Review of "Datsche"

 

This a German comedy, and I am beginning to suspect (a) that this is a real thing and (b) that I am never going to understand anything in that genre. Bits of fall into the 'screwball' category - the young people who are the characters are mainly pretty stupid and do stupid things that don't serve their own interests very well. There's a refugee character who provides the serious dimension and sometimes punctures the silliness, but he and they are all lovable. Even the neo-Nazi next door is more a figure of fun than a serious threat (described in the film's blurb as a 'nosy neighbour' rather than a right-wing psychopath who tries to burn the other characters and himself to death). There's partying, silly games, overcrowding in a tiny allotment summerhouse, and that sort of thing. One of the characters is a Bavarian, and I think there are some dialect and regionalist jokes that are completely inaccessible - one of the Prussian characters keeps substituting another word for his name, for example.

In the end I quite liked it, but Ruth had given up watching by then.

Watched on Amazon Prime via Chromecast and smartphone.