Expected more

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"Vitus" is a 2006 Swiss film and almost 10 years ago that runs for almost 2 hours and won Best Film at the Swiss Film awards that year. It came pretty close to an Academy Award nomination in the foreign language category. It was Switzerland's submission and made the January shortlist. Basically, it is about a child prodigy, who has a gigantic IOQ, keeps provoking his teachers, is an incredibly talented stock market broker and, most of all, a pianist. This film deals competently with the issues of being just a child who wants a life like all children in the face of his great prospects. The actors were all very solid in here, some even really good, such as Bruno Ganz who you may know from "Downfall". Here he plays a kind grandfather who helps getting his son on the right path when the boy's parents are overwhelmed with their own problems and do not know what to do with their son anymore. The actress who played the mother was okay too. The father was fairly forgettable. But the worst was probably the boy, which is quite a shame as he was the absolute lead character just like the title suggests. Many children's films these days do not require great performances from the younger actors as they are not written in a way where they have to portray great emotion or range. "Vitus" is an exception here. The title character was actually written in a way where only a pretty talented child actor can make it truly work and Teo Gheorgiou was not the right choice. With another, a better casting choice this could have been a truly great piece of filmmaking. Still Fredi M. Murer did a decent job all in all. There are moments when the whole child prodigy plot is way over the top, for example when the boy makes millions within hours or starts running his own company, but if we are not too strict on these, it's a very solid watch in my opinion. Taking everything into account, I recommend "Vitus". Oh and another quick note. There are many Swiss German films out there which are impossible to understand also for German native speakers, because the accent is too thick, but this is not one of them. If you speak German, you will understand everything.

The life of a child prodigy is never an easy one, and six-year-old Vitus von Holzen is quite the child prodigy. With an I.Q. so off-the-charts it's been classified as "incalculable," Vitus is already such an accomplished pianist that he would give Mozart and Beethoven a run for their money in the musical genius sweepstakes. Vitus' parents are justifiably proud of their son and understandably intent on affording him every opportunity possible for him to fulfill his rare, God-given potential. But how is a boy supposed to have a "normal childhood" when he's eons ahead of his peers in intelligence and talent and when even his own teachers are intimidated by his knowledge? Small wonder he's an arrogant, precocious little brat long before he's reached puberty (he's already planning on attending college at age 13). Yet, at what point does a boy finally rebel against his "specialness" and seek the life of a "normal" child? Well, in a shocking turn of events, Vitus comes up with a way of doing just that."Vitus" is a superb German film that vividly captures the stress and strain of having an adult brain essentially trapped inside a child's psyche. But the movie also brings into focus the nonstop struggle the parents go through as they attempt to find a balance between nurturing and cultivating the child's talents, on the one hand, and not making a psychological wreck of him on the other. And how much of their obsession with the child's gift really just comes down to the glory he reflects back on them as parents? And whose dreams are they really trying to fulfill through his success anyway, his or their own?Brilliantly written by Peter Luisi, Lukas B. Suter and Fredi M. Murer, and solidly directed by Murer, "Vitus" takes us into a world we don't often visit in the movies - that of the mysteries of the intellect - and does so with ingenious plotting, complex characterizations and outstanding performances by a wonderful cast. Julika Jenkins and Urs Jucker are excellent as the parents who certainly mean well but who don't always act in the best interest of their child, while Bruno Gans provides a strong emotional focal point as the loving grandfather who is the one person in Vitus' life who provides him with a safe place where he can live life without pressure and just be a normal kid. The two young actors who play Vitus - Fabrizio Borsani at six and Teo Gheorghiu at twelve - don't hit a single false note in their portrayals of a character who is half grownup and half temperamental child.Nobody is a hero or a villain in this film; they're just well-intentioned individuals trying to work their way through an unusual and challenging situation without making a total mess of everything in the process.The script does lose its way a bit in the second half, wandering too far into wish-fulfillment fantasy and the arcane muddle of big business deal-making and stock portfolios for its own good, but that's a small enough flaw in a movie that otherwise provides an abundance of inarguable virtues.

This is a thoroughly and completely delicious film! I really cannot think of anything else to say about it, but the rules require ten lines of text. One could speak about the flawless decor, the perfection of the costuming, the grace of the cinematography, the charm of the screenplay, the specificity and finesse of the acting, or the flawless interplay of the musical score with the visual elements.This last comment brings to mind two boys on bicycles -- see the film and you'll understand.One gets the sense that everyone involved with the creation of this film must have had an extraordinarily fine time working on it -- it's a work of art that's so overfilled with joy that it splashes off the screen! Although I am personally acquainted with no one involved in the making of this film, I am very, very proud of each and every one of them and would like to thank them for making my life better - if only for a few, brief moments!

You like a movie , O.K. ....but then you got to explain to other people why ? As somebody already said it , no carcrashes , special effects , free and unnecessary nudities. A family movie , But it's also about life ,family relationships ,a purpose in life , spiced with comic moments and also with the dilemma : How you deal with genuine geniuses ? . As parent , friend , neighbour or simple aquintance . We all passed trough those moments in life . What are we gonna become ? Artist ? Lawyer ? Butcher ? Athlete ? Scientist ? Electrician ? Pilot ? Vet ? Carpenter ? Taxi-driver ? Did we make the right decision ? Watching this movie I thought about Mozart's childhood or maybe the waste of childhood , sacrifice of childhood he had . He was no ordinary fellow , but then again Nicola Tesla was a genius as well and who knows how his childhood was like ? But to return to the movie , Vitus loves life and his parents , even if is hard for him to express that , he is a wunderkind after all, even when he names his educator at kindergarten Obelix he does not do that out of being rude. Even if my fellow compatriot (Teo Gheorghiu) is playing a role , so it's obeying to a script it looks more like this movie is inspired by a real character , a (mini)biography of Teo Gheorghiu . In the real life he is like that..... Good performances by Bruno Ganz and of course Teo Gheorghiu. Bravo! .