Tsatsiki - squids and first kisses
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Tsatsiki - squids and first kisses (Tsatsiki, mom and the policeman) |
| Original title | Tsatsiki, morsan och polisen |
| Country of production |
Sweden Denmark Norway Iceland |
| original language | Swedish |
| Publishing year | 1999 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK without age limit JMK unrestricted |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ella Lemhagen |
| script | Ulf Stark |
| production | Anne Ingvar |
| music |
Popsicle Harilaos Papadakis |
| camera | Not so Bohman |
| cut | Bernhard Winkler |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
Successor → |
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The Scandinavian - Icelandic co-production tzatziki - squid and first kisses (reference Title: tzatziki, mum and the policeman ) is a children's film by the Swedish director Ella Lemhagen from 1999. The literature was created from the novel series tzatziki tzatziki of Moni Nilsson-Brännström , from which after the success of Tsatsiki - octopuses and first kisses also the story Tsatsiki - friends was filmed forever .
The film tells the story of eight-year-old Tobias Johansson, known as “Tsatsiki”, who lives alone with his mother, a rock musician, in Stockholm . He hopes to find a substitute father in the policeman Göran, his mother's lodger. He also dreams of getting to know his biological father, who lives in Greece.
action
Eight year old Tobias Johansson is called "Tsatsiki" because of his southern appearance. He never met his father and only knows that he lives in Greece. One day he secretly practices diving in a swimming pool. The policeman Göran accidentally discovers him lying on the bottom of the pool and takes him out of the water to prevent him from drowning. Then he drives Tsatsiki home on his police motorcycle with the intention of talking to his parents. This is how Göran meets Tsatsiki's single mother, the rock musician Tina Johansson. She is rehearsing with her band when her son is brought home by the police. She is annoyed about this and reacts indignantly when Göran demands that she take better care of her son.
The next day, Tsatsiki goes to school. He feels comfortable there; the teacher is nice, he can talk about anything with his best friend Pär Hammer, and he is also a little in love with the girl Maria. However, he has difficulties with the older student Mårten, who beat up younger children like him in the schoolyard.
Tsatsiki's mother wants to rent a room. Policeman Göran, of all people, answers her report. Tsatsiki is enthusiastic about it and quickly sees a substitute father in Göran. Tsatsiki's mother Tina and Göran, however, initially don't like each other at all.
Then a dispute breaks out between Mårten and Tsatsiki in the schoolyard, during which Mårten beats him up. Tina then goes to the director, who is not ready to talk to her about it. Nevertheless, Tina gives him her opinion. Then she meets Mårten in the schoolyard and also confronts him, which ultimately collapses crying.
In the course of the next time Göran and Tina get closer and closer. Tsatsiki reacts jealously and feels less loved by Göran. But Göran and Tsatsiki can express themselves, although Tsatsiki's knowledge of love is limited. He also has the "relationship" with Maria himself. When he dared to paint a heart for Maria, she was not averse to his “proposal”.
The relationship between Tina and Göran is developing less well because Tina is in love with the bassist in her band. In the end, Göran can no longer bear this and moves out. At a rock band concert he meets a street artist and becomes friends with her.
After the concert the band looks better and Tina has more money to spend. Tsatsiki therefore succeeds in persuading his mother to travel with him to Greece in order to look for his father there. They actually find him in a small fishing village, but Tsatsiki hides from him that he is his son. The two grow closer when Tsatsiki helps his father repair his boat engine. Then they go out to sea to harpoon squids - just as Tsatsiki dreamed of and what he had trained for so long. On the last evening before leaving, Tina finally takes heart, speaks to her former lover and tells him that Tsatsiki is his son. He is overjoyed to learn of his fatherhood; he has no other children. On the day of his departure, Tsatsiki promises that he will come back. (The sequel tsatsiki - friends forever is about this return .)
On the way home from the airport in Stockholm, Tina drives at excessive speed in the car and is therefore stopped by the police. The policeman who stopped them is Göran. He asks her if he can move in with her again. His relationship with the artist hadn't lasted long. Tina has now also realized that the bass player was not the right one for her, so she agrees. So the two get a second chance to get closer again.
History of origin
Tsatsiki - octopuses and first kisses is based on the first two volumes of the series of novels Tsatsiki-Tsatsiki , which was published in Germany by Oetinger Verlag and is one of the world's most successful children's book series of the 1990s . The author Moni Nilsson-Brännström placed particular emphasis on a mixture of authenticity and fairytale-like in the novels . It was important to her that this style was not lost in the film. It was therefore her express wish that the screenplay should be written by Ulf Stark . He already had many years of experience in the cinematic implementation of literary models, including writing the scripts for some of his own children's books. However, the collaboration was not without its problems; the author was initially dissatisfied with Stark's first drafts and managed to get the manuscript to be rewritten five times.
The film was shot in Stockholm and in Pachia Ammos on the Greek island of Crete . Samuel Haus , the main actor, made his acting debut in Tsatsiki - Squids and First Kisses (1999). He embodied the role of Tsatsiki in his last feature film Tsatsiki - Friends forever (2001).
reception
audience
The film was released in Swedish cinemas on October 1, 1999, where it had been seen 531,781 times up to June 1, 2000 and grossed over 29 million Swedish kronor (around two million euros ). This makes it commercially successful in Sweden.
While the film opened in Norway on October 22, 1999, it was not released in other European countries until 2000 or 2001. During this time it was shown at several film festivals, including the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival . Under the title Tsatsiki - octopuses and first kisses , the film was also shown in German cinemas from October 12, 2000, and it was also released on video and DVD with this title. At festivals and on television, however, the German distribution title Tsatsiki, Mama und der Polizist was used. In Germany the film was seen 86,585 times by cinema-goers, in the entire European cinema market the number of visitors was over 600,000. The film opened on October 5, 2000 in German-speaking Switzerland and on April 6, 2001 in Austria.
In some letters that the Kinderfilmfest received from children, the end of the film was criticized as too unrealistic. Other children, however, praised the end of the film as a positive element.
criticism
Critics took tsatsiki squids and first kisses consistently positive. Only the end of the film was described as a bit too fairytale, while this fairytale exaggeration was also seen as a virtuoso balance to reality.
The emotionality with which the film touches the audience was emphasized by many critics. Tsatsiki's search for his father shows that it is worth holding onto dreams. Some critics particularly praised the balance that the film maintains with emotions. Topics such as tolerance, love and respect, but also small everyday needs and joys would be told. Tsatsiki - squids and first kisses never run the risk of becoming cheesy.
The critics particularly emphasized the actors' unsophisticated play. The sadness of everyday life to which they are at the mercy is shown in realistic characters. The performance of Samuel Haus, the actor Tsatsikis, was particularly praised. Tsatsiki - Squids and First Kisses was praised as an authentic film that recreates "real life": often funny, sometimes sad and mostly exciting - because you never know what will happen next. The film is the careful portrait of a child on the way to adulthood and a touching invitation to parents to walk this difficult and exciting path together with their children.
The Swedish critic Linda Hedihn called the film a “direct hit” because it succeeds in staging essential, timeless topics such as the identification of a boy with father figures in a light, but not superficial, way. Some of the characters, such as B. the Norwegian class teacher Tsatsikis are not entirely free from stereotypical character traits, but the avoidance of clichés is one of the film's strengths. The representation of Alexandra Rapaport (Tsatsiki's mother) z. B. modernize "old ideas of mothers acting like templates" and replace them with realistic contradictions.
The theater actor Jacob Ericksson , who plays the policeman Göran, had his first international success with Tsatsiki - Squids and First Kisses , and the daily soap actress Alexandra Rapaport also made the leap to the cinema with her role. The director Ella Lemhagen also achieved her international breakthrough with this film, after she had already become known in Sweden with youth films such as Der Traumprinz von Em (1996).
Awards
At the 2000 Berlin International Film Festival , tsatsiki - octopuses and first kisses received positive ratings from the children's jury without exception. The children found the film moving because a little boy's search for his father also occurs in reality. The acting performance of Alexandra Rapaport as Mama and Samuel Haus' as Tsatsiki convinced the children's jury. They also emphasized the cinematic balance between sadness and humor.
The film Tsatsiki - Squids and First Kisses received several awards in 1999 and 2000, including the Grand Prize of the Children's Fund and the Transparent Bear at the Berlinale. The film received the children's film award from the Nordic Film Institute at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck .
The most important Swedish film award, the Guldbagge , went to Anders Bohman (camera), Anne Ingvar (production) and Ulf Stark (screenplay), while the film won the best production of the year against Anders Nilsson's thriller Zero Tolerance - Witnesses in Fear and Jan Lindkvists historical documentary Tiden är en dröm was able to prevail.
Director Ella Lemhagen went to three other international film awards : firstly, the Danish Buster Prize at the Buster International Children's Film Festival , secondly the Starboy Award at the Finnish Oulu International Children's Film Festival, and finally the Silver Poznań Goat for the best real-life film in Poland International Youth Film Festival Ale Kino .
Film analysis
construction
Tsatsiki - octopuses and first kisses tells the story of the eight-year-old leading actor, who wants a full family and wants to get to know his biological father.
At the beginning of the story, Tsatsiki is introduced to going to the swimming pool for diving training. In the “ voice-over ” (narration), Tsatsiki speaks about his wish to get to know his father. Then he'll go diving with him, so he'll have to train.
In this way, the viewer is introduced to Tsatsiki's living environment and the child's imagination. This revolves around family and thus also love relationships. Tsatsiki's ideas are initially limited to a classic, simple family picture with father, mother and child. In the course of the film he goes through a development and realizes how complicated love and family relationships are in real life.
Narrative
In her film analysis in the book “Kinderfilm Stoff- und Projektentwicklung”, Beate Völcker emphasized a special feature of the film that the main character pursues two goals. On the one hand, Tsatsiki would like to get to know his father in Greece, on the other hand he would like Göran to be his surrogate father. Usually only one goal is presented, which the audience and the main character hope they can achieve. This dramaturgical rule of pursuing the only goal comes from classic film dramaturgy. Tsatsiki - squids and first kisses is not structured purely dramatically, but combines the dramatic with an epic narrative. An epic narrative needs a narrator to explain the plot, while a dramatic plot is driven by the characters themselves. In Tsatsiki - Squids and First Kisses , the main character himself acts as the first-person narrator in the epic storylines. In addition, Tsatsiki's first wish to get to know his father is already an integral part of Tsatsiki's life at the beginning of the plot and is therefore unsuitable for letting the viewer participate in his hopes. The viewer must, however, experience the creation of a wish from the main character in order to be able to find himself emotionally in it. The viewer follows the emergence of the second wish, that Göran Tsatsiki's surrogate father, directly, so that he is emotionally involved in the hope of his fulfillment.
Dramatic irony is a stylistic device that the film uses in many ways. The police officer Göran in particular is driven into some ironic situations by Tsatsiki's behavior. This begins with the first encounter in the swimming pool, where Göran pulls the apparently drowning Tsatsiki out of the water. The viewer knows that Tsatsiki only practices diving; So he has a knowledge advantage over the figure Göran. The viewer can therefore humorously absorb Göran's erroneous assumption. The fact that he does not react angrily to his mistake arouses sympathy for him in the audience.
Tsatsiki suggests that Göran win Tina's sympathy through a gift. He also has one ready for Göran; a nicely wrapped tiger bikini that he had to buy when he fled to a women's lingerie store from Mårten. Tsatsiki is unaware that this is an inappropriate gift from a man for a woman he has just met. Göran, on the other hand, has no opportunity to ask what is in the box before handing over the gift. When he hands this over to Tina, the viewer has a knowledge advantage over him again, so that his tension on Tina's reaction is increased. But instead of being snubbed, she is amused by the gift. The bikini is effectively used in the film as a continuously appearing prop, first to present the characters' characteristics and later, in Greece, to keep the connection to Göran present in the viewer despite the spatial separation.
Conflicts
Tsatsiki lives contentedly with his mother until he notices when Göran moves in that he has been missing some aspects in his life so far. One of the first scenes illustrates the previous family life of Tsatsiki and Tina: They sit next to each other on a porch swing and eat Chinese fast food. Göran, on the other hand, brings the entire community to a lovingly laid table for meals after he has moved in. Tsatsiki likes Göran because of his loving nature. So it is understandable that he wants Göran to be his mother's friend. Tsatsiki finds in him a mentor and surrogate father who teaches him a lot. On the other hand, there are also situations in which Tsatsiki Göran helps by showing him how to get his mother's sympathy.
There is an important potential for conflict in the different living environment of Göran and Tina. The situation is aggravated by Tina's inability to choose between Göran and the bassist. The plot is told entirely from Tsatsiki's point of view, so that the story is understandable for children.
people
The main character of the Tsatsiki , Tobias Johansson, is drawn very differently. With its southern appearance, it differs significantly from the light-skinned, blonde Scandinavians. His classmate Maria particularly likes his dark eyes. Tsatsiki is very sporty and strong for his age. He increases these qualities through his purposeful diving exercises. Tsatsiki's mother Tina never made a secret of the fact that she received Tsatsiki while on vacation in Greece. Aside from his mother's descriptions, Tsatsiki only knows one old photo of his father. From this he develops a fantasy of an ideal father. The desire for clarity about his family relationships is a strong, action-determining element in this phase of his life. In the course of the film, Tsatsiki develops a new idea of the complexity of love relationships and the conflicts that can arise from them. He learns to accept that reality is more complicated than his dreams suggest, because at the same time he learns that his own relationships with adults endure, regardless of their conflicts with one another.
Tina Johansson , Tsatsiki's mother, is a carefully balanced figure with both positive and negative qualities. In this way, despite the difficulties that it causes the main character, the audience's sympathy for her remains. As a rock musician, she does not live in "middle class" circumstances, but is unconventional, chaotic and impulsive. Nevertheless, she takes her role as a mother very seriously. So she helps Tsatsiki when he has problems with Mårten. The school fails in this conflict, which is symbolized in the role of the director, who prefers to work through his papers than to engage in a conversation with Tina. Tina, however, lures Mårten out of her reserve with her impulsive manner, so that Mårten reveals the reason why he beat up the smaller classmates. In her love affairs, however, Tina finds it difficult to clarify herself. Her feelings fluctuate between Göran and the bass player in her band, and she unconsciously fears that with a decision between them she will also have to choose between her two worlds - life in a rock band or in a middle-class existence.
The policeman Göran is characterized by his country origin. The situation there seemed simpler to him, so that he had difficulties with the “women from the city”. At the first meeting with Tsatsiki, Göran shows that he can deal with the boy well. This is deepened as the film progresses, for example by going shopping with him when his mother doesn't have the time. After shopping, Göran Tsatsiki invites you to a Greek restaurant. This shows that he has dealt with the wishes of the child and takes them seriously. Göran also helps Tsatsiki with his personality development. This is made clear, among other things, in the scene in which Tsatsiki feels reset because Göran and his mother are getting closer. Even if Tsatsiki did not understand everything exactly at this point, he realizes that his relationship with Göran is still going strong. When Tina gets back together with the bassist, Göran and Tsatsiki talk while they repair Göran's motorcycle. Göran has since learned something new and can now find the right words to explain the complexity of relationships to Tsatsiki and thus also to the childish viewers. He declares that he needs order in his life; just as it is necessary for repairs. All parts are neatly placed in cups so that he can put them back together again in reverse order.
Iannis , Tsatsiki's father, is a freedom-loving person. That was precisely what attracted Tina to him when she got involved in the holiday romance with him. But Iannis has not developed any further since then and has not started a family. He lives alone with his dog and looks a bit old, from a distance like a homeless person - an image that reflects the first impression of Mårten's alcoholic father. In meeting his father, Tsatsiki can benefit from the skills he learned from Göran. He helps his father fix the engine on his boat. Iannis is friendly to Tsatsiki and fulfills his wish for a diving trip together. Then Tsatsiki spontaneously hugs his father. However, he cannot react appropriately, because for him Tsatsiki is just a nice tourist boy. Only when Tina tells him about his fatherhood does Iannis realize that he has missed a family of his own in his life.
Mårten , Tsatsiki's classmate, wants a loving father. His relationship with his father is disturbed because he is an alcoholic and doesn't care about him. That is why he is jealous of those children who think highly of their father. Tina shows that it often only takes one person to really deal with problems when she gets Mårten out of his stubbornness. In this way, he can accept his situation and direct his frustration in a more meaningful way than Tina teaches him to play the guitar. Mårten and Tsatsiki later speak out. Through him, Tsatsiki realizes that there are many people with whom love relationships are disturbed. But Mårten also learns more about Tsatsiki's situation. Through the mutual confrontation with their fates, both of them are solidified in their life path.
needs
The central theme in Tsatsiki - octopuses and first kisses is love in different variations, as love relationships between man and woman, in the form of loving affection between man, woman and child, and as the first love among children. Tsatsikis, Tina's and Göran's different views of love collide.
Tsatsiki's idea of love is shaped by a childlike, simple world of experience. He first has to gain experience in order to realize that love relationships can be very complicated. This helps him to develop further, to take his place in the family structure and to establish positive contact with his father.
The process of growing up is a common theme in children's films and is also taken up here. Tina shows that this process lasts lifelong and that there is further development potential in every person. She learns to deal with her feelings increasingly better. If she was not clear about her feelings in everyday life, she realizes on vacation how much she misses Göran. The other questions that concern them in relation to him, such as those about their different living environments, take a back seat to them. She learns to set priorities.
It is a similar story for Göran, who also needs some distance to become aware of his feelings. He faces the challenge and matures in his love affair.
Film technical means
Director
With an eight-year-old leading actor, the film offers quite young children a role model. The director Ella Lemhagen does justice to this target audience by telling parts of the plot epically, which allows Tsatsiki to explain the plot in more detail as the first-person narrator.
The direction increased the recognizability by repeatedly using elements like diving or objects like the tabby bikini, which Tina is given as a gift. Through this repetition, especially the younger viewers can better understand the emotional meanings, from which a learning process grows for them.
The director uses this principle so skillfully that adults do not get bored, while the film offers them exciting entertainment through means such as dramatic irony. Tsatsiki - squids and first kisses is on the one hand a family film , but on the other hand it is also a real children's film , because specific child experiences are conveyed.
camera
Kino.de praises the camera work by Anders Bohman , who plays with the clear Scandinavian backdrop of Stockholm in some sequences and creates aesthetic, graphic images. The change between epic narration and a real narrative is made clear by the camera. Whenever Tsatsiki appears as a first-person narrator, the picture is illuminated by a fairytale-like light. There is an aquarium in Tsatsiki's room, which bathes the room in a bluish light. This blue light can also be found in the indoor pool, where Tsatsiki practices diving. And finally, it is also used in the sea when he goes diving with his father. The recurring elements, which play a central role in the film, are captured in a similar way in different environments with light and sharpness, for example important props such as the tiger bikini are staged. People are also presented in a similar form in the picture in different situations. For example, the motif of the old photo of Tsatsiki's father is taken up again after Tsatsiki befriended his father. Again his now older father holds up an octopus and the sunlight bathes the background in a romantic light.
music
The musical design qualifies the relationships between the characters and contributes to the emotionalization of the child and adult audience. Different musical stylistic devices are used. Ambient music is used in the epic plot sections in which Tsatsiki appears as the first-person narrator . The electronic music is determined by high, flute-like tones that create a spherical mood.
Instrumental music with acoustic guitar, on the other hand, is preferred if the relationships between people are to be clarified. An example of this is the scene in which the previous family life of Tsatsiki and Tina is shown by eating fast food together. The cheerful title melody also consists of acoustic guitar music, it reappears in different variations in the film for emotionalisation.
Live music is used in films as a further musical stylistic device. Tina was practicing with her band when she was introduced in the film. This rock music will later be played live at their concert. Greek live music, on the other hand, can be heard in the restaurant where Göran Tsatsiki invites you to eat. Greek music in various forms is also played in the background when Tsatsiki and his father meet.
When Tsatsiki and Göran experience feelings of freedom and independence on their motorcycle excursions, instrumental rock music is used to reproduce his mood. The reconciliation between Tina and Göran at the end of the film is completely accompanied by rock music and vocals, with the volume of the music varying to express the feelings of the people.
literature
- Beate Völcker: Children's film. Material and project development. UVK, Konstanz 2005, ISBN 3-89669-521-5 (= Praxis Film , Volume 25).
swell
- ↑ Age designation for Tsatsiki - squids and first kisses . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ kinoweb.de
- ↑ a b c kino.de
- ↑ a b film-kultur.de Institute for Cinema and Film Culture film booklet
- ↑ Linda Hedihn: Tsatsiki, morsan och polisen - cinema.se ( Memento from February 16, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Tsatsiki - squid and first kiss in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ lumiere.obs.coe.int and Internet Movie Database
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Beate Völcker: Children's film, material and project development. Pp. 98-110.
- ↑ Christel Strobel, KJK 2/2000
- ↑ a b Tsatsiki - Squids and first kisses. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 18, 2017 .
- ^ Cinema 2000-10
- ↑ a b Dirk Jasper FilmLexikon ( memento from September 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), Dirk Jasper
- ↑ a b Pro7.de
- ↑ nordischerklang.de
- ↑ Linda Hedihn: Tsatsiki, morsan och polisen - cinema.se ( Memento from February 16, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b lesebar.uni-koeln.de ( Memento from September 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ nordische-kinderfilme.luebeck.de ( Memento from October 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Berlinale children's jury for the award of the Transparent Bear
- ↑ a b clubfilmothek.bjf.info (PDF; 119 kB) Federal Association of Film and Youth Working aid booklet
Web links
- Tzatziki - squid and first kisses in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Pictures and table of contents on kinoweb.de
- Educational information (clubfilmothek.bjf.info; PDF file; 116 kB)
- Criticism on kino.de
- Analysis on lesebar.uni-koeln.de
