User Reviews

"Fliegende Fische müssen ins Meer", which means literally translated "Flying Fish need to get into the sea", yeah not the best title, is a German movie from 2011 and at minimally over 80 minutes definitely not the longest. Most known cast member is probably Meret Becker, adopted daughter of Otto Sander and sister to Ben Becker. Barnaby Metschurat, the male lead will also be known to some and lead actress Elisa Schlott has been among the most known from her age group for a while now too and it seems her career is still rising nicely. I can certainly see why. I do believe she looks a whole lot like a German bombshell blonde, the closest we may have to Scarlett Johansson here in Central Europe, now she only needs to find her Lost in Translation. Anyway, back to this movie here. It is a mother-daughter story for the most part. The mother is pretty useless not finding work, not doing anything really except jumping from one relationship with a man into the next and they all seem hopeless, while her oldest daughter has to take care of everything really, repair everything help considerably with bringing up her younger siblings etc. And at the same time she wants to help her mother finding a man who finally restores order in her life. And there is a new pretty handsome doctor in town, one that all the women find attractive and he knows about his appearance and how he is appreciated has some fun as a consequence. But things get complicated when the young blonde 15-year-old develops feelings for the man herself. It's never a love triangle drama or anything, but it is more about making the right decisions for yourself and anybody else. It is a little coming-of-age tale that does not serve us a boring uninspired message, in which they are getting together unrealistically for a forced happy ending, but life happens. The doctor goes to Africa, disappears as quickly as he moved there, the mother still has no man, but has other activities in her life that may render her happy and finally the daughter seems to have a future and maybe a good work-life balance finally doing something she wants to do, not has to do. So there were many good aspects and lessons in here and at the same time, there were some funny moments too like the choir's changing dresses. I also liked the music, the song we hear at the very end and very beginning is good, certainly better than Becker's take on Madonna's "Like a Virgin". And admittedly while Leonard Cohen is my hero, the way in which several songs from him were included here by writer and director Güzin Kar did not always feel smooth unfortunately. Nonetheless the strong comfortably outweighs the weak here. Without a doubt. I think this was the second time I watched this film and I liked it almost as much as the first time. It feels real, heartfelt and realistic most of the time. It is among the extended circle of best films from 2011, not just from Germany (lets not forget Switzerland either), but from all around the world. Certainly top20 and as such, it is criminally underseen. Probably not a film for really young audiences, but those around the age of Schlott's character, no matter if boys or girls, can enjoy the watch here without a doubt. Huge thumbs-up and I very much recommend seeing this one.