This 2002 film is marketed as a drama comedy. There are pieces in the rom-com category, but in true German film nature, the drama pulls it back to reality. We know Max Mauff from Die Welle – other faces may be new to most. If you’ve seen the classic Die Blechtrommel, you may also recognize Wiegand Witting, who plays one of the parents. From the beginning, there are short images of nudity from the back. As the title suggests, this film leans into the awkward memories of teenage life, which does focus on the sexual and quasi-sexual images surrounding their daily life, often in graphic detail, an ..read more

This post is specifically covering the 2020 remake of this film, and none of the the other versions or films in the series – hopefully I’ll have access to others at some point! Our two top-billed actors are Henning Baum and Solomon Gordon, whom you may not recognize, but also includes big names such as Uwe Ochsenknecht and Christoph Maria Herbst. This is a children’s film with a rating of 0 in Germany and Austria and 6 in Switzerland. It covers one topic above all others: “Where do I come from?” We explore both sides (the child’s desire to learn his origins and the adults’ desire to protect hi ..read more

This 2019 family-family comedy features a magic mirror and a 4th grade student who decides to use it. In true children’s film fashion, most of the actors are lesser-known. You may recognize Margarita Broich from The Reader and Fack Ju, Göhte or Maria Leuenberger from Schubert in Love, or even Butz Ulrich Buse from Rubinrot and the sequels or Verbotene Liebe (at least, if you watched in the late 90s like I did!). Most of the children are newer to the acting scene and haven’t had many credits since, and the children are the absolute focus of this film. Luis Vorbach plays our main character, and ..read more

This 1999 film is a drama-comedy, focused on a group of young men who are trying to enjoy one more day together before one leaves – a typical coming of age moment. Our main actors include Frank Giering, Florian Lukas, and Antoine Monot Jr., all of whom we’ve learned about before. Florian Lukas has a few new credits since the last post, including another Drei ??? Film. This film primarily centers itself around young men who are about to make their way in life, bridging the gap between youth and adulthood. As such, some clips may be useful to a classroom setting in clip forms. There are some wor ..read more

This 2017 comedy has a hint of rom-com, though it is wrapped in awkward social incompetence, thereby providing the film with the simple “comedy” label. Our title character is played by Heinz Strunk, an actor who is also a prolific writer. His best friend is played by Charly Hübner, whom we’ve seen in previous posts here. You can read more about him in the Bibi und Tina post. There are some comments that may be inappropriate in classroom settings, but are quickly passed over and treated as inappropriate in the film. This film has several clips useful for important topics in the classroom, but m ..read more

This 2015 comedy is an interesting warning in society and could be an interesting conversational piece. Charly Hübner is our main actor. We have seen him before in Das Leben der Anderen, the Bibi und Tina series, Krabat, 1 1/2 Ritter, and many other smaller roles throughout our collection. He plays alongside Michael Maertens, whom we know mostly from the Bibi und Tina series, but credits go back to Sonnenallee and beyond. Some potential educational points exist for more advanced students as they are working through societal issues including financial and gender issues. The film begins with two ..read more

A Eberhoferkrimi, this 2019 film is a continuation of stories that began in 2013 with Dampfnudelblues and continues through 2022 with Guglhupfgeschwader so far. (It appears as if they may have spun off from a 2007 TV movie called Bukarestfleish – I’ll have to find it to confirm!) Each film, of course, having a food theme, and are adaptations of books by Rita Falk. This film has varying degrees of Bavarian use, ranging from accent to full dialect. There are some authentic moments of culture, including a local soccer game, lots of Bavarian food options, and festival activities. There is some use ..read more

Known in the US as Goodbye Berlin, this 2016 film is available to stream in the US with ads on Tubi and is rated TV-MA. In plays from here with English subtitles, which are at times not wonderful. Tschick is based on a novel by Wolfgang Herrndorf. Most of the teenagers in this film are played by actors in their first movie role. You may even recognize one of them from a quick scene in Er ist wieder da. There are educational clips that may be usable for the learning environment. Scenes of a Gymnasium, brief view of the Autobahn, a sense of rural Germany, even a brief discussion of where people ..read more

This 2018 film has a star-studded cast. From Christoph Maria Herbst to Florian David Fitz, you’ll find several familiar faces here. This is a comedy, brought to us by director Sönke Wortmann (Wunder von Bern, Der bewegte Mann). Another famous face you may recognize is Justus von Dohnányi. You can find him in der Untergang, das Experiment, Woman in Gold, Frau Müller muss weg, James Bond: The World is Not Enough, Jüd Suss – Film ohne Gewissen, Männerherzen (and Männerherzen 2), 1 1/2 Ritter, Jakob the Liar (1999 version), and so much more. He has many connections to interesting historical moment ..read more

This 2018 film is a drama comedy with adventure in mind. We are taken through Germany by Moped as the story goes on. While most of the cast may not be recognized by all, this film does include Franka Potente, Wotan Wilke Möhring, and Alexandra Maria Lara, all of whom are very familiar faces by now! Our two main characters are played by Lars Eidinger and Bjarne Mädel. Eidinger has recently been in Babylon Berlin and the mini-series version of M. Mädel was the main character in Der Tatortreiniger series. This film includes dialect as well as Hoch Deutsch. It centers around family relationships ..read more