Brilliant fantasy film from Germany doesn’t need Hollywood effects to be convincing as an adventure trip

Many fantasy films have a “quest”, a mission that the heroic team must complete on their epic journey. Frodo brings the ring to Mordor. Harry Potter fights Voldemort. And Reiner is now traveling to Netflix
Sophia, death & me to his mother.

Sophia, Death & I on Netflix: A successful fantasy “epic” from Germany

Dimitrij Schaad plays Reiner and once again has to deal with strange doorbells. Only this time it’s not a communist kangaroo, but death at the door: The Grim Reaper wants to take the man, who is just in his mid-30s, with him. His time is up due to an undetected heart defect. But Reiner doesn’t want to die yet and due to the chain of several (un)fortunate circumstances, the doomed man doesn’t die within the prescribed three minutes. What that Death complicates.

Suddenly the failed collector Morten de Sarg (Marc Hosemann) is part of the mortal world and ex-girlfriend Sophia (Anna Maria bother), whom Reiner actually only wanted to pick up for the trip to his mother’s (Johanna Gastdorf) birthday, is also part of the party . One intentionally non-epic but always wonderfully funny fantasy odyssey through Germany begins.

The fact that the Grim Reaper rides the train and walks around with a white-faced face doesn’t seem to bother anyone in the fantasy world of director and actor Charly Hübner. You’re too busy anyway to be amused by the quixotic deathwho discovered German life for the first time.

The film Sophia, Death and I doesn’t need any big visual effects à la Hollywood. The highest of fantasy feelings is perhaps the lightning duel between two grim reapers, which is broken by the fact that it takes place in an allotment. The scaled-back special effects have a method here to focus on the wonderful quirky characters to lay. It is anyway Much funnier when the Grim Reapers and Grim Reapers operate out of a divine snack bar.

This fantasy film impresses on Netflix with its German quirks, humor and depth

In Germany, a film country that tends to shy away from fantasy, Sophia, Death & I is a breath of fresh air between historical dramas and crime scenes. But that doesn’t mean that history forgets its native roots. In fact, quite the opposite: the tragicomedy lives with it detailed local color It only really comes into its own when she serves limp sausage as a hotel breakfast, alienates grumpy conductors and praises mother’s homemade jam “without too much sugar”.

For all its (East) German charm and dry gallows humor, the fantasy comedy doesn’t forget its haunting moments either. When Rainer looks inwards and asks himself what he actually achieved in his small existence before death, In addition to all the strains on the laughing muscles, it still gets to the heart. Here, between fantasy absurdities, the film strikes the right tone between casual humor and relatable tragedy.

In Sophia, Death & I, Germany becomes Middle Earth in Central Europe – at least almost. Crossing your homeland by train and car is perhaps not as great an achievement as Frodo marching to Mordor. But if we start in Berlin, get to the sea and then head south into the mountains, the end is that Germany trip as a fantasy quest still a touchingly well-rounded thing.

Sophia, Death & I is streaming on Netflix from today, April 30, 2024.

Podcast for Netflix’s big fantasy remake Avatar: Lord of the Elements

With Avatar: Lord of the Elements, Netflix has relaunched an acclaimed animated series in live-action form. But can the live-action remake of Avatar live up to high expectations this time after the first cinematic adaptation of the fantasy adventure failed?

We look at the strengths and weaknesses of the new Avatar series as fantasy entertainment and, as fans of the original, we also go into detail about changes, hidden details and Easter eggs in the second part of the podcast.

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