I caught Knallhart at the 2006 Chicago International Film Festival, where it drew massive applause as the credits rolled.
Intense, realistic coming-of-age story set in the poor, predominantly Turkish suburb Neukoeln in Berlin. David Kross is spot-on as precocious, soft-spoken, world-weary 15 year old Michael, struggling to survive in the new world he's been thrust into after his mother's wealthy boyfriend shoves them out on the street. He seems unfazed through his constant violent run-ins with a local gang, as well as increasingly dodgy messenger assignments he gets through a friendship with the local drug lord, holding his stoic gaze until the escalating events eventually break him, and yet show his true strength and character.
The movie is extremely gripping, gritty, and real; the camera is intimate with its characters, letting the audience marinate in the heaviness of a situation.
The Soundtrack is notably powerful, weighty, and fitting, as is often with quality German films (Head On, Run Lola Run, Princess and the Warrior). Definitely recommended.
Intense, realistic coming-of-age story set in the poor, predominantly Turkish suburb Neukoeln in Berlin. David Kross is spot-on as precocious, soft-spoken, world-weary 15 year old Michael, struggling to survive in the new world he's been thrust into after his mother's wealthy boyfriend shoves them out on the street. He seems unfazed through his constant violent run-ins with a local gang, as well as increasingly dodgy messenger assignments he gets through a friendship with the local drug lord, holding his stoic gaze until the escalating events eventually break him, and yet show his true strength and character.
The movie is extremely gripping, gritty, and real; the camera is intimate with its characters, letting the audience marinate in the heaviness of a situation.
The Soundtrack is notably powerful, weighty, and fitting, as is often with quality German films (Head On, Run Lola Run, Princess and the Warrior). Definitely recommended.