Tiger Milk (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Tiger milk |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2017 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ute Wieland |
| script | Ute Wieland |
| production | Susanne Freyer |
| camera | Felix Cramer |
| cut | Anna Kappellmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Tigermilch is a German feature film by director Ute Wieland from 2017 , based on the novel of the same name by Stefanie de Velasco . The cinema release in Germany was on August 17, 2017.
action
The two 14-year-olds Nini and Jameelah from Berlin have been best friends for a long time. For the summer vacation they are planning to be “deflowered”. Nini wants the graffiti writer Nico, whom she has known for a long time, and Jameelah the romantic Lukas. Ten years ago she came with her mother Noura as an asylum seeker from Iraq , where her father and brother were murdered. In the same block in Gropiusstadt where the two girls are at home, their Bosnian schoolmate Amir also lives with his older siblings Jasna and Tarik and their mother. Jasna has a relationship with Dragan, a Serb , which Tarik will not tolerate, who is disabled because of a gunshot wounded by Serbs in the civil war .
The first attempt to get closer to their favorite boys, at a wild party with alcohol and other drugs in a “storm-free” Grunewald villa, ends with a disappointment for both friends. Jameelah's next idea is to dance a “love spell” in the green area in front of the apartment block at midnight, during which they undress and, calling out the names of their loved ones, scatter rose petals. When they notice someone is approaching, they hide behind a playground device. It is Tarik and Jasna who are fighting. When they embrace, apparently forgiving, the girls watch as Tarik kills his sister with a knife . Undecided what to do, Nini and Jameelah flee to the front and make a second attempt the following day to lose their innocence by prostituting themselves on Kurfürstenstrasse - this time with “success”.
Back in the neighborhood, they find out that Amir has taken on the act. Now they are challenged even more, because only they know the truth. Jameelah insists not to go to the police, as involvement in a criminal case, instead of the hoped-for naturalization, could lead to her expulsion. Unlike Nini, she also fears blood revenge from the affected family. When their joint attempt to change Amir , who is in custody , fails, Nini finally takes heart and files a complaint. She is strengthened by Nico, who has still found the way to her, whereas Jameelah has to learn that Lukas and his cousin are expecting a child together. Nini's solo effort arouses the anger of Jameelah, so that both first verbally and then physically attack each other. Their dispute is settled not least by Amir, and it is overshadowed by the actually ordered deportation for mother and daughter, justified by the fact that Noura had traveled back to her home country at short notice for a funeral. At the last moment before her departure, Nini shows up again and makes sure that both girls - separated by the barricade fence and connected by the friendship bracelet that Nini Jameelah gives - hears the emotional farewell scene.
analysis
The title of the film has a concrete and a metaphorical reference. “Tiger milk ” is a mixed drink created by the girls and consumed occasionally, consisting of the alliterative components milk, passion fruit juice and brandy. They refer to the past, future and present: the milk stands for the last days of childhood, the brandy for the entry into the adult world, and the juice symbolizes the vitality of teenage life.
As in the film Tiger Girl , which was made almost at the same time, the tiger arouses associations of power, energy and dynamism. In addition, both films are set in Berlin and focus on two young female main characters who are testing their limits. However, there are also serious differences: the protagonists in Tiger Girl are already grown up, their friendship is more of a temporary alliance of convenience, and their origins are deliberately hidden. But it is precisely this that plays a major role in understanding Nini and Jameelah. Both live in precarious circumstances, albeit for very different reasons, apart from the fact that they lack a biological father. Nini's mother is unemployed, an alcoholic, and spends the day apathetically on the sofa watching trash TV; her significant other tries, but has no authority; Nini's younger sister is secretly sipping egg liqueur. In comparison, Jameelah's mini-family, consisting of her and her mother, who works as a nurse, is calm and orderly; linguistically and socially both have "arrived"; their problem is the insecure status.
Tschick , created a little earlier as a novel as well as a film , is mentioned most often as a comparative work; In connection with this, tiger milk is given terms such as “little sister” or “female complementary piece”. In fact, many things are similar, if not identical: the age (14), the time (beginning of the summer vacation), the “multicultural pairing”, the “stranger” as the one who gives the impetus and remains the more active, and finally the “precarious” family relationships that make everyday life difficult for the protagonists until then, but make it easier for them to take the freedom that everyone at their age would like.
criticism
Ulf Lepelmeier from Filmstarts writes that the director presents “two multi-layered characters full of contagious, irrepressible energy”. You manage to transfer the flair of the novel onto the canvas without any moral index finger. The film adaptation of the novel is a "rousing and cheeky youth film about friendship, rebellious teenage existence and unexpected changes in life".
Manfred Riepe from epd Film thinks that the "sudden distance" between the girlfriends symbolizes a crack that runs right through society. The story takes up many important topics, but only "dimly" illuminates them. The film seems constructed and overloaded. The “mixture of drama comedy and immigrant drama” is remembered because it is “soaked with a few splashes of blood from the real world”.
Martin Schwickert writes on Zeit Online that the “wild plot” fits surprisingly harmoniously into a “tender realism” with which the intimate friendship of the two girls and their social environment is viewed. He also emphasizes the successful cast, also for supporting roles, such as David Ali Rashed as Amir. The final turn is courageous, she doesn't give a damn about "happy-end conventions" and looks "directly at the bitter political reality".
Hanns-Georg Rodek von der Welt is also full of praise and argues very much like Schwickert. He also speaks tiger milk , for the genre youth movie , twice a "best" predicate to. In the German cinema it is the best of its kind "for a long time", and in the work of the "specialist" Ute Wieland, measured against his predecessors Naughty Girls and Better Than Nix , "clearly the best".
Axel Schmitt from Serienjunkies.de writes: “Sure, Tiger Milk is an adaptation of a novel , but in the book, author Stefanie de Velasco (with a short cameo ) takes almost 300 pages to spread all these stories. There is simply not enough space left in the film to accommodate them all sustainably. So some arcs of the story are robbed of the drama. Honor killing, deportation, teenage pregnancy and more: all of these topics could in themselves support a film, even a series. Taken together, they ensure that a slightly rushed atmosphere is created. "
Ulrich Kriest from the film service says that the film "knows how to [remarkably] implement the attitude towards life evoked in the novel", "whereas the shift from youthful exuberance to seriousness is not entirely convincing."
Web links
- Tiger Milk in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Tiger milk at filmportal.de (with photo gallery and trailer)
- Page to the film at the production company
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for tiger milk . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ a b c Freedom in Ringelnylons Zeit Online, August 15, 2017, accessed September 1, 2017.
- ↑ a b c Jameelah and Nini do it Die Welt, August 17, 2017, accessed on September 3, 2017.
- ↑ Review on Filmstarts.de , accessed on September 1, 2017.
- ↑ criticism epd-film.de , July 21, 2017 accessed on 1 September 2017th
- ↑ Review on Serienjunkies.de , August 16, 2017, accessed on September 16, 2017.
- ↑ Tiger milk. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 22, 2020 .