Kokon

Wonderful cinematography and film language that brings the spectator very close to the protagonists and right into their struggles. Great performance by the main actress and cute metaphor with her little pet caterpillars. Pleasantly light coming-of-age story.

Perfectly written that makes us feel our youth , first loves, broken hearths. The performance of the leading actress is striking. The different cultures and their affections in Berlin is really well described in the school.

The film is well-written, well-directed and beautifully shot. It has one fatal flaw: despite Lena Urzendowsky's amazing performance and completely believable portrayal of Nora, a 14-year-old girl coming of age, Jella Haase fails to be anywhere near believable as Romy, Nora's 15-16 year old first crush and lover. She literally has very visible crow's feet and other visual cues that call to mind a fully developed post pubescent mature woman in her late 20s or early 30s. I was immediately taken aback by this when I saw her character appear on screen and I instantly knew the movie was going to force this visually awkward pairing. Romy is great as a character and is well-written and Haase'a acting is also great, again, there is also no fault with the writing or directing here, but casting an actress who is almost 30 to play 15 simply does not work in almost all cases and really hurts the cinematic realism and believability of this otherwise poignant film. This might be overlooked in vintage edgy studio films like The Graduate or Midnight Cowboy, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in a contemporary indie where cinematic rawness and realism are usually hallmarks. Otherwise, this is an excellent German film about queer adolescence in modern times.

On a young teenage girl developing from the egg and catterpillar stage, then transform into a hard shell pupae of grief, till she wakes up and spreading her wings of beauty and opportunity in a life-tranformation called puberty. Its a film about angst, gender identity, sex, nudity ,fumbling , experimenting, drugs, alcohol and most of all which is the sadest part, a mothers neglect of her children. Its summer hot berlin im sommer urlaub, its urban life in urban apartments with strikingly realistic urban children, in a film thats made in such european/german style that ill bet youll never find such a plot in american moviemaking. There are some flaws and floskls here and there, but the director has been able to make a film that makes your butterfly tingle in your guts, even in an old and grumpy man as me, therefore a little recommend on this one.

Excellent film that is not so much a coming-of-age story as a coming-out-to-yourself story. Charmingly told with just enough working class grit and multiculturalism to give it a level of veracity rarely seen in this kind of film. Highly recommended.