My blind date with life
My Blind Date with Life is a German tragic comedy by Marc Rothemund that was released in German cinemas on January 26, 2017. The film is based on the book of the same name by Saliya Kahawatte .
action
The German-Sinhalese Saliya Kahawatte is preparing for the Abitur in the German province. He notices that he has increasing problems with his vision. After a medical examination, he and his parents learn that it is a rare eye disease. Only with immediate eye surgery can his eyesight be maintained at its lowest level. Nevertheless, he wants to do the Abitur at his school, which his environment and his father consider to be impossible. He still manages the Abitur with diligence and a distinctive memory technique .
Then Saliya would like to realize his dream of training in hotel management, but only receives rejections on his numerous applications in which he honestly states his limited eyesight. Frustrated, he decides to apply to the Hotel Bayrischer Hof in Munich without specifying his visual impairment. He got the job without much hesitation and made friends with the newly hired apprentice Max. At first Max is the only one who finds out about his vision problems. He supports Saliya and practices with him all the work steps and routes as well as the necessary hand movements until Saliya knows them by heart. Together they go through the various training stations. Max helps him by being at his side in some difficult situations.
In the hotel, Saliya meets the single parent Laura, who supplies the hotel kitchen with goods from her parents' farm. Both get closer. He also hides his visual impairments from her. During her training in the hotel restaurant, Saliya comes into conflict with the restaurant manager Kleinschmidt, who doesn't like him.
In this situation, Saliya's father leaves his mother. To help her financially, Saliya takes on another job as a pizza maker during the night without the knowledge of his trainers. But to continue coping with both tasks, Saliya pokes herself up with tablets. The insomnia continues to distress him because one day he misses the alarm clock and is late for work at the hotel. The result is a warning.
Meanwhile, Saliya meets Laura's son. In a playground, Saliya is supposed to take care of Laura's son for a moment. A moment of inattention causes the son to disappear out of Saliya's mindfulness radius and even from the playground entirely. Laura is desperate and tries to find her son again, while Saliya makes no move to help with the search. After the son reappears, the only explanation he can give for his failure to help is a confession of truth: he confesses his visual impairment. Laura leaves him injured.
Back at the hotel, during a wedding in the hotel restaurant, the mishap happens that the completely sleepless and stressed Saliya first drops a tray with champagne glasses and then collides with the wedding cake. He is released.
Saliya is now totally off track and gets drunk more and more often. After a serious fall, he comes to the hospital, where, with the help of his sister and Max, he finds his way back to an orderly life. Together with Max, he visits his trainers in the hotel and asks for his apologies and for the chance to take the final exam, which he surprisingly receives. After successfully completing his apprenticeship, he finishes working in the hotel and opens a bar together with Max. Here he meets Laura, who has forgiven him and from now on gives the two of them a helping hand in the restaurant.
Literary template
The film was based on the book of the same name, My Blind Date with the life of Saliya Kahawatte , who describes his own experiences in it. When Kahawatte was 15 years old, the German-Sinhalese's eyesight dropped to 5 percent within a few months. In the next 15 years, Kahawatte kept quiet about his handicap in order not to have to follow the mapped path with a disability. Kahawatte learned everyday processes by heart and, to outsiders, seemed to move through life without restriction. However, since Kahawatte suffered from having to pretend, he published his book in 2009 at Eichborn Verlag.
production
Staff and funding
Marc Rothemund took over the direction . The script adaptation of Kahawatte's novel was carried out by Oliver Ziegenbalg and Ruth Toma .
The FilmFernsehFonds Bayern supported the production with 750,000 euros and an additional distribution grant of 100,000 euros. The film funding agency financed the film with 494,000 euros and granted a further 400,000 euros in distribution funding. The Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg funded the film with 600,000 euros.
occupation
Kostja Ullmann took over the leading role from Saliya Kahawatte. Jacob Matschenz plays his new work colleague and friend Max. Anna Maria Mühe took over the role of Laura, with whom Saliya falls in love. Other roles include Herbert Forthuber , Rouven Blessing , Kida Khodr Ramadan , Michael A. Grimm and Ludger Pistor . Also Saliya Kahawatte , the author of the original novel, the film has a guest appearance.
Filming
The shooting took place between October 6th and November 24th 2015 in Munich and Berlin. They started at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich . In Munich, the film was also shot on Prannerstrasse.
Further recordings were made in Moosburg an der Isar , where the town square and Herrnstrasse were closed in mid-November 2015. However, there was only one second unit on site, which filmed car driving scenes with doubles of the leading actors. The town square in front of the town hall served in the film as the backdrop for the small hometown of Saliya Kahawatte.
publication
The film was released in German cinemas on January 26, 2017. On October 14, 2018, the film was shown for the first time on free TV on Sat.1.
reception
Age rating
In Germany, the film was approved by the FSK without any age restriction. The statement of reasons for approval states: “The film deals with topics such as family, friendship, perseverance and self-confidence and is therefore aimed primarily at young people and adults. More serious topics such as drug abuse will not open up to small children and brief moments of shock in the context of the friendly overall mood do not have a lasting effect on the youngest viewers. "
Gross profit
The film has so far recorded 805,155 visitors in German cinemas, making it 34th among the most successful films of 2017.
Reviews
Adrian Prechtel from the evening newspaper speaks of the film as a nice, romantic comedy. However, the film makes it a little too easy for itself to tell the true life story of Saliya Kahawatte and is all too predictable, but this is due to the cinematic dramaturgy. In addition, Prechtel compares the decent Saliya in the film with the character of Felix Krull .
Frank Schnelle from epd Film says that the film draws its special charm from the protagonist's sheer unbelievable determination not to accept his disability as a limitation, but to use it as an incentive. Schnell says about the director's work: “Because Marc Rothemund's staging makes this unusual non-visual experience tangible, it is a very sensual film full of smells, tastes, materials, and everything thrives on the constant question: How on earth can the world be experienced in such an unusual way without the world noticing anything? "
Use in school lessons
In spring 2019 the film will be presented as part of the SchulKinoWochen in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Awards
- Nomination for best film nationally
- Nomination as best national actor ( Kostja Ullmann )
Book about the film
- Saliya Kahawatte with Nele-Marie Brüdgam : My blind date with life. Bastei Lübbe, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-404-60841-6 . (Complete paperback edition of the hardcover edition published by Eichborn)
Web links
- My blind date with life in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Scientific review on KinderundJugendmedien.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for My Blind Date with Life . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 163120 / K).
- ↑ Age rating for My Blind Date with Life . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ FFF Bayern on the set of 'My Blind Date with Life' ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: fff-bayern.de, October 29, 2015.
- ↑ Start of shooting for MEIN BLIND DATE MIT DEM LEBEN press release at studiocanal.de on October 6, 2015
- ↑ This movie will be shot on Thursday in Moosburg Article on merkur.de November 19, 2015
- ↑ Reason for approval for My Blind Date with Life In: Voluntary Self-Control of the Film Industry. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ↑ Top 100 Germany 2017 In: insidekino.com. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ Adrian Prechtel: 'My blind date with life': Our decent Felix Krull In: Abendzeitung, January 26th 2017.
- ↑ Frank Schnelle: Review of 'My Blind Date with Life' In: epd Film, December 23, 2016.
- ↑ Film selection. In: schulkinowoche-bw.de. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
- ↑ Film overview. In: schulkinowochen.nrw.de. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
