My friend from Faro
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | My friend from Faro |
| Country of production | FRG |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nana Neul |
| script | Nana Neul |
| production | Ralph Schwingel |
| music | Jörg Follert |
| camera | Leah Striker |
| cut | Dora Vajda |
| occupation | |
| |
My friend from Faro is a German film from 2008 by Nana Neul . The script was created as part of the Munich script workshop. The director herself described the film as a possible prelude to the Oscar- winning transsexual drama Boys Don't Cry .
action
The 22-year-old Melanie, called "Mel", works as a packer in a catering factory at the airport and is more of an outsider in her provincial home near Münster , where she lives with her father and older brother. When she almost ran over a hitchhiker in her red 1970s BMW, she fell in love with the young girl. Because of her short hair, the manly clothes and her boyish demeanor, Mel is mistaken for a boy by the pretty 14-year-old Jenny and her friend Bianca. Mel does not clear up this misunderstanding and takes the opportunity to get closer to the attractive blond girl with a pout who would like to become an actress. She pretends to be "Miguel" from Faro, Portugal , to Jenny and her friends . They both eventually fall in love.
At the same time, Mel begins to play a double game with her father and brother. She pays her handsome Portuguese work colleague Nuno to act as her boyfriend in order not to be considered single anymore. But Mel's life begins to become more and more problematic due to the numerous deception maneuvers around her homosexuality . After an attempt to break the relationship with Jenny in order not to have to reveal herself to her, she quits her job at the factory and confides in Jenny. She is shocked and turns away from her for the time being. Desperate, Jenny tells her friend Bianca about Mel's dizziness, on condition that she keep it to herself. But she does not keep her promise, so that at one of the last meetings of Mel and Jenny, there is an argument with Jenny's (ex) boyfriend and his friend.
Mel manages to escape. She then leaves her family and Jenny saying that she is going to Portugal. The film ends with her driving down a street where Nuno is waiting for her. Mel stops the car.
production
The film was shot in the summer of 2007 primarily in Greven , including at Münster / Osnabrück Airport , in the surrounding farmers and in the Hansaviertel, as well as in Münster and Billerbeck .
Reviews
The German trade press predominantly praised the director's staging and the play of the two young leading actresses with little or no experience in the cinema. The acting leadership of Neuls is sensitive, the director knows how to break down worlds through nuances, so Julia Teichmann ( film-dienst ). "From Lukas Moodysson's " Raus aus Åmål "to Kimberly Peirce's " Boys Don't Cry ", Neul touches on role models and yet finds her very own way for a love story between coming-out and coming-of-age" , says Teichmann. Philipp Bühler ( Berliner Zeitung ) described Mein Freund from Faro as a coming-of-age and not a coming-out film , which becomes a clever gender film “by renouncing dramatic exaggerations and unambiguity, the clear will to indifference” . Daniel Kothenschulte ( Frankfurter Rundschau ) drew references to the fairy tale film and well-known directors such as René Clair , Frank Borzage or Walt Disney and predicted that the director would bring to German film what it had lost since Rainer Werner Fassbinder - "an unconditional romanticism" . "The real fairy tale that Nana Neul tells again here is of course" Beauty and the Beast ". She did it so cleverly and with such delicate dialogues that the boundaries between fairy tales and reality become fluid, ” says Kothenschulte. Rüdiger Suchsland ( Berliner Morgenpost ) certified the two main actresses with impressive appearances and the director an unconventional homeland film: “It is also about growing up, about the dreariness of the province, and ways of escaping it ... The imagery is very convincing and original works consistently with colors. The staging is precise and in many ways courageous, as is the director's decision to forego clichés and overly clear symbolism, to leave some things in the vague. "
Awards
In 2008 the film received the Max Ophüls Award for Best Screenplay . In the same year, My Friend from Faro was awarded the main prize at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Brno , Czech Republic , and screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival . Nana Neul was nominated for the MFG-Star Baden-Baden 2008 young directors award.
Web links
- Official website
- My friend from Faro in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Website of the author / director Nana Neul
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Film review ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Ronja Dittrich at br-online.de (accessed on 23 August 2009)
- ↑ a b cf. Bühler, Philipp: She goes boldly to the boys' toilet . In: Berliner Zeitung, October 30, 2008, issue 255, p. K07
- ^ City of Münster: Press and Information Office - Press releases. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Heike Eickhoff: Cinema is buzzing like a beehive. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ cf. Criticism by Julia Teichmann in film-dienst 22/2008
- ↑ cf. Kothenschulte, Daniel: Unconditionally romantic . In: Frankfurter Rundschau, October 30, 2008, p. 41
- ↑ cf. Suchsland, Rüdiger: Nothing to do with men . In: Berliner Morgenpost, October 30, 2008, issue 87/2008, p. 6
