Movie Time

Two young teenage boys steal a car and embark on a road trip
that will probably change their lives. - IMDB

(Aka "Goodbye Berlin") Not a book I have read, and the film doesn't feel like a book, until you think about how it would make a fantastic juvenile adventure novel. A road-movie with a difference. Must feel like a dream come true to the younger viewer; but I think the magic is reserved for the adult, for it is actually a depiction of boyhood innocence, that is hardly lost to a hap-hazzard joyride, but intensified into something more intangible that is sure to make a motif for the rest of one's life.

It is as if the all-defining summer which is to initiate Maik into a more self-assured self, will carry over his core innocence. The adventure occurs on the cusp of boyhood turning into adolescence. This is made into a marked and unforgettable transition by this film, especially for the one who is greener than green. No sex, drugs or copious amounts of alcohol are required (and only a little Richard Clayderman).

The other boy (whose name provides the title of the film) is a more robust and savvy survivor from a former-Soviet-somewhere. Realising this film was set East of the former Wall, I noted a general sense of displacement and a new sense of individuality marked by a freedom of mobility. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about the film that gives it something anachronistic or perhaps something timeless. Time has stood still on the one hand and rocketed forward on the other (the ragingly successful property developer who is - also - Maik's father, is not a great head of the family).

Totally universal is the undertow of absent, malfunctioning, or plain disinterested parenting. Add to this a strong sense of self and perhaps something less conventional (but I found rather striking) about their appearance and/or demeanour that sets them apart socially, and we have a common context for the otherwise most unlikely of friends, with diametrically opposed characters and backgrounds. Both young actors are phenomenal and ones to watch in the years to come.

Wonderful and unusual East-German landscapes, perfect choice of driving music, poignant dialogue or poignant lack of it, not a dull moment, with plenty of humour, but also much melancholia as befits teenagedom. This is the onset of a sense of separation and the desire to profile oneself as a unique individual successfully, interrupted by intermittant pits, road obstacles, redirections and plenty of vehicle issues. Metaphorically perfect!

All in all a film that touches the heart strings without ever becoming predictable of soppy. On the contrary…. When has Fatih Akin not made a splendid film?

Innocence Regained?

The other film of the day is the gently satirical "Taking Off" (1971), an American film by the immigrant Czech Milos Forman. In contrast to the former film it is all about the parents breaking out of their straight-laced, prim and prissy lives; at first forced to by circumstance (their - on/off - fugitive child) but maybe in the end it is as if they have reached their free and creative inner child.

This is a remarkable film to watch for anyone who wants to (re) visit the birth of the seventies. It is a "coming of age" movie of the seventies. Spot some familiar, very young faces (Carly Simon, Tina Turner) in the background as aspiring musicians. The film intertwines two halves. Half the film has the buzz and stress of youngsters auditioning (for some otherwise unspecified project), with a wide variety of talented or not-so-talented singers. The other half of the film shows the parents exploring who they are if they are not just parents and providers - as best they capriciously can!

The core issue of the generation gap is timeless. Also far from outdated is how parents feel like they had to grow up too fast before they had actually "found out who they really were". Whereas some features and attitudes typical of the late sixties/ beginning of the seventies are already alien to us, overall, considering its nearly half a century ago, it remains surprising how very little has changed. It helped me realise that people in 1912 were not so far removed from 1860's (and how my Grandfather born in 1912, was raised on rather Victorian values).

The transition of the times we live in is also as gradual and monumental as the transition from boy to teenager. Much is carried over, but sometimes there is a stark divide - generally something external and larger than new liberties. Parents of all ages want to sing and dance too!

I wonder if there are already Millenials who find this colourful, musical, funny film already a "period piece"! Eventhough Fame and Idols and pot and being mortified by your parents is all still totally current.

The way this film has been shot and edited is a treat.