BigCitySmall - DVD

Content: Ole (Jacob Matschenz) lives a contented life in the countryside at the north-easternmost end of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. For him, the day is perfect when he can have a relaxed moped race with his buddies and forget all worries sitting by the lake. But the carefree idyll is over when his grandpa Karl (Heinz W. Krückeberg) organizes him an internship as a draftsman for a calendar manufacturer in Berlin. It's bad enough that country boy Ole has to move to the big city. He is also supposed to live with his cousin Rokko (Klaas Heufer-Umlauf), of all people, whom he hasn't seen in 15 years. Rokko isn't too keen on the idea either, which is why the first few hours in Berlin are pure horror for Ole. However, this changes abruptly when he meets Rokko's best friend Fritzi (Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen). The fun-loving girl immediately turns Ole's head and it seems as if the time in Berlin will be really pleasant after all. But this changes abruptly when Ole receives the news of Uncle Karl's death and he travels home with Fritzi, Rokko and his father (Tobias Moretti) to the funeral. Not only are old wounds torn open, but his relationship with Fritzi suddenly takes a whole new direction - and not necessarily with pleasant consequences...

GrossStadtklein is the feature film debut of Tobias Wiemann, who also wrote the screenplay for this comedy. Especially in the first half of the film Wiemann succeeds very well in elaborating the sympathetic characters and the dramaturgical conflicts. A lively play with various small-town and big-city clichés and the squabbles between Ole and Rokko provide many amusing moments, which are intensified by the obvious enthusiasm of the actors. While Jacob Matschenz portrays the slightly naïve country bumpkin in a very likeable and endearing way, Klaas Heufer-Umlauf is convincing all along the line as the city slicker annoyed by his cousin. The best laughs in the first half of the film, however, come from Tobis Moretti, who shows off his talent for comedic timing as Rokko's slightly boorish father Manni. This good cast is completed by the charmingly crazy acting Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen, who in her very own way quickly makes it understandable why Ole lets her turn his head so quickly.

In the second half of the film, however, the whole thing runs out of steam a little. The well-constructed story loses its clear structure and just doesn't want to ignite as well as it did at the beginning. The movie is still entertaining and worth watching. Nevertheless, the end just doesn't keep what the very good beginning promises. However, Wiemann has to be given credit for one thing: while visually he already orientates himself quite clearly on the style of his producer Til Schweiger, he finds a very better and more coherent narrative tempo than Schweiger managed in his last films. While his films were always about 20 minutes too long, which was especially at the expense of the timing, Wiemann's direction leads without major lengths purposefully through 90 short minutes. The story wouldn't have allowed much more and it's to Wiemann's credit that he didn't try to drag out the action.

Even if GrossStadtklein isn't a perfect film and has some dramaturgical weaknesses, Tobis Wiemann as a director shows a lot of potential here. If you like small, likeable representatives of young German comedy, you should definitely risk a look here. The convincing actors and the very amusing first half of the film are reason enough to be able to pronounce this Til Schweiger production a clear worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: In the visual implementation of the film, the influence of producer Til Schweiger is most noticeable, as the very warm color scheme is very similar to that of Schweiger's films. Overall, the image sharpness is on a good level, only in darker scenes slight quality losses are noticeable. The sound presents itself in a rather unspectacular Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which, in addition to the well understandable mixed dialogue, is determined in particular by the film music and smaller surround moments. Good!

Extras: The DVD has a very good additional offer in the program. It starts off with an amusing and very informative audio commentary by director Tobias Wiemann and the two actors Jacob Matschenz and Pit Bukowski. In addition, there are some amusing outtakes (approx. 4:51 min.), a making of worth seeing (approx. 12:06 min.) and an entertaining team film (approx. 11:43 min.). A brief look at the casting (approx. 1:59 min.), impressions from the premiere (approx. 3:03 min.), the trailer and the short film Action (approx. 6:18 min.) round off the bonus material. Good!

Conclusion: GrossStadtklein is a likeable comedy that can convince with good actors and a decent pace. Although here and there comes the feeling that directorial debutant Tobias Wiemann has not quite found his own tone and was a little overwhelmed with the resolution of his story towards the end. But all in all, an absolutely positive overall impression prevails, which is further underlined by the technically well-realized DVD and the decent bonus material. If you like young German cinema, you should definitely risk a look here. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp