Jack (2014)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Jack
Jack 2014.svg
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2014
length 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Edward Berger
script Edward Berger,
Nele Mueller-Stöfen
production René Römert ,
Jan Krüger
music Julian Maas ,
Christoph M. Kaiser
camera Jens Harant
cut Janina Herhoffer
occupation

Jack is a German feature film directed by Edward Berger . The story tells of a phase in the life of 10-year-old Jack who is very attached to his mother, although she neglects him and his 6-year-old brother until, after a disturbing weekend, he realizes for himself that it is better to part with her. The film premiered on February 7, 2014 in the competition at the 64th Berlinale , and was released on October 9, 2014.

Alexanderplatz Königstadt Carree - one of the filming locations

action

10-year-old Jack runs the household and is responsible for himself and his 6-year-old brother Manuel, while her 26-year-old mother Sanna works during the day, partying at night and occasionally brings men home for a one-night stand. She likes to deal with her children, but only when she feels like it. There is no father in the film.

When Manuel scalds himself in hot water because of Jack's carelessness while they are alone in the apartment, the youth welfare office intervenes. Manuel can stay with Sanna, Jack is admitted to a dormitory. There the closed boy does not find a connection, is systematically bullied by a group of older residents around the boy Danilo and just wants to get back to Sanna as quickly as possible. When he is ready to leave at the start of the holiday and is waiting for her to pick him up, she just calls instead: she has to work and will pick him up after the weekend. So Jack has to stay in the home, together with Danilo, who immediately harasses him again at the lake. In the affect, Jack grabs a stick and knocks Danilo down, who remains lying unconscious.

Now he doesn't dare to go back to the home, but sleeps outdoors and runs home the next morning. Nobody opens it for him there and the key is not in the usual storage place, so he first finds out where Manuel is staying and picks it up there. For days the two boys wander through Berlin in search of Sanna, without money and without a place to sleep. They spend the night on park benches or in a hideout in a parking garage until they are discovered and driven away. Any attempt to call Sanna's cell phone only reaches the voicemail. Again and again they ring the doorbell with no success, Jack leaves Sanna several notes there with calls for help. They visit some of Sanna's acquaintances, but no one can take care of them beyond a meal. Jack, on the other hand, refuses to contact authorities because he doesn't want to go back to the home. His despair grows as Manuel blindly trusts his older brother.

When Jack no longer knows what to do, he sees light from outside in her apartment late in the evening. There the boys actually meet Sanna, who welcomes her children happily, but sees no need for explanation for the past few days. She doesn't want to hear any stories from her children either, she brushes aside Jack's question about her switched off cell phone. When he also discovers that his notes are still lying on the shelf in front of the apartment door, his previously unshakable conviction that Sanna is loved crumbles. While she is still sleeping, he packs up his things, wakes Manuel and walks with him back to the dormitory.

reception

The film service judged that Berger and Mueller-Stöfen present "the adult world as a sphere [...] that remains unaffected by the fate of the children or even meets them openly hostile". The “focus on the children's perspective” is “conclusive” on the “image level”, but apparently “no adult finds it strange when the two children are alone in the middle of the night”. With the authenticity of films like The Boy on a Bike or You Kissed and They Beat him , Jack couldn't keep up. Instead, the “initial realism finally [...] dissolves in favor of a conventional melodrama”, “which speculates on pity with public appeal”.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Jack . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2014 (PDF; test number: 144 129 K).
  2. ↑ mno: Jack. (No longer available online.) Film service , archived from the original on July 28, 2015 ; Retrieved June 12, 2015 .
  3. ^ Winner of the 24th Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Film Festival. In: Filmportal.de . Deutsches Filminstitut , May 12, 2014, accessed on June 12, 2015 .
  4. ↑ The main prize at the Festival of German Films goes to “Vergiss mein Ich”. In: Filmportal.de. Deutsches Filminstitut, July 7, 2014, accessed June 12, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Jack. German Film and Media Rating (FBW) , accessed on June 12, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Record attendance at the 8th Five Lakes Film Festival. In: Filmportal.de. German Film Institute, August 4, 2014, accessed on June 12, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Bavarian Film Prize 2014 awarded. In: Filmportal.de. Deutsches Filminstitut, January 17, 2015, accessed on June 12, 2015 .
  8. ^ The nominations for the German Film Prize 2015. In: Filmportal.de. Deutsches Filminstitut, May 7, 2015, accessed on June 12, 2015 .