Review of Sommer vorm Balkon

Nike and Katrin are friends. One of them is an old people's nurse, the other has a son but no job. Chances to find work again are small. The two women live in the same house in East Berlin. Nike's apartment has a balcony. There they sit in the evenings and chat, discuss life and drink. They drink a lot, actually. Sometimes Katrin gets back to her own apartment only when her son Max has to leave for school in the morning. Their regular "sittings" come to a temporary stop when Nike picks up Ronald, a dim-witted trucker who moves in with her. He is not a man of words but obviously does an okay job in bed. For Katrin his presence is a nuisance. One evening, after she had an argument with Nike, she drinks just the bit too much and ends up in Hospital – having to finally recognize that one of her problems, if not her major problem, is alcohol. Life goes on. And on. "Sommer vorm Balkon" is about ordinary people who lead ordinary lives and do ordinary things, and yet it is special. The gentleness and love with which director Andreas Dresen portrays his heroines really makes one care for them. The characters, though going through some unpleasant experiences, never lose their grace. On the contrary, you really come to admire these brave women. The depiction of the social milieu they live in is meticulous with special attention to all the little absurdities and droll details of daily life. Especially the scenes where Nike visits her elderly "customers" are hilarious and touching at the same time. Nadja Uhl as the saucy matter-of-fact Berlin girl with a striking preference for very tight clothes is fantastic. So is Inka Friedrich as the sometimes lonely and desperate jobless single mother. Congratulations to the director for these terrific leads! "Sommer vorm Balkon" is surely not a movie for everybody (there is pretty much no "action"), and as part of the humor comes from the thick Berlin accents, maybe only Germans will be able to fully appreciate it. I loved it, and to everybody with a taste for movies that make you laugh and cry and think about your own life, I highly recommend it.