A Coffee in Berlin
A Coffee in Berlin
NR | 13 June 2014 (USA)
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Niko, a twenty-something college dropout, lives for the moment as he drifts through the streets of Berlin, curiously observing everyone around him and oblivious to his growing status as an outsider. Then on one fateful day, through a series of absurdly amusing encounters, everything changes.

Reviews
Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Reno Rangan It was like, came five years ago. One of the most unexpected films from a debutant director to succeed commercially, as well as to grab as many as the German Academy Awards. A 'black and white' and a short film than an average runtime. A small budget flick that the entire story revolved within a day. These are the interesting basic things about it you must know. Then going into the film, it's really feels good kind. But not everything in the story was pleasant. I mean, there's nothing serious, but a man who faces difficulties.It was about a young, carefree man. Dropped out of law practice and having no job or a girlfriend, he spends his days as how it turns out itself. He has one good friend, nut not an ideal one. And of course annoying father who always advises him to be normal like everybody else. But this particular day is not ordinary. After saying goodbye to a girl he spent the night with, all he wanted was a cup of fresh coffee. Unfortunately, he did not get it.So the rest of the day follows, as many unexpected events begin to unfold. One of it was encountering an old schoolmate. She invites him to her play. Meanwhile, his date with dad and later in the day ending up in a pub where he meets an old man who narrates his life experience. Just after that, the story takes a simple twist as the day too is coming to an end, the end credit started to roll up.-xX] The only thing I can do, is do nothing for you anymore. [Xx-I like modern 'black and white' films. Actually 99 per cent of those films I've seen were like masterpieces or almost. They simply don't make one, unless what they wanted to narrate on the screen is something special. It really captured the depth. The depth of the character. When it all began, we know zero about the lead character, but very soon everything changes, only heading forward. And when it reached the other end, you would feel you have known him long enough. One of the reasons could be your life, having similarity with the film. Most of the people have passed that stage in their 20s, like either being rebellious or unemployed/carefree.It was pretty much like one of those films you have seen that centres on one particular thing. Because of a small timing indifference or a mistake can lead a slight deviation in the path and then a new adventure begins. That's what in my language we say, 'in a cycle gap'. Bicycles might be big, but its path/track is so thin. In this, it was all about a cup of coffee. If he had got it when he first desired for it, the thing would have been different. Very neatly written screenplay. No doubt why it won the national award for that.Towards the end, I felt slowness, like it got tired of everything. But that's perfect, because since this tale is about a single day, that's how people as well feel in their long day. Overall, it worked out for me and so for most those who saw it. I might be late, but watched it, did not I! If you have seen it, that's great, but if not, then I suggest you to try it. Quite fun to watch. No serious laughs, but in a couple of scenes it delivered as it meant. Felt like I've watched a German film after a long time, but I've picked the right one.7/10
lutziferien For more than 20 years Berlin has to cope with the steady flow of young newcomers ("Zugereiste") from (German) boondocks, may they be students, "creatives" or other types of birds fleeing their nest. This movie is a petty comedy, made by newcomers for newcomers, juxtaposing every imaginable Berlin cliché. It's an outsider's view that lacks real insight, although, fortunately, hipsters & their electronic devices are absent. Mix Berlin clichés with some nouvelle vague, a lot of "Herr Lehmann" & - oh, don't forget typical 90s' examining your own navel. Sorry, but self- proclaimed Berlin bohemians were a bore then & are still today... OK, OK, it's a film student's final work, so prepare for some artsy Godard-like (please don't say Godardesque!) black and white & score, but don't expect much more.A dramatic element is introduced, too, by addressing 1939's "Reichsprogromnacht", but this episode stands erratic & remains rather attached to the film than woven in. Don't get carried away by the whole film school jabbering: There's as much "kafkaesque" or "Freudian" stuff as in this morning's cereal. The quite impressing cast, though, does a good job & the camera's work is solid. I would give Gerster as a director another chance, after all, you can hardly expect from a 20-something-year-old to have developed its own style, but I had one condition: no more Berlin bohemian slackers, please!
anarchistica 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.
Konstantin Kasakov "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.