Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. This movie has no audio description. Roll with me on this.

We’re veering out of traffic onto an exit ramp here. I’m not sure this is a review, as much as it is an experience. I basically just consume as much, and try and discuss the merits of audio description. This movie came across my path, and became more important after the passing of Udo Kier. I had a review all queued up, ready to go, but something was amiss.

I keep the experience to pretty much what an audience member would get. i can check IMDb, sometimes I get press notes that can be fun, but often and even more so when a film doesn’t have audio description, it is about what I can get out of the experience. the initial presentation.

I saw this film, and was fully under the belief that Udo Kier’s is he or isn’t he Adolf, was Hitler. it’s not. It is Eichmann. So my whole worldview shifted, because I went to publish a review based on a cantankerous man battling with his new neighbor that might be Hitler, and everyone thought he was crazy. Not that Eichmann is obscure, but he’s also not Hitler.

And somehow, in watching this without audio description, I missed that big plot point. Granted, the film is not exclusively in English, but it really did reshape it all. I deleted the whole review, and I had to start from scratch.

I thought the film was a take on the Grumpy Old Men dynamic, and Peter Hayman, who plays opposite Kier gave one of the funniest performances of the year. I still feel that way. Even if I now feel that I understood the film less than I thought. Sometimes, I like to read other reviews or listen to critics discuss films if I feel like I missed things, but I didn’t do that here. I truly thought it was Hitler.

So I struggle with my initial grade and reception of the film, and whether I should change it. Did this curve ball warrant a demerit? is the film still charming enough to carry a fresh score? I actually think so. Part of the whole thing in the film is that we don’t know if he is or isn’t the man anyway, so the fact he could be either Adolf, just adds to the confusion. And this might be Kier’s final performance, which he is very good in. Plus, as I stated, Hayman is pretty terrific. If I had a list of just the Top 10 Funniest Performances, he’d be there. I enjoyed him slowly going further down the rabbit hole, though audio description again would have given far more context.

In what may be the last great Udo Kier performance, the Grumpy Old Men vibes prove alive and well as Kier and David hayman make this odd duck worth a watch.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.5/10