"Zuckerbaby" or "Sugarbaby" is a West German German-language film from 1985, so it had its 30th anniversary last year. the writer and director is Percy Adlon (turned 80 last year) and this was the beginning of a trilogy of films he made with actress Marianne Sägebrecht. The other two are in English language though and include an Academy Award nominee. Sägebrecht herself was nominated for a German Film Award here and same goes for her co-lead Eisi Gulp, who for whatever wrong reason was nominated in the supporting category. Neither of the duo won the award. These two basically are the film, especially Sägebrecht. She probably was a good casting decision for this one and I believe this film would have been worse without her. This is not supposed to say the film was particularly interesting though. It is a two-man show and the two actors make a solid job, but the script never really made me care for either of them or allowed me to make an emotional connection here. Sägebrecht always plays characters who somewhat define themselves through their weight, but are not negative people, rather likable. I do believe she is a very physical actress. She frequently plays the nice friendly obese woman from next door who struggles with life and human relationships a bit, but it does not take away from how likable she is. Anyway, all in all I am glad this film only ran for slightly over 80 minutes. It dragged for me on several occasions and sometimes I also felt it was style over substance, may have worked better and been more essential as a short film of around 40 minutes. I don't recommend the watch, or only if you really loved "Outt of Rosenheim". Maybe I also did not like it that much because Bavarian culture and humor are absolutely not my thing. Thumbs down.

Most of you will know Percy Adlon only for "Out of Rosenheim`, a film that is weird enough for the American taste. This movie is just as weird but there are fewer people involved. The story is quite simple to tell: A woman falls in love with the voice of an underground announcer and begins an affair with him.

The weird thing is how the story is directed. The colours and moods suggest that there is something mysterious and frightening going on behind the scenes but there isn't. The dialogue and the characters, especially Marianne Sägebrecht's are to take more seriously as the direction which seems to me somewhat playful, not in any way relevant for the development of the plot.

At least, this connection of story and direction brings some fascination. Directed by anyone else then Percy Adlon, "Zuckerbaby` would be not more than another of these unconventional love stories that have been modern since the seventies ("Harold and Maude`, "Spider and Rose`).

A lonely and obese assistant mortician becomes infatuated with a handsome young subway driver and goes to great lengths to meet him in this oddly exuberant German import. It sounds like someone's idea of a bad joke, and likely would have become just that if ever remade for a dumbed-down American market. But the single-minded determination of the heroine's pursuit (and the apparent ease with which she wins her dream lover) keeps the film light and sunny, despite an unexpected tragic ending. Director Percy Adlon's fantastic, hallucinogenic color scheme is an acquired taste, however. It's either a pretentious art house mannerism, or a stroke of necessary style adding the perfect touch of unreality to an already far-fetched romance.