little bitty girl

From the first glance, Summer In Berlin seems like a movie about ordinary people, living their ordinary lives in the summer in modern Berlin. Katrin is a 39 year old single mother who has trouble finding a job, Nike is her girlfriend and neighbour who is a bit of a tart and has dry sense of humour, Max is Katrin's son about to hit his teens and Ronald is Nike's bad boy love interest. Even though the story mainly centers around these characters, this movie definitely has a very strong ensemble cast that make up very poignant moments in the movie.

Perhaps what is not so ordinary about Summer In Berlin is that in its attempt to portray the "ordinary" life, it shows that life is anything but. The main story is the friendship of both Katrin and Nike. Both have very different lives but are bonded by their friendship. The closeness of the friendships of girlfriends are usually quite difficult to capture and director Andreas Dresen does a wonderful portrayal of it.

Both characters are flawed in their own way. Katrin is, unknowingly to her, deeply depressed because of her current situation. She is unemployed, single, and trying to raise her son without any help from family. She is an untried artist and although it brings her some satisfaction, she remains unfulfilled. She drowns her sorrows by social drinking, and slowly spirals into alcoholism. She receives a rude wake up call when she thwarts an attempted rape only to be felled by a disastrous drinking binge.

Nike (pronounced Nikka), her friend and neighbour, is a little younger and single. An orphan who formed a "reputation" before she was even old enough to have one, is a victim of other's perception of her. She dresses like a bit of a tart and has a rapacious wit but you get the sense that it is her "defence" from anyone getting too close. She is a nurse who cares for the elderly. No one but the audience and Katrin get to see how there is a soft kindness to her, illustrated all the more by her loving care of her patients. Deep down, she is someone who is looking for love in all the wrong places. Her relationship with Ronald, a renown bounder, simply emphasizes that point.

Interwoven into the story is young Max, who in reality is the adult in his family and the parent in his mother-son relationship. In the midst of the two adults' crises, Max faces one of his own, being a prepubescent boy on the brink of his first heartbreak.

Throughout it all, there is a thread of humour woven within the story despite sadness, death, and despair. What was so touching was the movie's sensitivity in capturing the vibrancy of the elderly's wit despite their aging physiques. When questioned about the honesty of the work, the director replied that he wanted to portray loneliness from the three generations. That there is no age that is appropriate for loneliness and that anyone can feel it keenly, Andreas Dresen does a supreme job of capturing the quick, quiet magic moments that make life not so ordinary.