Florian Lukas shines in « Messiah Superstar »: a mockmentary about fame, crash and comeback
« Messiah superstar », which can be seen on Fridays, among other things in the SAT1 regulation program, has started: the hair is shower, the account empty, and only the tattoos on his back of his hand still testify that he used to be a star: Thomas Janowski (Florian Lukas) is a classic one hit wonder. In 1996 he stormed the hit parades under the artist name « Messiah », but the Eurodance earworm « XTC » remained his only success.
Today the removed pop singer manages the « Esstasy » restaurant of his mother (Johanna Gastdorf), dreams of old times and weather his comeback chance when a TV station for a documentaryoap wants to film his everyday life. The series “Messiah Superstar” tells with wit, warmth and guest appearances of real stars such as Oli P., Vanessa Mai or television chef Alexander Herrmann about this also ridiculous and lovable figure.
Messiah (Florian Lukas) fights for a return to the top of the charts. Photo: Sat1
Similar to « Stromberg » or « The Discounter », the eight-part satire is a job comedy in the style of a mockumentary: the documentary form is used to tell a fictional story. The workplace is the « Esstasy », a gristle of scales in the Berlin district of Wedding.
A shocking look behind villas walls
The employees are the Syrian Arif (Lukas von Horbatschewsky), who revered Angela Merkel and meticulously separates the garbage, and the single Nadine (Banafshe Hourmazdi). And then there is a sound engineer Leon (Jonas Nay), the last fan that Thomas still has besides his mom and a stalker.
1990s Senicidal Tarter Oli P. is also at the start of the mockmentary. Photo: Sat1
Messiah does not miss the opportunity to specify with his past. « My good friend Sting taught me yoga, » he sworn, he helped the musician HP Baxxter to make « Hyper Hyper » a hit, and supposedly even knew Madonna.
But with all the bruise: Florian Lukas, who already played a tragicomic loser in the darts series « Die Waspe » and most recently shone with his flying through his bravage as Hans Rosenthal in ZDF film, gives the crashed darling of gods a nice ambivalence: deep inside Thomas probably knows that he is a poor sausage. The script gives him sentences like « I am like the sun. Or like chlamydia. Even if you don’t see them, they are always there. »
Back to the 1990s
As a former superstar, Messiah (Florian Lukas) reminds. Photo: Sat1
The series tells of everyday life in the workplace with a lot of love for their characters, but above all about « Messiahs » comeback attempt. In between, flashbacks revive the highlife of the 90s: As in a real documentary, snippets from old music videos are shown to the driving 90s beat, but also some of Thomas’ embarrassing crashes, for example when he has again performed drunk again at a car dealership opening. Such people usually end up in the « jungle camp » at some point, but even for that, his fading fame is still enough.
When the fear of coming-out causes laughs instead of tears
The series does not take its last dignity, but irony is a good tone in « Messiah superstar », for example when he swings the cleaning rag to the sounds of « I’m Too Sexy ». The CAMEO appearances of guest stars are all sensibly interwoven with the plot. Sabrina Setlur, for example, plays herself: she was briefly married to Messiah and now earns her rolls as a vacuum cleaner representative-only in the serial cosmos.
Real charms of the 1990s appear: Sabrina Setlur (right) has a guest role. Photo: Sat1
The eight divider (director: Felix Stenz) is based on an Israeli original and was shot in Prague, head author of the German adaptation was Sebastian Colley, the co-inventor of the Netflix success « How to sell Drugs Online Fast ». For the socially critical special « Kroymann – is it still good? » He recently received the renowned Grimme Prize. Adult social or media criticism should not be promised by “Messiah Superstar”, but you should have a consistently worth seeing entertainment with a consistently likeable group.
