Oh Boy - 24 heures à Berlin

There is a theme in the movie and I'm not talking about the growing up part. I'm talking about the part where the lead character has to make decisions. Which he is unable too. You could argue, that is part of growing up, but it's just a theme that runs through many people and will touch a nerve.

Of course the one thing our lead character wants, he doesn't get. There is always an obstacle, something that will not let him get it. For some that might feel symbolic (and the resolution this has or hasn't at the end of the movie might feel that way too), but that depends on how you view things. And that is something that has been done clever by the filmmaker here. Shooting in black and white is an art choice, but I feel it works for the general feeling of the movie

Oh Boy is somewhat reminiscent of Prozac Nation. The protagonist is an unlikable, spoilt child, leeching off others while breezing through life. It is an anti-"Coming of Age" film, showing how people refuse to "grow up" - even supposed adults. Niko's father is childish, his friend an underachieving actor and the former classmate he runs into is in a way still the little girl with a crush on him. It doesn't end there, even Germany itself refuses to "grow up", clinging to its Nazi past and sticking to absurd bureaucracy.

On top of having an amusing story, Oh Boy has lovely cinematography. Berlin looks great in black & white, and with the lazy jazzy soundtrack it sometimes seems like a 50s film. Quite a promising start from Gerster, who won just about every German film award around.

A movie describing the life of someone who can't find his place around people, how he feels that people became strangers to him, but actually, it's him becoming a stranger to himself.

The movie isn't much of an entertainment, at least it wasn't for me. Frankly, I was disappointed by the jazzy beginning, which led me to think more about Berlin as a future Woody Allen New York. But there are some scenes in the movie that were so simple to understand, they got me thinking.

The courage of one girl, which was once fat, which led her to stop ignoring what people say to her. Even if that means to put her in danger, she can't leave thoughts unsaid.

But by far, the phrase that struck me deeply, was that "People can't bear the dark anymore". It led me to think about the insecurity people feel these days, and how they're afraid to be alone with themselves.

I did not expect to laugh. Germans aren't famousd for their sense of humour but I could not help laughing out loud a few times. Some scenes were so cringy it turned out to be the only appropriate response.

Nothing really happens during the movie : the main protagonist just goes on to live his meaningless life and interacts with a few broken people. Yet the sountrack, the script and the acting make for a fun and light drama if such a thing is possible.

So much better than « Oslo 31 août » even though both movies could be summed up in the same way: 24 hours in the life of a priviledged young man who wanders in a capital city, and whose existence got sidetracked a few years ago.

Despite these similarities, and despite the fact that the Norwegian version is melodramatic, the German one turns out to be more realistic and even more profound. Niko is more relatable and likable while Anders wallows in self-pity and selfishness.

"Oh Boy" is a special movie and a very German one too. We follow the protagonist Niko Fischer, played by a superb Tom Schilling, through an entire day in vernal Berlin. This day is filled with several episodes in which director Jan-Ole Gerster manages to portrait the various aspects of life in modern Berlin - whether its the Kafkaesque bureaucracy one has to deal with on a daily basis or the never-ending struggle to find normality in the midst of hipsterdom and self-proclaimed avantgarde attitude which makes Berlin so popular amongst party people all over the world.

What is more, Gerster even succeeds to weave Germany's grim past into the story-line by reminding the viewer every now and then how pointless and redundant many aspects of our lives are in comparison with the unatoned horrors committed by Germans on their own turf and all over Europe.

Niko Fischer can be seen as the conscience of those of us who cannot help but deal with what it means to live in Germany and be a German on a daily basis. It might be even difficult to understand the movie in its wholeness for a foreigner as it is with literature by Hesse or Kafka, authors that largely contributed to this piece by making hilarious absurdity and tragedy confluent. The club toilet scene with Niko's schoolmate is key here and has almost Freudian dimensions.

Anyhow, I highly recommend watching this film, last but not least because I tremendously identify with it.