Head Full of Honey (2014)

Eine Aneinanderreihung vermeintlich schöner Bilder und gestelzter Dialoge. Einfach nur flach...

Fmovies: Sorry for the good rating - ONE - still far too good for this extremely crappy movie.

I quite used to like Till Schweiger for his appearances in older films, but I really started to dislike this guy for his appearances on TV recently regarding different political issues - and I really start to "hate" him for this movie - since he not only wrote the script but also had to (compulsively?) use his own kids to do the movie! Well, this kiddy-girl who plays the lead is really such a bad actress that it might have saved the movie if she would not have got the role by her father. Family business sucks, especially if one is some sort of frickin' dilettante, as in the case of this sorry girly! And how often her stupid-strange-expression-face-head pops up on screen - it really made me wanna puke after a while. Also technically this movie is a mess.

Hallervorden, on the contrary and as always, plays quite well - but of course he ain't got no clue at all how to play an Alzheimer-candidate - even if he looks like one (but he does so since ages)! Instead this whole crappy movie turns out to be some sort of would-be-funny-comedy - but having Alzheimer is not funny at all, I tell ya. I've seen someone who watched this movie who has got this disease, and watching it made him wanna kill the makers of this film, as he told me afterwards. It is no sign of decency nor is it a sign of intelligence to make a movie in ways that make people wanna destroy you!

I have to deal with Alzheimer patients each day at work, and this movie is really NOT AT ALL helpful regarding this disease: neither does it display the REAL Alzheimer as it is, nor does it deal with this overall issue adequately! Instead it seems to take the Mickey out of the subject and mock at both these patients and their relatives! Nobody ever would act or react as these stupid folks in this stupid movie do - neither the Alzheimer-candidate nor the Alzheimer-relatives! So is this funny? Not at all. Alzheimer means real horror. So is this helpful (in dealing with that disease)? Not at all. It just shows some stupid clowns walking around like brainless ants in a totally senseless plot.

The fact, that this whole stupid crap even won some award really makes all this even worse: cause it doesn't mean that this movie has got at least some hidden qualities, but it rather does show in what sorry state we live in. These idiotic awards this moron-movie won is just the proof of the sensational shortcomings of our so-called "culture" and our completely insane Zeitgeist, that obviously sipped into the minds of the makers of this movie and as well into the minds of the jury that made this movie have awards, on top of everything, and nothing more.

Luckily my TV has got an off-button. So I turned the frickin' sh-t off after 40 minutes, cause I couldn't stand it anymore. 140 Minutes of mere garbage? Unbearable! Is there some super-extra-money if a movie-maker crosses the 120-minute-line? I just wonder how sick a brain must be to write some stuff like this! But Schweiger outed himself on various occasions as warmonger and at the same time "fascist anti-fascist" (yes, such people do exist indeed today!) and also as an as violent as antidemocratic refugee-lover. So what can one really expect from such a distorted mind full of sh.t like Schweiger's?

I am surprised that so many other reviewers have taken exception to HÖNIG IM KOPF. The visual style of director/ star Til Schweiger takes a bit of getting used to (with fast intercuts between the characters, analogous to a pop video), but the action remains firmly protagonist-focused, especially on the relationship between Alzheimer's victim Amandus (Dieter Hallervorden) and his granddaughter Tilda (Emma Schweiger). The two of them remain close through thick and thin, even when Amandus appears to be losing his mind for good.

The subject-matter is difficult to dramatize, as anyone who has experienced the trauma of coping with an Alzheimer's victim will testify. Amandus means well, but it's clear that he cannot cope on his own; he has lost his sense of direction, and has little or no connection to the outside world. Neither Tilda's father Niko (Til Schweiger) nor her mother Sarah (Jeanette Hain) can really understand the nature of Amandus's condition, and hence it's hardly surprising that Sarah should frequently lose her temper on seeing the carnage that her father-in-law has caused.

The story takes a sentimental twist in the second half as Tilda and Amandus embark on an ambitious journey to Venice, where Amandus enjoyed his happiest days. Some of the plot-lines are highly implausible, especially in the way others treat Amandus, despite his medical condition. But perhaps that doesn't matter; we rejoice in the fact that the old man has a renewed purpose in life, which restores at least some of his connection to the outside world.

Shot throughout in bright colors, with a particular focus on the glorious landscapes of Austria, Germany, and Venice, HÖNIG IM KOPF has a feel-good ending in which Tilda's parents come to understand the true purpose of their lives, while Tilda (who also narrates the tale) realizes that her bond with Amandus will survive, even after his passing.

Head Full of Honey fmovies. ...as if a dementia patient can give funny replies.... ...as if a dementia patient without a clue just do things - like making coffee, clipping the hedge.... ...as if a dementia patient really have remorse... ...as if a dementia patient understands (subtle) humour... as if...I could go on.

The film crew has no idea what it's like to care for a patient with dementia, to live with that person, to master everyday life. Alzheimer has been glorified lately. That's not right. I like the idea of awareness but not glorification.

The portrait family is naive and reckless. There is nothing funny about ignorant behaviour.

The only highlight of that movie is the pediatrician, explaining what Alzheimer is like, what the patient truly needs....

My resume, disappointing like most German movies. It's all about sex....just sex.

A beautifully filmed but ultimately disappointing film. The first hour, watching an utterly clueless couple in complete denial about the mental state of the husband's father isn't funny - it's painful and disturbing. The saving grace is that this is probably how so many people really do try to deal with a loved one with dementia. Apparently no one in the family knows how to look up more information on the Internet about dementia and caregiving. No idea whatsoever as to why the husband stays with the wife, who is completely unsympathetic. The grand-daughter and grandfather are charming - but that no one intervenes when, say, they see this young child removing this old man's pants on a train is just unbelievable. The film is worth watching to explain to someone what dementia can look like, but it is NOT a good film for explaining how to care for someone with such (except to say "Here's what NOT to do.").

Go and see this film, next week, tomorrow, right now!

No matter how old you are or of what gender or what you think about both Til Schweiger or Dieter Hallervorden. Go and see this film. It's worth it. It will touch you, even if you're a tough guy. It will amaze you. It will make you silently cry into your tissue. Silently, because you don't want to miss out on the next joke. Yes, this film is drama and comedy and character study and at the same time not shy to do fart jokes. It's the best by and with Til Schweiger I've seen and I certainly don't fancy him. But he knows so well what he is doing and in this film he placed himself rather in the background.

Because the foreground is taken by Dieter Hallervorden, known for silly silly silly comedies in the 70s and 80s and delivering here a performance which is prizeworthy. And by Emma Schweiger, who is not only an actor's cute daughter dragged in front of the camera to make daddy happy, but she can act and very well so and carries with her eleven years one half of the film on her shoulders.

Go and see this film. And you, distributors out there in the world, make sure people around the world CAN actually see this film and bring it to lots and lots and lots of cinemas. Everywhere. North, south, east, west. Please. I never give ten out of ten, but this time there was no other choice. I couldn't give eleven out of ten.

See. This. Film!