Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
Theresa von Eltz was a video operator on "Lives of Others", made 3 short films afterward and now, after a break of 7 years, wrote and directed her first full feature film in her mid-30s. It is named "4 Könige" or "4 Kings" and deals with a quartet of young people whose mental health is not where it should be. This is why they are in the open ward of a psychological facility and we get to watch their actions during these 100 minutes.Let me start with the man who treats them: Dr. Wolff played by Clemens Schick, who you may have seen on "Casino Royale". I liked his performance, a very likable character who has his own struggles, however, with his daughter for example or because he was adopted himself.Next up, we have Lara: She is a girl who says she feels nothing, but it seems to me that she is not that sick compared to others in the group. She has severe difficulties with her parents, mostly her mother. She is very extroverted and knows how to cope with people in a way to help them. Jella Haase is easily among the best actresses from her age group right now here in Germany. Her biggest strength is her recognition value and she knows exactly which characters to play. I could not imagine anybody give a better portrayal. Of course it helps that she has a lot more lines than everybody else in this film taken together probably, but she is the one who carries this one, who brings decent comic relief that is truly needed and who is the main reason to watch the film.The other female lead is Alex, played by Paula Beer. I must say I am not familiar with her as an actress and her character stays an enigma for most of the movie to me, but I still liked her. Apart from the physical damage done to her, I was not really sure why she was in the ward, probably for making the decision to jump out of the car. Her character struggles a lot with her mother as well.Fedja is a Georgian teenager who was physically abused by the class he was in before and the wounds are visible. The stay is about physical and psychological healing for him. He is very shy, very introvert, but it seems that the vivid Lara really likes that in him. I was not aware of actor Moritz Leu before this film, but just like with Beer I liked what I saw in is case too.Timo is a violent teenager with anger management issues who was in the closed ward before, but gets a chance to get out of there. Can he use it? he was played by Jannis Niewöhner and I thought he did fine here too, especially compared to the terrible "Rubinrot" and "Saphirblau". A positive surprise, even if a lot of it has to do with his good physical shape and simply making an annoyed face. You could argue that he is more title character than the other 3 as the film starts with his stay with the others and ends with it as well.Finally, there is nurse Simone played by Anneke Kim Sarnau, who I came across as well before watching this. She plays a character that has more shades than initially visible and all her scenes are very telling. In the second half, she is definitely the main antagonist, especially with the final developments. We perceive her evil as well because of how different her methods (and probably how inadequate) are compared to the doctor's. The ratting out part does not help either. But it also becomes obvious during the interview (btw. I loved the interview parts, they tell us so much about the characters) that she is apparently a very lonely woman, so you could certainly feel sorry for her too.There were many good scenes in this movie, even some great ones. I really liked the shot, in which we see all four of them together because it showed us how close they grew to each other for being in similar situations. Apart from this nice deal of emotion, there is also lots of serious drama in here. I am not only talking about the ending. By the way, I loved how they went with a realistic ending over a feel-good ending. And I also really liked how we basically only see what the characters see. We do not know what is up with the boy after he jumped out of the window. We only know he is alive because Haase's character tells somebody. And we know he is better when Beer's character tells somebody. We do not know what is up with Haase's character when she lands in the cold water until we see her the very moment the others do.This was a really good film. It is worth a watch especially during the holidays and it's a nice change to the rule as good Christmas-themed dramas are not that frequent with everybody in the mood for animation, comedy or romance during the holidays. But it is also worth watching during the rest of the year. And finally, I would once again like to mention Jella Haase (even a lot better than in the forgettable FjG movies, in which she is already the best thing as well) who really made this movie her own and who might have a great career ahead if she keeps going at this rate. I highly recommend "4 Kings".
