Oh Boy - In Search of a coffee in Berlin

Oh Boy was the first film of this year’s festival that I really loved.  It had a hard comparison to live up to as one of my all time favourite films I saw at EIFF is In Search of A Midnight Kiss – this wasn't quite as good but it also can live with the comparison.  Although Oh Boy is not a romance, it is shot in black and white and features a guy in his twenties wandering his city whilst not sure which direction his life should take.  However, instead of romance Niko primarily needs a coffee.

In fact, the coffee is really just a nice recurring joke, his failure in this, just one of several trials he encounters during the day, many of them trivial but most definitely adding up to this Not Being His Day.  In this film, having nothing to do seems to mean that pretty much anything can happen and Niko wanders from scene to scene to character to character, and frequently from misunderstanding to misunderstanding.  The misunderstandings generate the humour within the film; the characters (and their comparatively more profound problems) the emotional heart and the bittersweet poignancy.  

Tom Schilling gives an excellent central performance, quiet and unobtrusive, that really allows you to believe that Niko could have meandered into the uncertainty of his life without this making him a frustrating or pathetic character.  The direction is lovely and makes Berlin as much one of the interesting characters Niko meets as any of the people.  Director Jan Ole Gerster explained in the Q&A that he chose black and white and the great soundtrack to give it a timeless feel.  For me, even more importantly, the black and white gives it a less polished and therefore much more personal and real feel which fits brilliantly with the atmosphere and connection that the director is trying to create. 

The other great choice that the director makes is to not tell or spell out for the audience the impact each encounter has on Niko.  The character is processing and figuring it out for himself and the audience can interpret his character development in their own way  too, which probably means for every viewer there is a different  take on the central character.

I was really pleased to hear the film had been a big success in Germany as I hope this means it can become more widely known.  As a piece of character driven, involving, believable and funny film making, it is a truly engaging and touching experience.