About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2011)
WITH YOU IN POETRY YOUNG GOETHE IN LOVE (NR) For anyone who loved Shakespeare in Love and who has been awaiting eagerly a movie as charm ing, romantic and energetic, director Philipp Stolzl's lavish period-piece Young Goethe in Love should do the trick. Loosely based on the life of poet, writer and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the movie focuses on Goethe's (Alexander Fehling) early years, when he's forced to take a job at a Wetzlar court after his aspiring literary career fizzles. At the court, Goethe befriends a fellow clerk, Wilhem Jerusalem (Volker Bruch), and falls in love with the radiant Lotte Buff (Miriam Stein) who lives with her family outside of the city. Lotte falls for the failed poet, too, but their burgeoning romance is sideswiped when Lotte's father, Vater Buff (Burghart Klauftner), agrees to have his daugh ter marry the ambitious court counselor Albert Kestner (Moritz Bleibtreu), Goethe's mentor. Young Goethe in Love play* fast and furious with the facts of Goethe's life, but no mat ter. This is frothy entertainment crafted with verve and affection toward its characters. Even Bleibtreu's bumbling suitor Kestner is imbued with complexity and a modicum of sympathy, although he is ostensibly the "bad guy" of the picture. It's hard to go wrong when your leads are so engaging and warm as they are here. Fehling strikes just the right mixture of wiliness, naivete and youthful robustness, but he's also able to convey the torment inside him convincingly. This is, of course, the man who would go on to produce the Liber-Romantic breakthrough The Sorrows of Young Werther (chronicled in the movie) and later Faust; so any failure on Fehling's part to portray the darkness within would be ruinous. Relative-newcomer Stein is likewise a revelation: entrancing in her subtle, earthy manner, yet generating enough erotic sparks for us to see how she could influence Goethe's first great liter ary work. Romantic, light enter tainment routinely gets a bad rap. There's a lot of rom-com dross out there, which makes it increasingly difficult to mount an argument in its favor when something good does come along. This is not a perfect movie by any means— it weirdly lacks wit, and the whole thing is aggressively by-the-numbers. But there's gen uine, fleet-footed charm here. Young Goethe in Love may be the perfect cinematic alternative to some of the bleak and weighty end-of-the- year releases out now. Derek Hill ■ FLlClCSlCWNY k ’ Clint Afti 3e<-e^ rihC*COM Will, I vje'rt «l{ f/s t<\ to fiie /leiv ,'*>*- hero Sherlock. Holies oy Toiv. 0 r A 0 f. Tht (Ciicii for s (S fitf© raAy? jy fie. for -f bt sequels. So wLy 4of Holies </i fLt Wtdcjlc of *1 //*/■ tr\0j\s\e,ercd ioy a • s otre k - £Ae/my f'\or'>* r \y ? J i/>f c\*> w/» 7^/6 t \C sf OflC, ^ j t S> c i k?/ e e £ y j <,y i^Cj c hci r fL r\J~ "ties p\c-\ boles prtt\y we U ,, arej yef \zj(Ac*-y ele Aie/iI S sfi// ~ ro M iht cle r i Jy $. ill, t/icsc ^eloooj-t, s) 0 0 /ie frr J OS) fncf ±o lojio to ! j tk*\$ condi/sion; j tlie fesf oet\tr. y S> < *i4. XV& no-V'TIa^V x "SW(ocK^olH£S'' Re- V6 Vv'y\^ ( xwOorV^ aiA<i is ^/Pect \v\ Tke. co\^ toV T do V\<we p^Uews.'Rfst , SW'ocic Joey'ri Seeyfc Solte. My CriVfcHwwfll* obsnrMxkMx Secor\J, Cav\ <£ UW«r Morla/tS «**&*> feSfsSsSfij.* floV a w<j&W*3 m'TVie. SLevloct tWwes SBwS£, i -Vs <\ x'n'TVe. 3af\es Se/se. Georgia Tree Service TopSoil Compost Mulch 706-353-SOIL 706-546-TREE ' \ www.BackToTheGarden.us Friday, Dec. 23 THE TANGENTS Saturday, Dec.- 24 [. OPEN FOR X CHRISTMAS EVE! Closing Early ►rp The trice LOUNGE Friendly Neighborhood Bar Free Popcorn • Pool '““Jukebox ^Wednesdays 9pm KARAOKE Thursdays 8:30pm BLUES NIGHT with THE SHADOW EXECUTIVES 706.546.0840 JL 2455 Jefferson Rd. in Homewood Hills Open 2pm M-F • 12pm Sat iiiiirv i»oNt~ GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NOMINATIONS • Jbest PICTURE i mi 4CTMM • utottll! »»mw HIIHWHIIINC ACIOt • ll«*snM m\ACH HOLIDAY \ LATE SHOW M m 40 STORIES OF SHEER V J ADVENTURE! BRUCE WILLIS v DIE HARD WWW.ATHENSCINE.COM 706.353.3343 234 W. HANCOCK AVE DOWNTOWN ATHENS "Charming in a way that American romantic comedies have all hut forgotten." “Insanely romantic." M )aaa|C»nlMlal.M«.«aM V: .v- » • I .fm-.w^— '\ ; U celebrate food farm 255 whitney {local 6c seasonal } (at} [ wirh new chef} Christmas eve prix fixe supper new year's eve feast & f£te 11,1 quiet hooves 6c free luihhlv farm255.com 255 vv. Washington street seasonal in every season, dig in. 706.549.4660 DECEMBER 21, 2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 9 PI«Z
