Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen

Maren Ade's debut. I wasn't expecting too much out of this one, since it doesn't have much of a reputation and I didn't really like Ade's sophomore feature, Everyone Else. I did like her third film, Toni Erdmann, but I kind of figured that was a major step forward for her. To my surprise, I found Forest for the Trees to be her best work so far. Shot on video, this is the story of a lonely, young teacher (Eva Löbau). She isn't too good at her new job, and she's not too good at life outside of school, either. Her 9th grade students walk all over her and the only friendship she can strike up is an awkward one with her neighbor. Löbau's neediness is exacerbated by work stress, and her friend soon grows annoyed with her. As someone who dipped his toes into teaching, I felt like this would have been my experience and, even though I spent a lot of time learning how to do it, I abruptly decided it was not for me. This situation is one of my nightmares, and I felt every painful moment of this film like a needle in my flesh. The film might have seemed perfect to me if not for the sort of cheap, magical realism ending. It's unpleasant, but truthful. Outstanding.

"The Forest For the Trees" tells the story of Melanie, a young woman who sets off for a job as a teacher in the big city. She is idealistic and thinks (as most new teachers do)that she knows more than the experienced teachers because she has just come from college and she knows "new" techniques, when experience is the ONLY teacher. But I digress...Eva Loebau does a marvelous job portraying Melanie, who can constantly be counted on to say the wrong thing, both in her professional and in her personal life! We watched and cringed as Melanie made faux pas after faux pas, never seeming to learn, and being too proud to ask for help! As to the ending, the director (we saw this at a Sundance screening, and the director came up on stage for Q and A afterward) said that the end was meant to be more symbolic than literal. I didn't really think there would be another credible way to end the story, and thought that the director did an awesome job in this, her first film.

I've seen all of Maren Ade's film as of this writing in 2016 and I don't think she's made a bad, or even middling one yet. The Forest for the Trees is her absolutely astonishing debut and immediately showcases her style and strengths.

First of all this isn't a "beautiful" film. Made as a student thesis you can see it was filmed on the cheap on video so the images will never really bowl you over (with a few exceptions). Where Ade's strength lies is in uncovering the hellish situations in reality. She first introduces us to Melanie Pröschle, a sweet, but goofy school teacher who is moving to a new (small) city to teach grade school students. Feeling alone in her apartment building she quickly spies her neighbour Tina Schaffner, and sets about trying to befriend her, which goes in awkward fits and starts as Melanie is socially awkward and doesn't seem to understand boundaries and is constantly confused as to whether her new friend really likes her or not. At first, the tensions between Melanie and Tina seem like the normal awkward pains that happen when adults struggle to make new friendships, but as the movie wears on, and Melanie's professional life flies further out of control, she places greater and greater importance on Tina and her friendship leading to increasingly disturbing encounters between them.

It is an incredibly painful movie to watch because I'm sure everyone has experienced each side of the coin of being a Melanie or a Tina and this movie presents the worst of both worlds. It also features one of the best endings I've ever seen in a movie, and the final shot will stick in my mind for a long time.

This is certainly an interesting film. I discovered this film by accident at my local blockbuster store.At first as another viewer had mentioned found it difficult to get used to the camera format at first. The movie experience was almost like getting sucked into a novel possibly a modern day Camus perhaps.The story also perhaps was focusing on the lack of a social support structure in modern societies. The alienation and loneliness is realized through the character of Melanie in depth. The ending was open to interpretation by the viewer and i am guessing that she is moving on from her teaching position to one which might be more fulfilling. Overall a good job.

Eva Loebau plays Melanie, an almost socially retarded young teacher who moves to Karlsruhe to begin her career. Her shyness and painfully embarrassing inability to read people makes for one social and career error after another.

She awkwardly befriends a hip and attractive neighbor and then, with her pathetic neediness and constant visits (not to mention her failure to understand subtle interpersonal cues) drives the neighbor to hate her. This, coupled with her legion of problems at work, precipitates Melanie's mental breakdown.

The subject matter, direction, and Loebau's acting makes the film VIBRATE with unease and tension which makes parts of the film almost impossible to watch. Add to this the fact that it was shot on video, giving it a "you are there" realism, and you may need a shot of homemade schnapps to keep from squirming.

A.