For some reason, I had made up my mind not to enjoy this movie, but I did. Especially the segment about the teenage shoplifter and her brawling parents is so involving they should have a movie of their own. Mr. Suter, if you're reading this, what about a spin-off on what the future holds for Jessica and Vince? The two other main plot lines, about Giulia's 50th and Leonie's 80th birthday, are more subtle, but not nearly as intriguing as the family feud. Sunnyi Melles, however, puts in a radiant guest appearance as a glamorous gate crasher at Giulia's party. She's the real deal. In the golden days of Hollywood, she would have been up there with Jean Harlow.
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richard_sleboe19 February 2010
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Horst_In_Translation26 May 2016"Giulias Verschwinden" or "Julia's Disappearance" is a German 85-minute film from 7 years ago and the only somewhat negative thing I can say here is that the title is not the best in terms of describing the movie. Crinna Harfouch's character is far from the lead or main protagonist here, but this movie is a perfect example of an ensemble work. As a consequence, you will find more than a handful names in here that are somewhat famous, at least to fans of German cinema. One of the standouts (apart from Christine Schorn, Sunnyi Melles and Stefan Kurt) is Bruno Ganz once again. I am certainly a bit biased when it comes to him as I really like his approach on acting, but it looks so easy here how he creates a character with so much depth.
Another thing I liked here is that this film is really about people from all age groups, some very young, some very old and everything in-between. And it is very essential because of the runtime I mentioned. I never felt it dragged and it was very much spot-on for almost the entire runtime. The puns were smart and I never had the intention to watch actors here. Instead it all seemed quite authentic. German audiences should not be confused with this being a Swiss production. The language is standard German and you will understand everything perfectly. I think this little film here is a bit of a hidden gem. It has really good humor, depth and makes a strong statement about ageism. I highly recommend the watch.