Summer with the castle ghosts

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Summer with the castle ghosts
Original title Summer with the Ghosts
Country of production Canada , Austria
original language English
Publishing year 2003
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK o. A.
Rod
Director Bernd Neuburger
script Nadja Seelich ,
Richard Schlesinger
production Rock Demers ,
Chantal Lafleur
music Zdeněk Merta
camera Thomas Vámos
cut Matthieu Roy-Décarie
occupation

The children's movie summer with the castle ghosts ( Summer with the Ghosts ) is a Canadian-Austrian co-production from the year 2003 .

action

Subject

Nine year old Caroline from Canada visits her father while filming in a castle in Austria. There she meets Jacob, who is the same age. This shows her that the castle is haunted. Together they then experience many adventures with the ghosts.

introduction

Nine-year-old Caroline flies first class from Canada to Austria alone. Her father is a producer and is currently shooting a film with his Canadian film crew at a castle in Austria. Caroline's parents are both very busy professionally. Her mother is currently on tour and cannot take care of her.

Bulk

But even her father has little time for her. Only old Otto, who is responsible for the special effects in the film, takes care of Caroline lovingly. Finally, Caroline meets Jakob, an Austrian boy of the same age. Since Caroline's parents emigrated from Austria, she can also speak German well, and communication between the children is not difficult.

Jakob tells Caroline about the castle's dark secrets. This was a nunnery in the Middle Ages. A group of fun-loving nuns used to meet secretly at night by the lake to dance. When they were discovered, they were walled in alive and have been haunted in the castle ever since. And other spirits have also settled in the castle since then. Of course, Caroline doesn't believe a word of Jakob, but he leads her to a ghost meeting at night.

But the Canadian film crew also felt the presence of the ghosts. Because the film work is always disturbed by strange mishaps. Old Otto is held responsible for this. The sound engineer is of the opinion that this is too old for his job and would like to get rid of it.

Caroline and Jakob confront the ghosts. They feel disturbed in their rest because they sleep during the day. However, with the children's agreement, they manage to redirect the film crew to alternative locations. And so Otto can show that he can still do his job well.

Then Jakob and Caroline can spend a few undisturbed vacation days. But Jacob's friends are jealous because he spends so much time with Caroline. And so they trample the two of them and lock Jacob in a shed. Caroline thinks that Jakob moved her and doesn't want to talk to him anymore. But the spirits can clear up the misunderstanding.

The filming endangers the ghosts because they take away a rooster that has disrupted the filming. But this rooster is important for the ghost nuns so that they come back in time at night, as they cannot tolerate daylight. And so this time the children can help the spirits. They find the hauled-away rooster and start their crows. So you have an electronic replacement for the tap.

Enough

Otto thanks the ghost nuns for helping him. Since he dances so well with them, they decide that he should stay with them forever. So they want to kill him so he can become a ghost too. Caroline and Jakob can mediate here too, and so they finally let him go with the promise that he will visit them again.

The filming of the film has been completed, so it is time to say goodbye. Otto stays at the castle, but Caroline travels back to Canada, not without promising Jakob to visit him again.

Summary

construction

The central element of the film is the juxtaposition between the “modern wide world” and the “old world”. The Canadian film team from the metropolis comes to a small, manageable village in Austria. This conflict is symbolized by the two main characters Caroline and Jakob. The conflict is intensified by the third main character, old Otto.

people

Caroline is a nine year old girl. She has a lot of money from her parents, but little care from them, since both are employed and invest a lot of time in their jobs. As a result, Caroline is mostly on her own and has to become independent at an early age. She knows her way around the big wide world, as she has often flown to her parents who work all over the world.

Jakob is a boy who grew up in the manageable world of an Austrian village. Caroline's big technical world is alien to him. But he knows a lot about mysticism and the spirit world.

Otto embodies the link between the old and the new world. On the one hand he works in a film team, on the other hand he still works with tricks that seem out of date in today's world.

Remarks

Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse played her first leading role in this film. She became known for the role of Sunny Capaduca in the Canadian youth series Matchball für die Liebe .

Reviews

“This ghost film is really not creepy, rather a family pleasure for small and large viewers. Director Bernd Neuburger shows lively kids in exciting surroundings and tells a story about friendship and the victory of the imagination even over the most beautiful special effects in filmmaking. A lively comedy with great attention to detail. ”
Kino.de

“Director Neuburger does not rely on the creepy but on the mystical and magical, which is why there are no sleepless nights to fear. The play of the young actors seems a bit wooden, a bit leisurely. The synchronization left its mark. Czech role models for children's films cannot be reached in this way. ”
OÖNachrichten from December 19, 2003

“In addition to the pranks and detective activities, a pinch of horror and a touch of first love should not be missing in 'Summer with the castle ghosts'. In order to always provide the kids in the cinema with entertainment, the filmmaker Bernd Neuburger, born in Salzburg in 1948, courageously engages in silly jokes and kitschy ghost dance scenes on the lakeshore in the exuberant comedy.
Neuburger and the screenwriter Nadja Seelich, who previously worked together on the children's films Jonathan and the Witch , Holidays with New Year's Eve and Lisa and the Saber- Toothed Tiger, use a tried and tested pattern to ensure that the bright children make the adults look old again.
So Caroline's father remains strangely pale and with Jakob you don't even remember whether he has parents at all. Unfortunately, the important reconciliation scene between Caroline and Jakob, who miraculously understand each other again after a blunt misunderstanding, is being given away.
Zdenek Merta's music is mostly useful, but often appears too thick, especially in the night scenes. The narrative already appear old-fashioned and the script overloaded because of several subplots, including the central to harmless girl figure is unlikely to unfold just much potential for identification. "
Prosieben

Web links