Cinema Report #31 - Safirblau (Sapphire Blue)
I have no idea if this film is available in English, too, since it’s based on a German book and has been brought to the big screen as a German production. Funny enough, since the story mainly takes place in London, all letters and books etc. the characters find are in English.
It’s actually the 2nd part of a trilogy and I don’t know if I would have read the books or watched the films if part my hometown wouldn’t have been used as scenery. Young Adult romance / coming-of age stories more often aren’t my cup of tea than they are, it really depends on the background and additional genre. In this case, we have fantasy / time-travel, which is of general interest to me.
As it’s often with German movies, I hardly know any of the actors and I’m not very impressed by their acting skills. They are not very bad in this case, but far from brilliant either. Although, we saw Gwen’s (the heroine) grandfather as a young man this time, and I think he was quite good at it. The evil guy still simply is ridiculous, and I’m not even sure if he is meant to be that way.
The special effects are rather nice for a local production. There is that time-travel device, into which somebody really put a lot of effort, and the scenery and costumes look good in all time zones, too. I’m just not sure if that one trip into the past was meant to look like and be played like a comedy version of that time. If I were really interested in the matter, I would check the book - but I’m not. From this part on, there also is a little gargoyle / demon that only Gwen can see. It’s as funny and cute (and annoying) as I imagined it in the books, and again a rather well made.
I was glad, however, that my poor memory has already forgotten most of that 2nd book by now. When I watched the 1st film, it confused me a lot that they changed the order of events almost constantly and added some info that isn’t known until much later, even if it made more sense that way. This time, I could just enjoy whatever story they wanted to tell me and it wasn’t until the very end that I remembered something that still had to happen and why.
The whole business of that “first love” which constantly teeters between feeling betrayed / jealous / happy is at least as annoying as the little gargoyle who is just happy that finally somebody can see and hear him. Especially since most of that drama could be prevented if those who demand honesty would be honest themselves and if these love-birds just would allow the other to finish speaking once in a while. And when they get to speak, they simply don’t answer the questions they’ve been asked, so that the other one is left to make wild assumptions.
The remaining plot and character development is only slightly more interesting or surprising. Even in the books, it was obvious from the very start that the rebel time-travellers are Gwen’s real parents and I still wonder if it was meant to be that obvious to anyone but the characters themselves. And the plan of the bad guy is simply “I want it all and will kill anyone who is in my way”, which renders the over-complicated and over-secretive details rather irrelevant.
So yes, I’m watching this films mainly for the scenery - and I’m equally happy whenever I can recognize London or my hometown.
It’s actually the 2nd part of a trilogy and I don’t know if I would have read the books or watched the films if part my hometown wouldn’t have been used as scenery. Young Adult romance / coming-of age stories more often aren’t my cup of tea than they are, it really depends on the background and additional genre. In this case, we have fantasy / time-travel, which is of general interest to me.
As it’s often with German movies, I hardly know any of the actors and I’m not very impressed by their acting skills. They are not very bad in this case, but far from brilliant either. Although, we saw Gwen’s (the heroine) grandfather as a young man this time, and I think he was quite good at it. The evil guy still simply is ridiculous, and I’m not even sure if he is meant to be that way.
The special effects are rather nice for a local production. There is that time-travel device, into which somebody really put a lot of effort, and the scenery and costumes look good in all time zones, too. I’m just not sure if that one trip into the past was meant to look like and be played like a comedy version of that time. If I were really interested in the matter, I would check the book - but I’m not. From this part on, there also is a little gargoyle / demon that only Gwen can see. It’s as funny and cute (and annoying) as I imagined it in the books, and again a rather well made.
I was glad, however, that my poor memory has already forgotten most of that 2nd book by now. When I watched the 1st film, it confused me a lot that they changed the order of events almost constantly and added some info that isn’t known until much later, even if it made more sense that way. This time, I could just enjoy whatever story they wanted to tell me and it wasn’t until the very end that I remembered something that still had to happen and why.
The whole business of that “first love” which constantly teeters between feeling betrayed / jealous / happy is at least as annoying as the little gargoyle who is just happy that finally somebody can see and hear him. Especially since most of that drama could be prevented if those who demand honesty would be honest themselves and if these love-birds just would allow the other to finish speaking once in a while. And when they get to speak, they simply don’t answer the questions they’ve been asked, so that the other one is left to make wild assumptions.
The remaining plot and character development is only slightly more interesting or surprising. Even in the books, it was obvious from the very start that the rebel time-travellers are Gwen’s real parents and I still wonder if it was meant to be that obvious to anyone but the characters themselves. And the plan of the bad guy is simply “I want it all and will kill anyone who is in my way”, which renders the over-complicated and over-secretive details rather irrelevant.
So yes, I’m watching this films mainly for the scenery - and I’m equally happy whenever I can recognize London or my hometown.