How can a movie that lasts just 85 minutes seem so long? Simply by saying nothing.
I had the fortune of seeing this movie with an Italian girl who had lived in Germany for some time, and she told me it was a very accurate portrait of a generation. I accept that, I can admit that now I know something else about German youth in the nineties, but I think a movie should be something more.
The adolescents in this movie do nothing, and I'm not exaggerating. Far from a lost youth, it's an anemic one that cannot find anything that moves them or compels them: they aren't promiscuous, they do not have much sex (in fact there's not even one single image of them kissing with their partners), they don't do drugs, they do well or bad in school, nobody cares much, they only involve in petty shoplifting, they don't fight or get together in gangs, they don't rebel... And don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for a sordid movie in which kids are a mess, we've had our share of that. But it's quite disappointing to see kids that don't either fail nor excel, as if there were no reasons for one or the other. Adults don't have a role in this movie, they don't correct their sons and daughters, maybe because they may not see a reason to do it. I can understand them: the kids do nothing but listening to music. Yes, they're that boring.
And, what is worse in terms of the movie, the director/writer doesn't put conflicts in front of his characters to provoke them or even to show they're that static. He just watches them going nowhere. And I think he ended up going nowhere too. In its lack of criticism or even approval, this film has nothing to say.
I had the fortune of seeing this movie with an Italian girl who had lived in Germany for some time, and she told me it was a very accurate portrait of a generation. I accept that, I can admit that now I know something else about German youth in the nineties, but I think a movie should be something more.
The adolescents in this movie do nothing, and I'm not exaggerating. Far from a lost youth, it's an anemic one that cannot find anything that moves them or compels them: they aren't promiscuous, they do not have much sex (in fact there's not even one single image of them kissing with their partners), they don't do drugs, they do well or bad in school, nobody cares much, they only involve in petty shoplifting, they don't fight or get together in gangs, they don't rebel... And don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for a sordid movie in which kids are a mess, we've had our share of that. But it's quite disappointing to see kids that don't either fail nor excel, as if there were no reasons for one or the other. Adults don't have a role in this movie, they don't correct their sons and daughters, maybe because they may not see a reason to do it. I can understand them: the kids do nothing but listening to music. Yes, they're that boring.
And, what is worse in terms of the movie, the director/writer doesn't put conflicts in front of his characters to provoke them or even to show they're that static. He just watches them going nowhere. And I think he ended up going nowhere too. In its lack of criticism or even approval, this film has nothing to say.
