Fucking Berlin

Judging by the title, Sex and the City might be more fitting. Actually judging by the movie overall that is. Even if at times it seems to not take the subject matter seriously (like the first steps into the Camgirl-verse, where a compilation suggests this is a farce or a comedy, rather than a drama) ... but just because there is a lot of humor in this, it does not mean it is has not some heavy themes that it throws your way.

Usually I am a bit wary when it comes to tonal changes in movies. But I think this one handles itself quite well. The changes in rhythm and in pace do work fine. There is a lot of nudity if that matters to you one way or another, but it is to emphatize what this is about. And there are a lot of weird and kinky things discussed and displayed ... this is for sure not for the faint of hearted ... be very aware of that!

First of all, this is a movie full of drama and in the story is well integrated in the script. The actress is young and sonehow naïve and that can be seen in her life's journey. I like it's raw, cold picturing of how quick a wrong decision can change one's life. The cinematics with the beautiful Berlin, the good acting and the drama make a good mix.

I have to say, that I do see the points which are criticize by so many ratings. But I also see a movie that portraits the feeling of coming and living in Berlin as an outsider, in an incredible accurate way.

The plot, more the scripting of it does use a lot of clichees, but it also makes you sympathize with the main character. The cast does give me an authentic feeling of being in Berlin, whether its a club, a bar or a park.

I see the movie as a sign for how misunderstood this branch of work is and how much work is still left, until we all can accept each other and the decisions we are making in our lives.

Despite being allegedly hard-up, the two lead characters look like well fed, well paid ZDF Neo TV presenters, and both about as German as they come. In the book Sonia is an alienated young Italian, and her boyfriend a clueless wandering pole, which kind of makes sense. The film falls prey to the common desire by German filmmakers to make everything look as **nice** as possible, totally undermining any believability in the storyline. Here the homeless boyfriend carries in his tiny backpack apparently only a screwdriver, a torn KRZBRG teeshirt and... an endless wardrobe of expensive Adidas Neo clubwear. In the book Sonia lived in scummy Moabit in the 2000s - in the film though she lives today on one of the most expensive streets in Berlin. The filmmakers might as well have just given her an Audi A7 to drive around in while she ponders the source of her money problems.

An insane amount of banal exposition is delivered in PERFECTLY accented German, the film whizzes through a tour of locations that it looks like they got from last years Lonely Planet, and worst of all there is no drive or tension in the story whatsoever. Sonia, despite an apparently hedonistic and expensive lifestyle (note to filmmakers - drugs in Berlin are cheaper than beer) appears in every scene looking like she just stepped out of the health-club showers after 9 hours of sleep. There is nothing to care about in this film unless you just want to look at moving postcards of a 20-year-old's idealised vacation in "cool" Berlin.

95 minutes of cheesy cliches, a plot that drags along without much tension or character development, jokes only the actors can laugh about, holes and illogicalities in the plotline and a main actress that doesn't match her role at all. She would be a good fit for the rich daughter of some industrialist in a "Rosamunde Pilcher" episode that meets her prince on some white horse while managing the family hotel - rather not for a promiscuous italian prostitute.