Even as someone who grew up and still lives in similar (but nowhere near as drastic) areas, it was already A LOT to take in. The language, the climate, the dynamics - it's all quite exhausting and chaotic. I don't want to sound like the biggest "Alman", but it's really like a jungle: eat or be eaten, daily fight-or-flight, constantly on alert, constantly on the run, constantly in conflict.
After the movie I was emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted. And that speaks for the movie.
Cinematically, it's all pretty much "ok" to "decent". Many experimental and dynamic shots/sequences, the music use is very dope and even if it is quite noticeable that many scenes are improvised (imo the editing gives it away; seems like it's a best-of from several takes), it rather adds to the flavor of the film and isn't much of a nuisance.
I found that the color grading was a very appropriate and brave choice. It greatly adds to the "height of the summer" motif and gives everything a "fever dream" feel.
Found the characters (except for Julius, who was the only character that seemed like an overblown caricature to me) extremely three-dimensional, unique and multi-faceted - all of them were very interesting and I could've watched them talk and just "be" for a lot longer.
Generally speaking: very good cast. Not only the main characters (except for Julius), literally everyone was really well cast: the school principal, the class teacher, Lukas's father (and also his girlfriend!), his brother Marco (Luvre47!), Cem, all the Arabs and Turks, in general the boys from the street/schoolmates, Marek (Olexesh lol), the policemen with that Berlin dialect... very immersive and authentic performances. I think acting was the movie's biggest highlight.
I think the integration of many faces whho have experienced this world themselves was super important for the film. Again, authenticity is the key point.
On several occasions I was tearing up and was very touched. Not even necessarily in the obvious scenes like Gino's kamikaze mission or when Lukas's father wanted to kick him out, but instead during scenes in which the lack of perspective and the unfair suffering of these young people was evident. How the cruel universe put them into this horrible and unlucky situation without an exit. And despite this: they still continued to live their lives, continued to laugh, somehow knew how to help themselves.
I want to stress again: this was not only the script and directing of the film, but especially the phenomenal acting.
But please, for the love of God, explain to me how someone could write such an unlikable and exhausting character like Julius and include him as one of the main character. At least give him ONE positive quality. Like, why they even hang with him lmao? Everything he says and does is borderline psychopathic and idiotic.
I don't think I've ever watched a movie in which a character consistently angered me so much. My enjoyment of the movie actually suffered from this. To me, this is the biggest flaw of the movie.
The actor who portrayed Julius was also the only one in the whole cast where you had the feeling that he plays a role and that he does in fact not know the real world the movie is set in. The other actors were clearly more authentic and with them you had the actual sense that they were just some "kids from the block". Not sure who failed: the script/direction or the actor - but I think the former.
What I liked most was the authentic, truthful, brutal and sober portrayal of a time and place that the author himself experienced firsthand and which obviously shaped him throughout his life. He didn't brighten anything up - he said it exactly like it was. No one's winning in this movie. The Germans are horrible. The Turks are horrible. The Arabs are horrible. The school is horrible. The police is horrible. Everyone. No one's winning. Everyone has a point, but no one's winning. Because simply put: the system fails them all.
I'd say that authenticity was really what bound this film from start to finish.
As a longtime listener of Felix's Podcast, I've already heard hundreds of stories from Gropiusstadt and Neukölln, but seeing it all illustrated and visualized (even if some of it was certainly slightly exaggerated) put it into a whole different perspective. I have found a new respect for Felix; how he has developed despite his youth, how he has made it out of this socio-economic mess that Gropiusstadt was (and still is) and of course how he has become one of the most successful personalities in the German entertainment industry. He seems like a very resilient and intelligent person and I really hope that he's genuinely proud of this movie. Of course it isn't his work alone, but one could tell that this project was very important to him and he played a major role in it.
The film will be a "Kulturschock" to many and will cause a feeling of extreme foreignness to most people, because the fewest who will watch this movie will have experienced a district like "Gropiusstadt". But as Felix himself said, this is not a film for privileged suburban kids who are supposed to walk through the world more enlightened after watching the film, but a film for all those who have grown up in such a world and are now heard, seen and maybe even celebrated. Black Panther for Gropiusstadt.
After we left the theatre, three blonde female students stood behind me at the parking ticket machine and talked about the movie. They were diehard Felix-Fans and loved the podcast, but it was evident that they come from a completely different background, because they were literally *shook* and *devastated* after seeing the film - they were beyond overwhelmed. In German we say "Kulturschock sein Vater".
I was very surprised by this film. According to the trailers I expected a very Germanized blockbuster (even though Felix propagated something else in his podcast for months), but this was almost more of an arthouse drama which could have come from A24 or someone like Sean Baker. This movie, in my humble opinion, leans more towards La Haine, City of God or George Washington and has little to none mainstream appeal (ultimately because of the brutal and unforgiving portrayal and the subsequent "cultural shock" many will experience).
To me, this is a strong 8/10. For the sake of the overall score I feel like giving it a 10/10.
After the movie I was emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted. And that speaks for the movie.
Cinematically, it's all pretty much "ok" to "decent". Many experimental and dynamic shots/sequences, the music use is very dope and even if it is quite noticeable that many scenes are improvised (imo the editing gives it away; seems like it's a best-of from several takes), it rather adds to the flavor of the film and isn't much of a nuisance.
I found that the color grading was a very appropriate and brave choice. It greatly adds to the "height of the summer" motif and gives everything a "fever dream" feel.
Found the characters (except for Julius, who was the only character that seemed like an overblown caricature to me) extremely three-dimensional, unique and multi-faceted - all of them were very interesting and I could've watched them talk and just "be" for a lot longer.
Generally speaking: very good cast. Not only the main characters (except for Julius), literally everyone was really well cast: the school principal, the class teacher, Lukas's father (and also his girlfriend!), his brother Marco (Luvre47!), Cem, all the Arabs and Turks, in general the boys from the street/schoolmates, Marek (Olexesh lol), the policemen with that Berlin dialect... very immersive and authentic performances. I think acting was the movie's biggest highlight.
I think the integration of many faces whho have experienced this world themselves was super important for the film. Again, authenticity is the key point.
On several occasions I was tearing up and was very touched. Not even necessarily in the obvious scenes like Gino's kamikaze mission or when Lukas's father wanted to kick him out, but instead during scenes in which the lack of perspective and the unfair suffering of these young people was evident. How the cruel universe put them into this horrible and unlucky situation without an exit. And despite this: they still continued to live their lives, continued to laugh, somehow knew how to help themselves.
I want to stress again: this was not only the script and directing of the film, but especially the phenomenal acting.
But please, for the love of God, explain to me how someone could write such an unlikable and exhausting character like Julius and include him as one of the main character. At least give him ONE positive quality. Like, why they even hang with him lmao? Everything he says and does is borderline psychopathic and idiotic.
I don't think I've ever watched a movie in which a character consistently angered me so much. My enjoyment of the movie actually suffered from this. To me, this is the biggest flaw of the movie.
The actor who portrayed Julius was also the only one in the whole cast where you had the feeling that he plays a role and that he does in fact not know the real world the movie is set in. The other actors were clearly more authentic and with them you had the actual sense that they were just some "kids from the block". Not sure who failed: the script/direction or the actor - but I think the former.
What I liked most was the authentic, truthful, brutal and sober portrayal of a time and place that the author himself experienced firsthand and which obviously shaped him throughout his life. He didn't brighten anything up - he said it exactly like it was. No one's winning in this movie. The Germans are horrible. The Turks are horrible. The Arabs are horrible. The school is horrible. The police is horrible. Everyone. No one's winning. Everyone has a point, but no one's winning. Because simply put: the system fails them all.
I'd say that authenticity was really what bound this film from start to finish.
As a longtime listener of Felix's Podcast, I've already heard hundreds of stories from Gropiusstadt and Neukölln, but seeing it all illustrated and visualized (even if some of it was certainly slightly exaggerated) put it into a whole different perspective. I have found a new respect for Felix; how he has developed despite his youth, how he has made it out of this socio-economic mess that Gropiusstadt was (and still is) and of course how he has become one of the most successful personalities in the German entertainment industry. He seems like a very resilient and intelligent person and I really hope that he's genuinely proud of this movie. Of course it isn't his work alone, but one could tell that this project was very important to him and he played a major role in it.
The film will be a "Kulturschock" to many and will cause a feeling of extreme foreignness to most people, because the fewest who will watch this movie will have experienced a district like "Gropiusstadt". But as Felix himself said, this is not a film for privileged suburban kids who are supposed to walk through the world more enlightened after watching the film, but a film for all those who have grown up in such a world and are now heard, seen and maybe even celebrated. Black Panther for Gropiusstadt.
After we left the theatre, three blonde female students stood behind me at the parking ticket machine and talked about the movie. They were diehard Felix-Fans and loved the podcast, but it was evident that they come from a completely different background, because they were literally *shook* and *devastated* after seeing the film - they were beyond overwhelmed. In German we say "Kulturschock sein Vater".
I was very surprised by this film. According to the trailers I expected a very Germanized blockbuster (even though Felix propagated something else in his podcast for months), but this was almost more of an arthouse drama which could have come from A24 or someone like Sean Baker. This movie, in my humble opinion, leans more towards La Haine, City of God or George Washington and has little to none mainstream appeal (ultimately because of the brutal and unforgiving portrayal and the subsequent "cultural shock" many will experience).
To me, this is a strong 8/10. For the sake of the overall score I feel like giving it a 10/10.