The fifteenth German Film Festival opened in Sydney on 15 November and will run until 30 November. If GOODBYE BERLIN, the opening night film is any indication of the calibre of the other thirty-five films to be shown at this festival, then the next two weeks offer a great opportunity to see some very entertaining and enriching cinema.
GOODBYE BERLIN is an adaption of Wolfgang Herrndorf’s multi awarding winning novel Tschick. Fatih Akin the director beautifully brings this story to life and reconnects the audience with the joys, pains and thrills of being a teenager.
Fourteen year old Maik’s (Tristan Göbel) summer holiday starts badly. He isn’t invited to Tatjana Cosic’s (Aniya Wendel) party, his mother has checked into rehab for another session of treatment and his father has just left him to go on a ‘business trip’ with his young and attractive assistant. Abandoned in middle class comfort, with two hundred euros to tide him over and the instructions not to get into trouble, Maik considers his circumstances are a reflection of what he is, a lonely, boring weirdo.
Tschick (Anand Batbileg) a child of Russian immigrants who lives in a disadvantaged area of Berlin, has recently become Maik’s classmate. Tschick arrives at Maik’s door in a stolen car and cajoles Maik into going on a road trip with him.
Maik and Tschick discover things about themselves and each other when they launch themselves into the world with minimal driving skills. Highlights of this journey include a terrifying wrong turn onto an autobahn, a meal with a kindly home schooler and her children, an encounter with some ‘mobile nobles’ and sharing their journey with the fiery and fiercely independent Isa (Nicole Mercedes Müller).
The soundtrack for this quirky movie is as delightful as the plot. Highlights include the boys listening to and accompanying Richard Clayderman playing Ballade Pour Adeline.