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Schultze Gets the Blues (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 63
Fresh: 45
Rotten:18
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Consensus: Schultze Gets the Blues is a sweet and charming dark comedy.
Theatrical Release:Feb 18, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $413,801
Synopsis: After portly German salt miner Schultze (Horst Krause) and his cronies are forced into retirement, the emptiness of their nowhere, smalltown-Germany existence becomes sadly apparent. The only... After portly German salt miner Schultze (Horst Krause) and his cronies are forced into retirement, the emptiness of their nowhere, smalltown-Germany existence becomes sadly apparent. The only bachelor in his circle, Schultze falls into a dull routine of playing accordion in a polka band, fishing, napping, and tending to his garden gnomes. Then a chance encounter with Cajun zydeco music turns his life around, a little. Soon he is cooking jambalaya for his pals and playing zydeco to the somewhat shocked denizens of his sleepy burg. When his friends arrange for him to be sent to the U.S. for a German folk festival, Schultze seizes the opportunity to visit the Louisiana bayou, and so his one chance at a wild adventure in life begins. Overcoming the language barrier through his hat-doffing, old-world charm, Schultze finds himself strangely at home in this new environment. SCHULTZE is a slow-moving but lovely little tale about facing mortality, and how the power of both music and human kindness can transcend borders and boundaries, no matter what one's age. Director Michael Schorr plays this--his feature film debut--in a wonderfully deadpan, minor key. The film manages to be deeply moving without ever resorting to standard "fish out of water" cliches or manipulative soundtrack cues. Krause is resoundingly authentic in the title role, and the various (actual location) landscapes are rendered with haunting, lyrical realism. [More]
Starring: Horst Krause, Karl-Fred Muller, Rosemarie Deibel, Wilhelmine Horschig
Starring: Horst Krause, Karl-Fred Muller, Rosemarie Deibel, Wilhelmine Horschig, Anne V. Angelle
Director: Michael Schorr
Director: Michael Schorr
Screenwriter: Michael Schorr
Producer: Jens Korner, Thomas Riedel, Oliver Niemeier
Composer: Thomas Wittenbacher
Studio: Paramount Classics
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Reviews for Schultze Gets the Blues
A film with two opposite interpretations to its title -- figuratively sad, literally joyful.
A delightful oddball German comedy about a retired mine worker's musical quest.
Like the films of Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismäki, Schultze Gets the Blues uses dry humor to extract laughs out of mundane situations.
It's a bit of a surprise when the film ends and you realize that you've been touched in unanticipated ways by Schultze's solitary quest.
He does, but you probably won't, especially from watching this movie.
Krause, a natural physical comic, lights up with endearingly childish glee as he joyously samples his new life.
An uncommonly good-natured and simple film, bearing no malice, holding no agenda, desiring no undue attention.
When his friends send him off to America to his town's sister city of New Braunfels for Wurstfest, Schultze begins to spiral out of control.
The film's sparseness has an off-putting effect on the viewer. Schultze, the character, remains more an idea or concept than a fleshed-out human being.
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