One Day in Europe (2005)

Genre

Comedy

Director

Hannes Stöhr

Country

Germany | Spain

Cast

Megan Fay, Lyudmila Tsvetkova, Andrey Sokolov, Oleg Assadulin, Vita Saval, Nikolai Svechnikov, Luis Tosar, Boris Arquier, Florian Lukas, Erdal Yildiz, Nuray Sahin, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan, Péter Scherer, Miguel de Lira, Mónica García, Víctor Mosqueira, Marta Pazos, Blanca Cendán, Patricia de Lorenzo, Jesus Ron, Kalin Foz, Rachida Brakni, Kirsten Block, Tom Jahn, Facundo Diab

Storyline

The day of the Champions League final between Galatasaray and Deportivo la Coruña stops life in four European cities, adding to the problems of tourists in trouble, who are already struggling with the language barrier.

Opinion

Since this film was suggested by the same person who suggest Caramel, I thought I would have like it. The problem is that it's plenty of anthology films, I've seen several, and this one does nothing to pop out.

Delivered by mostly flat performances, One Day in Europe is tedious, not funny as a comedy is supposed to be, and gets lost in repetitiveness.

There are two unifying plot elements: luggage insurance, and a football game. While the first is pretty smooth and works fine, the second one feels out of place. I'm European and I know there is nothing more unifying than passion for football. Every single football lover watches the Champions League finale -- I wait for it the whole season actually, and I'm sure it's plenty of people like me. The problem is that only the local seems interested in the football match. None of our tourists care. I know that they are neither Spanish nor Turkish so there is a lower chance of them supporting the finalists, yet they seems so disinterested like they don't even know the sport. The only purpose of the game seems to be a benefit for frauds.

The stories aren't very engaging, but if I had to choose one, I'd pick the Santiago the Compostela because Péter Scherer well plays the character, and makes you care for him.

The humour is built on international differences and communication problems. Too bad the jokes get lost in translation. 

I cannot comprehend the reason why this film was nominated for Golden Bear. Maybe it's because of one of the stories takes place in Berlin.