The kangaroo chronicles (film)

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Movie
Original title The kangaroo chronicles
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2020
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
JMK 10
Rod
Director Dani Levy
script Marc-Uwe Kling
production Stefan Arndt ,
Uwe Schott ,
Michael Polle
music Niki Reiser
camera Filip Zumbrunn
cut Toni Froschhammer
occupation

The Kangaroo Chronicles is a German comedy film by Dani Levy about the characters in the novel The Kangaroo Chronicles by Marc-Uwe Kling , who wrote the screenplay himself. It is a combination of real film and computer animation . The film was released in German cinemas on March 5, 2020.

action

When the doorbell rings one day at the door of the small artist Marc-Uwe Kling , who lives in Berlin-Kreuzberg , he makes the acquaintance of a communist kangaroo who has occupied the apartment opposite. Since the police are looking for the animal, the anarchist Marc-Uwe creates a flat-sharing community.

A year later, both found out that the right-wing populist Jörg Dwigs, a politician from the “Alternative to Democracy” - AzD for short - and head of “Our Homeland AG” had bought the property in the adjacent Görlitzer Park and his Europa Tower there Symbol of patriotism , want to build. A little later, the duo attracted the displeasure of a group of neo-Nazis , who followed both of them to their house. The kangaroo runs over the Dwigs who are also present and steals his car keys. As a result, the neo-Nazis smash Dwigs' car, believing it belongs to Marc-Uwe, whereupon they owe the right-wing populist. At the same time, the kangaroo removes a rabbit's paw from Dwigs' car key , which is of great value to the politician because it is the last memory of his deceased father.

When the kangaroo and Marc-Uwe, together with other neighbors, set up the “ anti-social network” and fight for the preservation of the park, Dwigs becomes aware of the kangaroo's rabbit paw. He then sends the neo-Nazis and has the kangaroo and Marc-Uwe beaten up until they surrender his property. When both go to Dwigs afterwards, he reveals to them that he is also planning to demolish their house.

Through his psychotherapist, also Dwigs' therapist, Marc-Uwe found out the weak point of the right-wing populist: Dwigs had some reports falsified in order to conceal the fact that the costs for the Europa Tower are many times higher than known to the public is. Thereupon Marc-Uwe and his neighbor Maria, for whom he has romantic feelings, decides to sneak to a party organized by Dwigs in order to get evidence of the politician's deception. Marc-Uwe, the kangaroo and Maria gain access to the party through invitations that the kangaroo stole during the visit to Dwigs' headquarters. While the small artist distracts the guests with a song he wrote himself, Maria and the kangaroo visit Dwigs' office. There they can download secret files from Dwigs' computer, which in retrospect turn out to be completely worthless, while the kangaroo cannot fail to steal the rabbit's paw one more time.

In the attempted escape from the party the kangaroo controls a car from Dwigs in the pool, which is why Marc-Uwe is arrested and temporarily in custody must. After his deposit has been paid through crowdfunding , the “anti-social network” gathers to sabotage the laying of the foundation stone of the Europa Tower. After this succeeds, Dwigs sends the neo-Nazis into the house again. While the residents barricade themselves, Marc-Uwe accidentally finds the incriminating evidence against Dwigs in a USB stick integrated into the rabbit's paw. Maria can put the newly acquired information online, whereupon Dwigs, his henchmen and the neo-Nazis are arrested by the police.

In one (of the three) post-credit scenes it is revealed that Unser Heimat AG was bought by the Pinguin .

production

In March 2018 it became known that the text collection The Kangaroo Chronicles , written by Marc-Uwe Kling , would be made into a film and should originally be released in cinemas in the course of 2019. While Kling is responsible for the script himself, Dani Levy took over the direction. He said in an interview that he had only partially dealt with the underlying story before his engagement; it was his children who ultimately persuaded him to take on the director's position. His task was also to transform the "completely anecdotal" story of Kling, consisting of sketches, into a cinematic plot. Ultimately, working on the film was a "very useful experience" for him. The production company was X Films Creative Pool , which worked with Warner Bros. for distribution , and ZDF co-produced it . In addition, the film project was awarded 800,000 euros production support from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and other funding from the German Federal Film Fund , the Central German Media Promotion , the German Federal Film Board , the Commissioner for Culture and Media and the FilmFernsehFonds Bavaria .

Filming began in Berlin and the surrounding area on September 26, 2018 . At the same time, the cast of the film, including Volker Zack , Dimitrij Schaad , Rosalie Thomass , Carmen-Maja Antoni , Henry Hübchen , Tim Seyfi , Adnan Maral , Bettina Lamprecht and Oskar Strohecker , was announced. The eponymous kangaroo was spoken by Marc-Uwe Kling himself, while Zack practiced motion capture on the set . For this he wore a special suit with sensors, which also had a tail to keep an eye on the distance to surrounding objects. In addition, Zack had to bend over and be considerate of a kangaroo's small arms. The kangaroo was later animated by the German VFX studio Trixter using his template . For this, director Levy previously designed fifty different facial expressions with which each scene was planned in relation to the gestures and facial expressions of the kangaroo. This made it easier for the animations to implement Levy's ideas as precisely as possible. Shooting ended on November 20, 2018.

In October 2019, the German theatrical release was dated March 5, 2020. A first 50-second teaser was released on November 15, 2019 , the trailer followed on December 11, 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated nationwide cinema closings , the film has been available digitally since April 2, 2020, with one Part of the download revenue is to be donated to cinemas. With the reopening of the movie theaters, the film was shown again, with a version with a 3D scene also being published from July 2, 2020 under the title Die Kangaroo Chronicles Reloaded .

reception

Age rating

In Germany, the film received no age limit from the FSK . The reasoning states that the story is told in a cheerful atmosphere and bright pictures, with many overdrawings and slapstick interludes as well as satirical dialogues. Good and bad are easy to distinguish. Occasional threatening moments could irritate smaller children for a short time, but since they would quickly be resolved again harmoniously, they did not develop any lasting overwhelming effect. The always clearly recognizable comedic tone of voice and the animated kangaroo, which provides orientation as a cheerful hero, would provide enough relief for even the youngest.

Reviews

source rating
IMDb

The Kangaroo Chronicles was included in the preselection for the German Film Award at the beginning of January 2020 .

Magdalena Pulz from the Süddeutsche Zeitung draws an overall positive conclusion. Although the film adopts many gags and plot elements from Kling's already known publications and mostly relies on clichés and obvious jokes, it is never directed against fringe groups or uses stereotypes. Instead, the film, equipped with a phenomenal joke, takes a clear position against Nazis and the “average xenophob”. The implementation of the kangaroo, which is not animated too cuddly, is particularly successful. Also Bettina Lamprecht convince a successful timing for punch lines. In addition, the work offers some cinematic comedy and some political theory for the younger audience.

Katharina Zeckau from Filmdienst is also very positive about the film. The kangaroo chronicles make generous use of his literary templates and offer an "astonishingly coherent story". The "satirical-political-anarchic spirit" is transferred surprisingly well into the film medium. The absurd humor of Marc-Uwe Kling is congenially implemented by Dani Levy . There are “incredibly weird, sometimes profound, very often political and almost always highly comical debates” between the main characters, plus lots of good ideas, quotes, puns and nice marginal details. In addition, the film scores with lovingly developed and played characters, a convincing animation of the kangaroo and some reminiscences .

Bert Rebhandl comes to a mixed verdict in his review in the FAZ . The film tends to stumble along, the love story doesn't really come to life and the costume, decor and locations seem strangely artificial. The scene with the Austrian Paulus Manker is particularly memorable , in which it becomes clear "that the profession of Marc-Uwe Kling and his kangaroo is simply the kitchen table dialogue, the dialogue in a free association that cannot be caught by external action". Rebhandl comes to the conclusion that the film falls significantly behind the “scenic reflexivity of the book” because it has to tell too much.

Martin Schwickert from the Rheinische Post , however, could not be convinced by the film. According to him, a serious mistake in the film adaptation was that the first-person narrator was converted from the original into a film character, whereby his “laconic world of thought” falls by the wayside in incomplete dialogues and “specific irony” is neglected. Likewise, the idea of ​​the kangaroo as a roommate is "wonderfully weird in writing", but it is not convincing on the big screen, which results in a more strenuous than funny plot. In conclusion, Schwickert draws that the film does not come close to the quality of the books and mutates into a "moderately anarchist, moderately entertaining cabaret event".

Visitor numbers and box office earnings

With 375,000 moviegoers in the first four days after its release, 321,000 of which were sold on the weekend alone, the film took first place in the German cinema charts and at the same time recorded the best start of a German film in 2020. After movie theaters across Germany were increasingly closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic , Die Kangaroo Chronicles again reached the top position in the cinema charts on the second weekend with just 90,000 visitors, before all cinemas across Germany ceased operations for several months had to. In the following two months, around 100,000 people nevertheless watched The Kangaroo Chronicles in drive - in theaters . The film recorded a total of around 774,000 admissions, making it 7th among the most successful films of the year in Germany . According to Box Office Mojo , he was able to bring in $ 5.08 million, around 4.65 million euros.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for The Kangaroo Chronicles . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 197699 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Age designation for The Kangaroo Chronicles . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b The bestseller "The Kangaroo Chronicles" is filmed. In: Der Spiegel . March 18, 2018, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Levy: "The kangaroo was a very useful experience!" In: Inforadio . March 3, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b c Sidney Schering: Marc-Uwe Kling's iconic “Kangaroo Chronicles” have a theatrical release. In : quotemeter.de . October 15, 2019, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Laura Eberle: The kangaroo chronicles by Marc-Uwe Kling are coming to the cinema. In: Moviepilot . March 2, 2018, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  7. ↑ X Films Creative Pool produces "The Kangaroo Chronicles". In: x-verleih.de. October 2, 2018, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Actor reveals at the cinema release: This is how you play a kangaroo. In: Westfälische Rundschau . March 4, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Gunda Bartels: Schnapps vs. Pig system. In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 2, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  10. ^ Adrian Prechtel: Dani Levy on the "kangaroo chronicles". In: evening newspaper . March 4, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  11. ↑ ZDF and X Films film the bestselling audio book "The Kangaroo Chronicles". In: presseportal.de. October 2, 2018, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Tobias Mayer: "The Kangaroo Chronicles": In the trailer for the bestseller film, capitalism breaks. In: film starts . November 15, 2019, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Teresa Otto: "The Kangaroo Chronicles": The first trailer shows a communist kangaroo to fall in love with. In: kino.de. December 11, 2019, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Björn Becher: Stream the movie hit “The Kangaroo Chronicles” from today and support cinemas. In: film starts . April 2, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Sebastian Wellendorf: "With one leg in jail". In: Deutschlandfunk . April 2, 2020, accessed April 15, 2020 .
  16. ↑ a b Sidney Schering: The three-dimensional kangaroo: “The Kangaroo Chronicles” will be released in a new version in July. In : quotemeter.de . May 20, 2020, accessed May 20, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Reasons for approval in: spio-fsk.de, accessed on April 11, 2020.
  18. ↑ The kangaroo chronicles in the Internet Movie Database (English)Template: IMDb / Maintenance / "imported from" is missing
  19. ↑ preselection. In: German Film Award . Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  20. ↑ Magdalena Pulz: "The Kangaroo Chronicles" now available digitally. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . April 2, 2020, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Katharina Zeckau: Congenial adaptation of the “Kangaroo” novels by Marc-Uwe Kling. In: Filmdienst . Retrieved April 12, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Bert Rebhandl: Latest bag Germans. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 5, 2020, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Martin Schwickert: Unfortunately, the film can't quite keep up with the books. In: Rheinische Post . March 4, 2020, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Top 10 Germany March 2020 In: insidekino.de, accessed on April 11, 2020.
  25. ↑ Laura Friedrich: “The Kangaroo Chronicles” are right at the top of the cinema charts. In : quotemeter.de . March 9, 2020, accessed April 11, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Sidney Schering: Cinema in Times of Corona: Worldwide catastrophic numbers. In : quotemeter.de . March 16, 2020, accessed April 11, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Top 100 Germany 2020 In: insidekino.de, accessed on August 27, 2020.
  28. ↑ The Kangaroo Chronicles In: Box Office Mojo , accessed July 20, 2020.