Sun and Concrete 2023

It’s a shame we don’t get movies like this as often as we used to, because when they’re executed right they’re usually among the best films of the year (La Haine, This Is England, American History X, Cidade de Deus, Boyz ‘N The Hood; to name a few). This movie grabbed me right from the opening scenes because of the excellent directing, outstanding performances and interesting stylistic choices, and it never really lost me until the final moments. There are some story similarities to La Haine, but it does manage to carve out a lane for itself. The cinematography, editing and music are truly superb. The characters are, as you’d expect, complex and occasionally really hard to like, which is sometimes to a fault. I also wanted a little more depth from the story, it doesn’t comment on its themes in a way I found particularly thought provoking. Rather than diving into its plethora of themes, it sometimes prefers to spin its wheels and make the same point over and over again. It works better as an emotional character piece than a social study, that’s for sure. That’s a valid choice, of course, but I can’t deny that I’ve seen this done better with more ambitious writing.

7/10

As numerous reviewers have already pointed out, "Sun and Concrete" is something like the German answer to "Kids", only with less sex and more gangster stuff. The story takes place during a heatwave in Berlin's Gropiusstadt district in the summer of 2003, with a group of teenagers taking center stage. And this group is also one of the film's greatest strengths. While it's difficult for me to say whether the leads are actually good actors, they do an excellent job in their film debuts. The casting process reportedly involved over 5,000 teenagers from all over Germany; the process was definitely worth it.

But it's not just the cast that ensures a high degree of authenticity in this milieu study. Gropiusstadt is also captured perfectly. The prefab buildings dominate the backdrop, and the film is also shot in such a way that you can literally feel the heat. So the title "Sun and Concrete" is definitely appropriate. The period of the early 2000s was also perfectly captured. I myself am neither from Berlin nor did I grow up in a socially troubled neighborhood. But still, I recognized so many situations from my youth (I was about the same age as the protagonists in 2003). I also listened to the questionable music of Aggro Berlin back then. And I owned MP3 players, cell phones, or TVs back then just like the ones in this film.

Overall, there isn't much to complain about. At most, I would say that the first half of the film is considerably stronger than the second. Later, the plot spins a bit too much in circles and doesn't quite seem to want to come to an end. At the same time, director David Wnendt succeeds in subverting the audience's expectations. In any case, I was thoroughly satisfied when I left the theater.