The amazing life of Walter Mitty
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The amazing life of Walter Mitty |
| Original title | The Secret Life of Walter Mitty |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 114 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 6 JMK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ben Stiller |
| script | Steve Conrad |
| production |
Samuel Goldwyn junior John Goldwyn Stuart Cornfeld Ben Stiller |
| music | Theodore Shapiro |
| camera | Stuart Dryburgh |
| cut | Greg Hayden |
| occupation | |
| |
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a American comedy - drama in which Ben Stiller directs and plays the lead role. The film is based on the short story Walter Mitty's Secret Life by James Thurber and is his second adaptation after The Double Life of Mr. Mitty from 1947. The film opened on December 25, 2013 in US cinemas. The German theatrical release took place on January 1, 2014. The film grossed $ 188.2 million worldwide.
action
Walter Mitty heads the photo archive of the renowned Life magazine . Again and again he falls into daydreams in which he experiences heroic adventures and finds his great love. He meets his new colleague, the single parent Cheryl, but at first does not dare to speak to her. Cheryl, as Walter, a profile in the online Love cards eHarmony connected, and the local relationship manager Todd Walter Maher calls again and again to assist in the design of its profile.
It is announced that the magazine will only appear online in the future. The arrogant manager Hendricks leads the restructuring of the company, which should fall victim to numerous jobs. The cover of the last printed edition of the magazine is said to be decorated with a photo of the well-known Life photographer Sean O'Connell, which he sent as a gift to Walter as part of a photo series along with a leather, hand-signed wallet. It turns out, however, that the negative of the cover photo of all things has disappeared and cannot be found. Hendricks threatens Walter with firing if the missing negative doesn't reappear.
Since O'Connell travels all over the world for his photos, he can hardly be contacted. Walter and Cheryl find out that he might be in Greenland , and Walter spontaneously follows him. There he learns that O'Connell has taken a fishing boat out to sea and that a delivery for the ship will soon be delivered by helicopter. Reluctantly and motivated by a daydream with Cheryl, Walter gets into the helicopter with the drunk pilot. When he arrives at the fishing boat, the pilot tells him that Walter can only get on the boat if he jumps out of the helicopter. Instead of landing in a lifeboat, he ends up in the freezing North Atlantic and is attacked by a shark, but can fend it off with his suitcase and is pulled into the lifeboat. O'Connell is no longer on board, but has left his next destinations on greaseproof paper , so Walter can be taken to Iceland , where the photographer is on his way to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano . Walter rides his bike and longboard to Skógar without realizing that a volcanic eruption is imminent and that all residents are about to flee the area. When he finally arrives, he misses O'Connell again, who he sees, standing on the wing of a biplane, flying towards the erupting volcano. Finally, a villager rescues Walter from the approaching ash cloud at the last minute.
He receives a call for help from his colleague via SMS, who will be fired if the photo does not appear immediately. Walter travels home and learns that Hendricks has now fired Cheryl, among others. Since Walter cannot produce the photo, Hendricks fires him too. Walter learns from his mother that O'Connell was in town a week ago and praised him: Walter appreciates his photos like no other and makes sure they are published as they deserve. Then he found out about Walter's working hours and was now on his way to Afghanistan . Walter angrily throws the leather wallet, O'Connell's gift to him, in the trash.
With his mother's mandarin cake in his luggage, he sets off for Afghanistan, where he hires two Sherpas . With the mandarin cake as a bribe, the team is allowed to travel through the territory of the warlords ruling there . In the Hindu Kush , at 5000 meters above sea level, Walter finally meets O'Connell, who is currently busy ambushing a snow leopard in order to photograph him. It turns out that Walter unwittingly carried the missing negative around with him the whole time. O'Connell had put it in a side pocket of the leather wallet to surprise Walter with the special photo that he describes as the "quintessence of life".
Since Walter entered Afghanistan illegally via Yemen , he is refused entry to the United States until Todd Maher arrives and vouches for him. Back at home, Walter takes care of his mother, who has to move into a sheltered home for the elderly. She unexpectedly hands him the wallet he threw in her trash. Walter checks whether the negative is inside, but does not look at it. Then he drives to the building of the Life magazine and throws Hendricks the negative on the table.
A few days later, when collecting his severance payment from HR, he meets Cheryl. You stroll down the street and see the new and last edition of Life , which was published that morning, at a kiosk . On the front page, which is dedicated to the staff of the magazine, is the best photo that O'Connell has ever taken. It shows Walter Mitty sitting in front of the Life magazine building and viewing a contact sheet. Holding hands, Walter and Cheryl continue on their way.
background
The film producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. , whose father produced the first adaptation of the literary model in 1947, was planning a remake with Jim Carrey in the lead role as early as 1994 . Walt Disney Pictures initially offered to produce the film, but Goldwyn declined and ultimately chose New Line Cinema , which had previously produced the films Dumm and Dumber and The Mask (both 1994) with Carrey. In 1995 the studio acquired the rights to the film, believing that The Samuel Goldwyn Company would be involved in creative decisions for the film. Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz drafted the first screenplay for the film in July 1997. Ron Howard was supposed to direct, but he left the project for EDtv .
In May 1999, New Line Cinema contacted director Chuck Russell (The Mask) with a request to rewrite the script one more time and to take Howard's place as director. Filming was scheduled to begin in early 2000, but was postponed indefinitely. Around this time, Peter Tolan was working on new versions of the script. In November 2002, New Line Cinema was forced to give the rights back to Goldwyn as he won the lawsuit regarding the rights to the film. Goldwyn has been part of Paramount Pictures since then . In April 2011 it was announced that Ben Stiller would take on the role of Walter Mitty as well as part of the production and the direction of the film. Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski worked as executive producer .
In April 2013, the US broadcaster Fox presented 20 minutes of film material from CinemaCon in Las Vegas and a teaser trailer for the first time. Based on the film excerpts shown, there was speculation about the chances of the film at the upcoming film awards.
The film premiered on October 5, 2013 at the New York Film Festival . The film was also selected at the AFI Film Festival .
reception
criticism
The film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an average rating of 49% based on 160 reviews. At Metacritic gives a value of 47 out of 100 points based on twelve reviews, whereby the consensus on the film as "mixed or average reviews" fails (dt .: "mixed or average reviews") .
Variety Magazine's Peter Debruge criticized that the film failed to translate the satirical undertones of Thurber's short story and that Stiller played the lead too seriously.
Sonja Hartl from Spielfilm.de writes in her conclusion: “Ben Stiller has staged a beautiful film with a good cast, a great soundtrack and good camera work, which ultimately leads to an overly simple philosophy of life instead of reflecting on the true meaning of the small moments . "
Christian Buß wrote at Spiegel Online : "A culturally critical and above all highly topical grotesque about the media business has become 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'."
Awards and nominations
| Award | date | category | Winners and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Board of Review | 4th December 2013 | Top Ten Films (Best Top Ten Films) | The amazing life of Walter Mitty | Won |
| Satellite Awards | February 23, 2014 | Best Cinematography (Best Cinematography) | Stuart Dryburgh | Nominated |
| Best Score (Best Original Score) | Theodore Shapiro |
The German Film and Media Review Drew The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with the predicate particularly valuable , and came to the conclusion: The film depicts the "It's also funny," awakening of a man who until now as if half asleep by his life slipped. " , touching and exciting, how Walter finds himself more and more in his search, discovers his patience, warmth and care as strengths and finally learns how important it is to simply watch football with a friend and a few young people in the wilderness play."
In 2013, Brandchannel magazine bestowed the annual award for the worst product placement in cinema films on The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty , because in the film Life Magazine , the fast food chain Papa John’s and the couple exchange eHarmony used as integral parts of the plot, but extremely implausible and have been placed poorly researched.
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Official German website
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Expert opinion of the German film and media rating
- The amazing life of Walter Mitty in the German dubbing index
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of release for The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2013 (PDF; test number: 142 266 K).
- ↑ Age designation for The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ http://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/206710.html
- ^ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . In: BoxOfficeMojo.com . Retrieved May 9, 2014.
- ↑ 'Secret Life of Walter Mitty' Trailer: Ben Stiller's Dreamy Awards Contender (Video) at hollywoodreporter.com
- ^ Premiere of the film
- ↑ AFI Fest Sets 'Out of the Furnace' Premiere, 'Walter Mitty' Screening, Bruce Dern Tribute (Exclusive) at thewrap.com
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes Film Reviews
- ↑ Metacritic Film Reviews
- ↑ Film Review: 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' at variety.com
- ↑ Sonja Hartl: "Review: The amazing life of Walter Mitty". Think Media GmbH , December 20, 2013, accessed December 20, 2013 .
- ↑ Christian Buß : Media grotesque "Walter Mitty": Hunter of the lost image. December 30, 2013, accessed September 1, 2014 .
- ↑ The film wins the National Board of Review
- ↑ Film wins the Satellite Award
- ↑ The amazing life of Walter Mitty at kino.de , accessed on February 2, 2018.
- ↑ Awarded: Ben Stiller's “The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty” had the worst product placement in 2013 at filmstarts.de, accessed on February 2, 2018.