Houston (2013) Online

The film starts with a major headhunting project for Clem (Ulrich Tukur, prev. at The Life of Others): he needs to approach and propose a new corporate job offer to a big oil company CEO. The more elusive this task becomes, the harder becomes for Clem to cope with his deeply-rooted problems. He's a middle-aged man squeezed in the margins of the corporate world with no true orientation on how to deal with family issues or even drinking. His last resort becomes a trip to Houston, Texas, a totally unfamiliar territory from the German structured ambient which triggers a major challenge on his life scope.

There are many screenplay virtues in Bastian Gunther's screenplay which truly shine on Clem's self-help scenes and especially in those with the sharp contrast between Clem's attitude to success in life compared to Robert's (Garret Dillahunt), a lonely hotel businessman who somehow connects with Clem and becomes his aide in the search for the CEO.

The hotel loneliness scenes depiction is superb -highligeted by Tukur's esoteric performance easily comparable to Bill Murray's in Lost in Translation) and combined with the fact that Clem's desperate hunt becomes progressively engaging for the viewer, make this European art film truly robust and worthy.

K. (Clem) coming to the village (Houston) trying to somehow contact the powers that be (Ringer) from the castle (Houston Petrol) while being hassled by unwanted companionship (Arthur and Jeremias collapsed into Bob). It's pretty clear where all the ideas are coming from. While being reduced to a bare minimum (women pretty much absent) and stripped off nuances and color.

Bit of a pity that they couldn't muster the courage and make it an entirely abstract location. Specifically that stereotype of the exceedingly talkative yet somewhat naive American strikes me as boringly lazy. Even though very (!) charmingly done by Garret Dillahunt.

Not a bad film, by no means. But in no way original or memorable either.

"Houston" is a German movie from 2013 written and directed by Bastian Günther. This one will have its 5th anniversary next year and it is probably Günther's most known work by now. The title (an American city in Texas) is already an indicator that this is actually a co-production between Germany and the United States and there was actually an American co-writer working on this one here, namely the dialogue parts in the English language. And there is quite a big deal of English language in here, which is not too surprising as a big part of the film actually plays in America. Ulrich Tukur, who plays the central character, is a pretty big name here in Germany and some people may even have heard of Jenny Schily, but I am sure the most known name in here is Garret Dillahunt because of the Best Picture winning movies he has appeared in and also because of the television series "Raising Hope". I quite like him in the latter and he has certainly a pretty likable presence, but in terms of dramatic acting I am not too sure about him, at least not in this film we have here. Somehow there is always an ounce of comedy to him and it feels really strange. Maybe it is because of how young he looks for a man around the age of 50.

Anyway, as for the story: This is the tale of a German salesman who travels to America and in the process of his journey that was initially merely a professional one starts finding himself, even if he constantly runs into all kinds of obstacles, some even of a violent nature. Tukur does an okay job I guess. It is an extremely subtle performance that may seem lackluster to some, but I think he is not the reason why this film is not really working out. I personally must say that to me Günther did not prove himself here, at least not as a screen writer. The direction is fairly decent. But the plot and action do not justify a film of almost 110 minutes runtime. It has more than just a few lengths and it felt difficult a lot of the time to care for the character about what would happen to him and how things turn out eventually. This is quite a negative deal-breaker and it is a bit on the disappointing side as I believe in terms of the cast and premise, there was the potential for a solid movie. I guess Günther needs to step his game up if he wants to work with high-profile actors like Tukur again in the future as for the latter it is also a bit of a letdown as this film could possibly have led him to a Hollywood career somehow if it had turned out better. It's not a failure by any means, but there are several aspects that make it fairly disappointing and forgettable. Thumbs down from me. Not recommended.