Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It is a very strange dance these two fine young actors do.. you never know quite where it is going.. and you find it hard to take your eyes off them. The audience for such a film will be very small, it is as far from any mainstream film as one can find. But with many such films they can drift off into unwatchable territory, and although this production time and again flirts with going over the edge, each time it returns to keep us involved. And when it's all over, you're not entirely sure what you have witnessed, but feel as though it was worth your time spent.

I adore foreign films and it really bums me out to dislike one so much but here it is! What a bore! This is the kind of crap America was producing during the 60s/70s. It's supposed to warm our hearts to youth, freedom and independence. Instead it's everyone's nightmare child. One is too sensitive and completely naive while the other is a raving out of control addict sociopath bent on ruining everything around her. As I watched the film I found myself waiting for the moment someone either kills her or mutilates her. She was one of the most hideous female characters to come along in film. Shakespeare would've put her out on a limb and cut it off. The characters are not fully formed, writing atrocious (what there is of it). It would've done very well here in USA as a typical B film shown on Netflix's lesser list. The photography is terrible and the cameraman is a drunkard. One feels a little empathy for the boy until he becomes her sex slave. All the characters need years at the Betty Ford inc. the writers and producers.

"Love Steaks" is the last of the five nominees for Best Picture at the 2014 German Film Awards I have seen and probably the weakest one. It is even slightly worse than the very much overpraised "Finsterworld". If "Love Steaks" was actually a good film, you could probably call it a hidden gem. But it is not, despite the awards attention it received. Being indie does not automatically mean being a quality movie.In the center of the film, we have two hotel employees. We get to witness their struggles and their interactions with each other as they slowly fall in love and with their customers and other colleagues. Occasionally, it reminded me of Maren Ade's "Alle Anderen" (not a fan of this movie either), maybe as a prequel to it, with the way the two lead characters interacted with each other, sometimes moody, sometimes powerless, sometimes full of energy, but always full of contradiction. The story is not particularly innovative and while the characters are played and written in a solid manner, there is nothing outstanding about either aspect either.The alcoholism aspect was included in a rather shoddy manner sadly. This could have worked so much better and I am usually a sucker when it comes to addiction (especially alcohol such as James Ponsoldt's "Smashed" starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in movies. However, this never had me at the edge of my seat.This film is not a must-see by any means unless you really try to see every German movie there is. One thumbs-up I am giving it that all the hotel employees were played by actual hotel employees and even if their roles were fairly minor, you never realized that they weren't any pros. The two lead actors, just like writer-director Jakob Lass apart from his work on short films, also did okay taking into consideration that they are fairly new to acting in film. There is room for improvement sure, but it is not a horrible start by any means.

Very nice indie movie with two great leads - featuring the German Joaquin Phoenix ;) - and a cool plot. Cinema in your face. A Boy-meets-Girl-Story in the surrounding of a luxury resort at the Baltic Sea. She has problems with alcohol, he is very shy and reluctant. They meet in the hotel and help each other to overcome their respective shortcomings. I liked the characters and especially the editing. It gives the movie a special look and makes it fun to watch. Lots of apparently unscripted dialogue, fresh and authentic acting. Great music too, German Indie mixed with international stuff. Looks like we are getting - slowly but surely - a veritable scene of young German filmmakers, actors and producers who are able to deliver high-quality work. Recommended for lovers of the German Independent film, such as Axel Ranisch, Tom Lass, Nico Sommer...