Horst in Translation ([email protected]) Here we have a 100-minute German movie from almost 15 years ago. It's a mix of drama and romance with a touch of comedy here and there. When this came out, Daniel Brühl had his huge breakthrough year. And while I totally enjoyed his performance in "Das weiße Rauschen", i was very much underwhelmed with what he put on display here. Jessica Schwarz plays the female lead and she is certainly better, but also far away from her career-best work. It was also a breakthrough film for her and she went basically entirely into acting soon after this after being a host on a German music television station initially.My opinion on this film may be biased as I am not a great Brühl fan at all. However, I will not deny that he has a couple good performances under his belt, such as the one I mentioned before or the one that almost got him Oscar-nominated not too long ago. However, if he does not hit the mark, he is really bad at times and so full of himself in his performances that he lacks subtlety from start to finish. This has always been a problem I had with him. I guess we are supposed to like the character in this film, but I never did. He was whiny, not a risk-taker and just unlikeable in general. Also his breaking of the fourth wall was pretty cringeworthy in here. And it happened far too many times. And aside from Brühl and Schwarz, the supporting cast is fairly forgettable too.I cannot say I am particularly surprised that Quabeck, who directed and wrote this film, and Hölzemann, who worked on the script, did not have any huge successes in the years since this was made. They were as young as their lead actors back then and the success of this film tricked people into believing they may have a great future ahead of them, maybe also abroad, but it simply did not work out because of their lack of talent. Another thing that did not work out was the relationship between Schwarz and Brühl in real life. They split a long time ago. Anyway, this film here is one of these that are considered perfect examples for the new German cinema wave, but I believe there are other, far better examples out there that are certainly worth a watch. This one here is not in my opinion. Not recommended.

agtsmith-1 Now, that is an authentic piece of German filmwork. I could completely identify with the lead character played magnificently by Daniel Brühl. I could imagine everybody in this picture as one of my friends, and, in some cases they come as close to my friends as it can get. I'm 20 years old now, and I just went through my Year of Social Service and I've never seen a movie which depicts this as real as it is here. It is also very entertaining to watch Daniel changing from the rational to the irrational, even rebellish person. It's a great coming of age story with well drawn characters and great cinematography. It deserves much more recognition than it got in Germany and anywhere else.

jaames_2000 This movie is like a wave taking you to your own childhood. Daniel is graduate the highschool. He is 19 and has never slept with a woman before. He is in love with a girl from his school, but first there are some experiences to make, before he gets the chance to prove his love. If you are ready, you will find a lot of parallels to your(!) first love. Let the author guides you to a movie full of wonderful picture, from a director, who marks himself with his first work into the landscape of "german film".