Absolute Giganten

schipper has shown incredible diversity as a budding actor in many of tom tykwer's eclectic and nuanced german films. also had a minor, yet unforgettable, role in anthony minghella's 'the english patient', in the interrogation scene with willem dafoe. 'absolute giganten' marks his brave and confident debut, with superior directional and editing skills. definitely a new german director to keep a watch out for.

I've just seen "Absolute Giganten" aka Gigantics yesterday. And I was stoked. A beautiful portrait of Hamburg and its silent heroes. Thank god Schipper didn't use any St.Pauli-cliches to make this movie even more "Hamburgish". I especially like the mixture of melancholy and a certain "live your life"-attitude. Absolute Giganten is the story of a night that is so ordinary and because of that so honestly that you're going to enjoy every minute of it. The three main characters are doing a great job especially Florian Lukas as Ricco. The table soccer scene is awesome shot. But my favorite scene is the one at this Elvis' stunt show place when Ricco shouts "Da geht einiges!". You need more good reasons to watch Absolute Giganten? There you go: German rapper Marcnesium from "5 Sterne Deluxe" has a cameo as "Rastaman". After the film you should stay in your seats because right in the middle of the end credits "Das Bo" is announcing the title track of the film following his announcement: "Wer hätte das gedacht" from Falkadelic (Doppelkopf), Das Bo (5 Sterne) & Ferris MC aka Fertich MC aka Marilyn Mongo.

At its beginning, Gigantic (English title) seems a fun story of three friends united by their shared interest in girls, cars, and avoiding the responsibilities "the future"will invariably bring. By its end, Gigantic has become one of the most moving and charming films about the ties that bind that I've seen in recent years.

Hamburg, complete with its drab industrial foreshores and sometimes uninviting urban decay, is the setting for Gigantic and is as much as character as the three friends Lloyd, Walter and Rocco. It's no surprise, once we've trawled past the faceless apartment blocks and rusting waterfront sheds, that Lloyd wants out. What is a surprise is that he springs his news on his great friends with no time to prepare them for the shock. He leaves tomorrow, at sunrise.

In spite of their anger, and fear, Walter and Rocco go along with Lloyd's desire to have one great final night together. It begins fervently, excitingly, but as events go awry and daylight slowly inches over the horizon, the crushing reality of what is to follow sets in for the trio, who along the way also pick up their next door neighbour, the gorgeous but self destructive Tesla.

Debut director/writer Sebastian Schipper knows the value of understatement. Instead of stuffing his screenplay full of worthy but dull ruminations on the meaning and importance of friendships, he lets his characters do the talking for him. Boldly, Schipper uses a single, funereal piece of music over and over to signify moments of emotional crisis for his characters. The move is risky but pays dividends - Lloyd, Walter and Rocco don't have to say much to get across what they are really feeling. It's also a testament to the abilities of the actors playing these parts that you feel greatly for their pasts, presents, and especially futures.

The finale of Gigantic is heartbreaking, and deliberately ambiguous. Not only is it the perfect conclusion to the chaotic night before it, which is in itself a metaphor for the inherent turmoil of close friendships, it is enough to make you want to go out and phone every friend you haven't spoken to in years to find out how they are doing. Few films have the ability to move and entertain as well as say something about the pain and joy of simply being alive and knowing other people. Gigantic is one of them. It's a masterpiece.

When I first saw "Absolute Giganten" it instantly became my favourite. I just love this movie. It is wonderfully sad but at the same time it seems to keep a certain happiness that just moves you and makes you feel glad to be alive. Sebastian Schipper has made a beautiful but also very real film with wonderful actors and great music by The Notwist. Directors of the world do me a favour and give me more films like this one!

I love this movie madly. . I saw it four days ago and it still hasn't let go of me. Floyd, Walter and Ricco have only one last night together to come to terms with the fact that Floyd will ship out on a freighter the next morning. They drift into that bleak Hamburg night like they would on any other, and the mundane becomes suddenly extraordinary as the reality of the impending farewell percolates through their celebration . What they leave behind in the night, is that total abandon you can only afford those few years between being a kid and suddenly being old.

This is one from the heart. It's got everything, the riotous humor and fun of outrunning the crew of an Elvis stuntshow, the tempo and jumpcuts of a strobelight punkclub, a heart as big as the V 8 Walter puts in his Ford Granada and the thrill of a deathmatch...in foosball !!

The film reminds us how intoxicating friendship can be and how good it can feel to be that drunk from a toast to a leaving friend. Like the perfect song: happy in its rhythm, sad in its melody. Floyd says early into the film something like" I wish everyone could have his own soundtrack, that there would always be music. So that if you're really down, there would still be the music...and when you're the happiest in your life the record would skip and the moment would never end..." After their last night, when Floyd looks up into the Hamburg sky one last time, the soundtrack to the film DOES skip and captures that perfect moment, the essence of parting, that loss that really isn't and that unbearable inevitability that tomorrow your best friends will be far away.

I can only hope that this total charmer finds a distributor in the U.S.. I'm sure it would find an audience somewhere in the same aisles that loved that "Big Wednesday" coming of age urgency, the tempo and irreverence of "Go", the unpretentious humor of "It's a jungle out there" or " No more Mr. nice guy" and the unspoken loyalty in any of the "Winnetou" movies. As for Sebastian Schipper the Director, whose eloquence in talking about his film ( and cars ) at the German Filmfestival in Los Angeles rivals the ease with which this film speaks to you - In a way I'm already sorry to see him becoming famous. He'll soon join Tom Tykwer as the posterboy for the new german film and I'm afraid he'll lose his genius eye and savant heart much like he lost his enthusiasm for foosball........