★ 7 / 10
Inner peace (out)
As in ... no peace to be found. No pun intended - therefor also unable to find it (well you know what I mean). I actually had a similar concept that maybe one…
As in ... no peace to be found. No pun intended - therefor also unable to find it (well you know what I mean). I actually had a similar concept that maybe one day I will realize. Now I went a different direction or rather will go a different way.This starts off quite high and good - there is so much conflict ... both characters have their reasons and they do make sense. That said, you may wonder why they are together in the first place .. the chemistry does not always feel like it is there.Now love is work - if you believe that ... you'll buy way more into that. If you are more into the romantic description of everything ... you will find it hard to suspend your disbelief. That said, the actors are really great in this ... and their obstacles are and feel real. So after some hurdles (script wise) and some pacing issues ... and some inconsistencies when it comes to motivation or rather plausibility.Life plays its own game - the overall mood and themes do work here ... and it's not Million minutes long or feels like it.
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★ 10 / 10
One of the most beautiful road trip films I've ever seen
This film is beautiful. It is about much more than a family dealing with illness. It is also about the meaning of life, the decisions we make, the obsession…
This film is beautiful. It is about much more than a family dealing with illness. It is also about the meaning of life, the decisions we make, the obsession with careers over family and overall happiness. As a road trip travel film, it is one of the best and most realistic I've ever seen and I say this as someone who has travelled to 150 countries. Ignore the pretentious reviews, this film is a lovely happy fun adventure. I wish more films like this were made today.
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★ 4 / 10
Unrealistic and Shallow
Eine Millionen Minuten is, in my view, one of the most superficial and naïve films I have seen.The premise is as follows: a couple's daughter is diagnosed with…
Eine Millionen Minuten is, in my view, one of the most superficial and naïve films I have seen.The premise is as follows: a couple's daughter is diagnosed with a motor impairment, although she otherwise appears to function normally. I was initially interested in the film because I expected an exploration of how parents emotionally and practically cope with such a challenge.Instead, the parents arrive at what is presented as a "profound" solution: embarking on a two-year journey, first to Thailand and then to Iceland. This choice struck me as highly unrealistic and poorly thought out. It is difficult to understand how such prolonged instability could be beneficial for a child with special needs.As a parent myself, I am convinced that what children need most, especially those facing developmental challenges-is consistent care, emotional security, and stability. Unfortunately, the film overlooks these fundamental aspects, resulting in a story that feels detached from real parental responsibility and lived experience.At one point in the film, the father refers to Thailand as a "paradise." This raises the question of what, exactly, qualifies Thailand as a paradise in his view. Is it simply the warm climate and the exotic imagery? If that is the case, then by the same logic Iceland would not qualify as such even though the parents seem to admire it in the movie. I found this puzzling.The film appears to rely on a simplistic and romanticized notion of place, reducing entire countries to aesthetic backdrops rather than meaningful contexts. More broadly, it reflects a recurring tendency among some Western perspectives to idealize distant countries while undervaluing their own. I find this outlook difficult to relate. Why is Thailand a "paradise" and Germany not?Ultimately, what I found most disappointing about the film is that the child's motor impairment is not treated as a central theme. Instead, the narrative focuses primarily on the parents' ill-conceived journey to two different countries, which becomes the film's main preoccupation. At times, the movie even resembles a promotional piece, effectively advertising Iceland and Thailand as leisure destinations.Moreover, both the mother and the child are portrayed in ways that make them difficult to empathize with. The one redeeming element is the performance of the actor playing the father, who brings enough credibility and restraint to make an otherwise weak film at least somewhat watchable.
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6.5/10
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Thanks a lot Freeman. Tom Schilling's films are generally entertaining.