Russendisko (2012) User Reviews (3)

Same as usual with Schweighöfer

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 19 November 2015]

"Russendisko" is a German 100-minute movie from 3 years ago starring Matthies Schweighöfer and Friedrick Mücke (these 2 often play together) plus Christian Friedel, who is mostly known for playing the main character in the Oscar-nominated "The White Ribbon". The writer and director is Oliver Ziegenbalg and while he wrote quite a few films already (also movies starring Schweighöfer and Mücke), he has never directed a film before or after "Russendisko". This film is based on the very successful autobiographical Wladimir Kaminer novel and Schweighöfer also plays Kaminer in here.

The story is about 3 young Russians and focuses on the usual: love, friendship, fun etc. and a touch more about where you belong this time compared to other Schweighöfer films. And as usual, he is pretty underwhelming. I will never understand why he or his movies are so famous as he does not have a lot of range and basically plays the same character in every movie. Only makeup and costumes tend do differ. I personally would not have known that this was about Kaminer if it hadn't been told us early on. Then again, this may also be the reason because the book is simply not interesting or memorable enough in terms of the story to make this a working movie. In any case, I did not care for any of the characters and I find Schweighöfer with his mannerisms as unlikeable as usual. The voice-over narration is pretty bad too. He certainly is not a good narrator at all. There are parts of the story that I find very unrealistic, but I'll give them the favor of the doubt here as a lot of it probably really happened.

As a whole, this is nowhere near Germany's best films of the last 5 years in terms of quality. Do not be fooled by it being among Germany's most famous films of the last 5 years. I am yet to see a performance by Schweighöfer that I find really convincing. Honestly, I don't think he has it in him and I doubt it will ever gonna happen. "Russendisko" is a disappointing movie and I do not recommend it. The only positive thing about it is the music on 2-3 occasions.

Predictable mess

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 9 June 2012]

That may sound harsh and I guess for people who are not watching many movies this will seem, kind of OK. I can only give you my viewpoint. There are a few chances (missed ones that is), the movie gives away for free, where it could've scored. While this is based on a true story (character, he also must be in the movie, if I'm not mistaken, had no idea what he looked like, but even that cameo is predictable and obvious, that it almost hurts).

The acting is mostly OK, especially considering the material on hand. There is nothing to really play of. You also get a spiritual side story, that might be true, but does not translate well on screen. Not the way it is portrayed anyways. It's not the worst movie released this year or any other year, but you could spend your time better (maybe even read the real story behind this movie, I'm sure it's more interesting)

Ridiculous

[Ehrgeiz · 1/10 · 10 November 2015]

This movie is about three immigrants from the wave of Russians with German or Jewish ancestry, of which many came to Germany between 1989 and 1993. Its simply ruined by the strange decision to let the three main actors speak in perfect high German and not do accents, which everyone coming from Russia I met at that time, had. In their suits they also look like modern hipsters. So they come off more as the annoying douchebags you can find in every bar in Berlin today. Maybe they thought it was "racist" to let these guys sound as if they were from Russia, but it s not fitting at all especially since this is kind of a time piece.

Equally fatal is the decision to put Matthias Schweighöfer in the main role. His acting style is polarizing anyways (imagine a 30 year old man talking, grinning and gesturing like a child actor as Macaulay Culkin, but many think its "sweet"), but here it looks like he intentionally avoided to give his role any depth with his constant frolicking and grimacing. Unfortunately, despite its about three friends, he is in nearly every scene.