Hermann Lause Movies

Out of work in 1964, Romano Amato (Gigi Savoia) packs up his young family and heads to Duisburg, Germany, in hopes for a better future for them. Shortly after arriving, Romano takes a job mining coal but quickly loses interest in that endeavor. His wife, Rosa, (Antonella Attili) takes matters into her own hands and opens an Italian restaurant, Solino, named after the small town in Italy from which they moved. As Romano and Rosa focus nearly all of their attention on the somewhat successful Solino, their young sons, Gigi and Giancarlo, are forced to fend for themselves as they acclimate to their new country, developing their own interests and hobbies in the meanwhile. Ten years later, with the boys now young men, Romano spells out his intentions of having Gigi and Giancarlo join him in the family business, but neither have much interest in the industry. As the family sorts out its disagreements, each family member tries to come to terms with their Italian heritage, as well as with their roles in German society. Solino was screened in the German Cinema program for the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Moments from the lives of a large number of people who have nothing much in common except a strong desire to achieve their various personal goals and their attendance at a soccer match form the body of this film. It is unclear whether the director intended this as a political allegory or as a slice-of-life film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy thriller, the words of the title Bang! You're Dead! are what anyone with a computer and foolish enough to let the mad scientist in this film gain access to it is likely to see, before something ingeniously awful happens to him. The scientist met an American schoolteacher at the Frankfurt airport as she was arriving to participate in a convention for teachers of German. Almost immediately, she gets embroiled in a series of adventures, beginning with the scientist having a heart attack, being taken in hand by emergency services, and then recovering sufficiently to give them (and her) the slip. She then encounters the doctor's assistant, who knows he is up to no good, and plans to find him and thwart his plan to wreak mayhem via computer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This film is a superficial extravaganza on the "roaring 1950s" in West Germany and West Berlin, when the rich, according to director Peter Zadek, were partying through the decade with little else on their minds than hedonistic pleasures, and the poor were struggling to become richer. Documentary clips bring in the realities of the Berlin Wall and the Cold War, and their honesty stands in sharp contrast to the exaggerated lifestyles that permeate the screen. The story focuses on the super-rich Jakob Formann (Juraj Kurkura) and his exploits and friends in high and low places. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is the second comedy made by director Adolf Winkelmann about societal dropouts in the Ruhr industrial valley. Katlewski (Delle Quandt) has an acerbic way of pinpointing the buttoned-down minds of fellow workers who conform without question to their class-imposed parameters. Katlewski has had it with his wife who cannot let any neighbor surpass her in material gewgaws, and he has had it with his job as a coal miner as well -- quitting one day by just walking out. To survive, he finds odd jobs anywhere -- driving trucks, tending bars -- but he finally has a chance to find some gratification in life. He not only develops a relationship with a girlfriend who shares his views and understands him, but he craftily lifts enough money from a fat-cat who needs pruning anyway and pays off the debts his wife had accumulated for him. Perhaps Katlewski will be on another track entirely as he heads back to the miner's job he had recently abandoned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The humor in this film centers around a man in his pajamas and bathrobe who goes out to buy some cigarettes on the corner and encounters a series of events that have him chased by some inept policemen, an angry husband, a taxi driver, and so forth. Things continue to deteriorate from there, and for some viewers, their funny bones will be picked dry after the first few scenes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, when young Atzi, Lutz and Sulli are laid off from their extremely technical jobs in a Dortmund factory, the likelihood of their finding similar work is pretty remote. Instead, they steal a broken-down moving van with bad brakes and hare around the countryside along with a girl who hitchhikes a ride from them. This youthful film was a box-office hit in Germany at the time of its release. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide