just an individual case. Nonetheless, I think you should watch "Nur eine Frau" and draw the right conclusions from it. It's a really good film. Was even on television already a while ago where it headed really quickly. Okay, what else can I say? Good news is it was not really a political event used for cheap propaganda, which is something you see way too often in America of course. Then again, there weren't any big elections coming up in January 2020. Otherwise maybe it would have been. Lauterbach may be right about Lady Gaga's lack of authenticity, but it still felt like random rambling and also does not really make him an authentic person. Which he himself kinda admitted this way, even if I am not sure if it was intentional or not. I generally prefer it when people leave really personal stuff out of this show, so I am not too fond of the one guy mentioning the tumor in his testicle. I can see why it was a crucial event in his life and wish him the best, but from my subjective standpoint, it should not be in this show. People receiving awards from cast members or people who were actually a part of the awards-winning film seems a bit cringeworthy for sure. I mean there we have a bit of the "Klüngel" again that Lauterbach mentioned. Impossible to translate this word, but it could not fit any better if we are taking a look at Söder's wife's business and how he has been pushing it through corona. Okay, getting to an end now. Some good films featured here nonetheless, such as "Deutschstunde" or "Als Hitler das Rosa Kaninchen stahl". Germans still got it for sure when it comes to war/Nazi-themed films. But also some weak inclusions. Ochsenknecht's musical number was not good at all. Not getting the hype either for Bülow (even if he almos has my name) or his female equivalent Wedler. A lot of pretense going on there, especially with the young try-hard actors. Oh well, they don't know any better. Oh yes, the usual pro-refugee message they also got in of course. Almost needles to say. They used the screenplay categoriy for that to hand the win to a really unseen movie. Probably still not underseen. That is all then. My suggestion here is that you skip the watch and go for something else instead. Not recommended, but luckily the beginning and the focus on the awards keeps it from being a failure in total, even if here and there it feels this way.