Niko Fischer is living from day to day. He has dropped out of law school. He drifts through Berlin. OH BOY describes the turbulent 24 hours in the life of a young man in episodes, at the end of which nothing will be as before. With his excellent first feature film, Jan Ole Gerster successfully reminds us of the great role models, yet without exploiting them: the early works of Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese’s AFTER HOURS – but also the films set in Munich's Schwabing district from the late sixties. Yet, despite all the recognisable role models, Gerster develops his own tone, which is evident throughout the entire film.

Early in the morning, Niko Fischer leaves his girlfriend’s bed. He has “appointments”, he says, and they won’t be able to meet in the evening, either. But Niko doesn’t have any plans and he just drifts around, waiting for life to somehow approach him. He nearly misses his subpoena appointment: he was caught driving under the influence of alcohol and his driving license is at stake. The seemingly witty psychologist doesn’t only have tricky questions for him, but also nasty allegations. At the end of the talk, Niko parts with his driving licence. A while later, Niko’s bank card is swallowed up by the ATM. At his apartment, where there are more boxes than furniture, another tenant appears, pours his heart out to Niko, and annoys him with his moaning.

Niko’s old friend comes by and picks him up with his car. He angrily curses about Berlin: “I think someone should just take this city and just flush it down the fuckin' toilet!”. Niko instantly recognises the quote from TAXI DRIVER. Julika appears in a bar, approaches Niko and admits that she was once madly in love with him at school. She invites the two young men to go to a “theatre performance” that evening. Matze stuffs his face with a huge hamburger on the way, while Niko only drinks a glass of water. You never see him eating throughout the film, but he is constantly struggling to find a “normal” cup of coffee, which he finally gets at the end of the film – a sign of final hope.

Matze takes Niko along with him to a film set; a melodrama about the Nazi era is being filmed; the storyline is rather long-winded and banal. Niko meets his father on a golf course. He recently found out that his son has dropped out of law school and has his bank card blocked, because he is disappointed. Matze and Niko visit a dealer, who lives with his slightly senile grandmother. Niko is a lot more interested in the grandmother than in the drugs, and he hugs her goodbye – the first true tender moment in the film. Matze and Niko arrive late at the theatre and are bemused by Julika and her colleagues screaming, moaning and kicking on stage, and later get into an argument with the director. Julika is harassed by some drunken youths in front of the theatre. Niko comes to her aid and ends up with a bloody nose – yet another moment that foretells that Niko is about to go through a transformation: he is finally ready to take action. Late at night, Niko ends up in a bar. An old man addresses him in an intrusive manner and tells him of a traumatic childhood experience from the Nazi era. Unlike before, Niko really listens this time, and unlike on the film set, this is a real experience. Shortly after, the old man collapses on the street, Niko calls an ambulance, goes to the hospital with him and spends the entire night there, until he is told at daybreak that the patient has died.

The episode-like structure makes OH BOY appear like a compilation of individual short films, yet each episode is connected with the rest. The director and author succeeds in compressing a type of cinematic “coming-of-age story” which unfolds during a 24-hour period, thus developing a unique tone. “My intention wasn’t to write a mere comedy. I probably find the film a lot more tragic than other people. Furthermore, I believe that comedy helps when trying to convey serious issues.” (Jan Ole Gerster). OH BOY conveys a confident sense of airiness, which has not been seen in German cinema for a long time – and especially not in a debut film. Everything seems so effortless and even the carefully composed images seem to come together in a smooth fashion. The balance between comedy and tragedy is often compromised, but it never gets completely off balance. While the people in the old Schwabing films from the late sixties were more secure in their day-to-day living, things do not seem to be going well in Berlin in the long run. It’s a time of small failures, but things are still left open, no solution in sight. At the end of the film we have every reason to believe that the young man in his late twenties is well on his way to becoming an adult.

Hans-Günther Pflaum

Production Country

Germany (DE)

Production Period

2010-2012

Production Year

2012

color

color

Aspect Ratio

16:9

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Drama, Comedy

Topic

Relationship / Family, Coming of Age, Psychology

Target Group

Youth film (12-17)

Available Media

DVD, Blu-ray Disc

DVD

Subtitles

German (de), Spanish (es), English (en), French (fr), Portuguese (Brazil) (pt), Italian (it), Romanian (ro), Arabic (ar), Chinese (zh), Hebrew (he), Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Indonesisch (id)

Blu-ray Disc

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), Spanish (es), French (fr), Portuguese (Brazil) (pt), Hebrew (he)