A Coffee in Berlin

Niko dropped out of law school two years ago and never told his father. He drifts through one day in Berlin: he breaks up with his girlfriend, loses his licence, sits a psychological assessment, runs into an old schoolmate, faces his father. All day he tries to get a cup of coffee and never manages it. The film is not interested in idleness. It is interested in not deciding being a decision too: Niko chooses nothing, and everyone around him has chosen something on his behalf. The coffee joke is the repeated sign of that. The form is black and white: Berlin streets, bars, the U-Bahn, jazz. The image nods to European films of the fifties, and the city works beautifully under that choice. It is Jan Ole Gerster's first feature. The film won six Lolas at the German Film Awards in 2013: Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Score. Tom Schilling plays Niko. Who it is for: viewers who like films built on one day in a city and dry humour. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for events. The film is almost entirely encounters and Niko does nothing right to the end.