The new film from acclaimed wunderkind Turkish/German
director Fatih Akin who is credited with reviving German auteur cinema with his
landmark award-winning film Head-On (2004),
and other cross cultural clashes such as The
Edge of Heaven (2007), Soul Kitchen
(2009) and In the Fade (2017), is Goodbye Berlin (2016), a hilarious joyride
which ultimately becomes a revealing and touching coming-of-age story that
looks at teen angst through the eyes of an unlikely pair of socially awkward misfits
who find friendship on a playful transformative road trip through the German
countryside.
A soul searching comedy that has the heart-felt sincerity of
Kikujiro (1999) and the free-spirited
hijinks of Northern Soul (2015), Goodbye Berlin follows two outcasts from
a high school in Berlin at the beginning of the summer vacation. It starts out
looking pretty dismal for the 14 year old Maik Klingenberg (Tristan Göbel),
who’s bored out of his mind playing video games in his divorced parent’s empty
house. His alcoholic mother is in rehab and his father goes on a business trip
with his young secretary who is old enough to be his daughter.
To top it all off, he’s the only kid in the class not
invited to Tatiana’s big birthday bash, the girl he has been admiring from a
distance all year and who doesn’t even notice him while his classmates make fun
of him. Into this depressing mess comes Tschick (Anand Batbileg), a strange Russian
migrant student just arrived at the school who is even more pathetic than he is, in fact, apart from his
Asian looks, Tschick stands out like a homeless person who cares nothing for what
people think of him. His intimidating half-conscious snarl keeps the other
students at a distance.
But Tschick finds a shared connection with Maik, and when
Tschick shows up at his house with a beat-up old Lada, he catches Maik at just the
right time to start on a crazy adventure and finally be noticed by Tatiana in a
way she will never forget. But what they discover on their wild journey reveals
more about each other than they imagined and will change them forever.
The innovative visual aesthetic, which has become a hallmark
of Fatih’s films, finds us following our teen heroes through a variety of visually
disparate locations while they are essentially living moment to moment
surviving by their wits as they push their boundaries in a raucous road movie
that’s engaging and enjoyable to watch from beginning to end. Fatih makes
excellent use of the drone camera to create beautiful high pan-out shots that
hover over stunning country landscapes giving us a bird’s-eye view that adds to
the sense of freedom the boys are experiencing.
Music has always been an integral part of Fatih Akin’s films,
a component that he’s passionate about and this one is no exception. Here the soundtrack
is especially remarkable and well integrated into the story with an eclectic mix
of German rap, hard rock, 80s pop, and classical music.
Based on the bestselling novel Why We Took the Car by German author Wolfgang Herrndorf, the story’s
themes of societal and cultural outsiders coming together to overcome their differences
and form a strong bond through shared experiences, attracted Fatih Akin immediately
into making a film from it.
What makes it so much fun is the clear chemistry of the two
lead characters Maik and Tschick who are totally believable as the odd pair of
outcasts and who learn from each other the possibilities of a world beyond their
school and transforms Maik into a new person who people will notice and admire.
It’s a positive hopeful film that’s thoroughly enjoyable on
many levels. We feel that the director was clearly enjoying himself a great
deal while making this film. Goodbye Berlin
is a must see that hits all the right notes and has all the elements of a
coming-of-age film put together in just the right way.
JP
