When sun and concrete celebrates its premiere in a shopping center in the middle of Berlin-Gropiusstadt, the crowd is huge. Felix Lobrecht himself is on site to film his bestselling novel of the same name to celebrate. The comedian also co-wrote the screenplay with director David Wnendt.
Sonne und Beton is also set in Gropiusstadt, that part of the Berlin district of Neukölln which, at least since Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, has symbolized questionable future prospects. The film is about four friends who are looking for a Dealing with drug dealers urgently need to raise 500 euros from the neighborhood. But none of them have money, only a lot of other problems.
The result is a film that is not only interesting for fans of harder coming-of-age stories and gangster stories. But it also has a surprising problem.
Childhood between drugs, violence and Sido: Sonne und Beton is a touching coming-of-age story
Constantine Film
From left to right: Julius, Lukas, Gino and Sanchez
The stars of Sonne und Beton are four teenagers: After the death of his mother, Lukas (Levy Rico Arcos) is desperately looking for support and can only find it in his petty-criminal brother, whom he adores. Julius (Vincent Wiemer) lives with his brother in a drug den and compensates for his insecurity with particularly “tough” behavior. Gino (Rafael Luis Klein-Hessling) is desperately saving money so he and his mother can escape their violent and choleric father. And Sanchez (Aaron Maldonado Morales) just recently moved into the apartment block. Anything his single mother can’t afford, he steals.
Sun and Concrete shows what youth in Berlin may have looked like in the early 2000s. On the one hand, the adolescent desire to look as crass as possible. Be it through appearance, big sayings or because provocative the “ass fuck song” by Sido turned up in the children’s room becomes. It doesn’t feel like condescending “lower class” cosplay, which is then discussed up and down on dozens of talk shows as a social hot topic, but rather authentic.
The moments in which the film breaks with the hard facade of the children are therefore all the stronger. When Lukas hides in panic from older boys from the neighborhood on the subway and seems completely alone with the childish backpack in his arms. Or when Gino quietly says “Too bad” after Julius tries to flirt on the bus, which ends in an orgy of insults between the boys and the girls addressed. What the youthful cast achieves here is really impressive. One understands the fears and constraints with which these characters live.
Sun and Concrete by Felix Lobrecht is one of the most interesting German films of the year – and is based on several cult films
The sun and concrete can also be seen on film. Jieun Yi’s camera is sometimes very close to the young people, sometimes it captures the collected sadness of the prefab buildings like in a 90s rap video. The soundtrack mixes German rap from the early 2000s with current tracks. Sonne und Beton clearly sees itself as rooted in its hip hop references – and has the same several guest appearances by former and current rap stars.
In general, as a woman over 30, who was also struggling with growing up in the early 2000s, I feel taken off by the pop culture allusions. Also something the cinematic models of sun and concrete concerns. A scene in which the boys sit shirtless on the couch, smoke pot and talk awkwardly about women could also come from Larry Clark’s Kids.
Check out the trailer for Hate here:
Hass – La Haine Trailer
Another obvious source of inspiration is Hass, Mathieu Kassovitz’s masterpiece about three friends in the desolate banlieues outside Paris. That too is only logical: I don’t know anyone who grew up with rap in the noughties and didn’t see the film as the epicenter of cinematic coolness.
There are a lot of these references to other, better films overall. But it feels unfair to compare sun and concrete to works that have one Impact on society and pop culture had. Because what sun and concrete does well, it REALLY does well. It doesn’t have to be an earth-shattering masterpiece.
Fack Ju Göhte 2.0? Unfortunately, sun and concrete sometimes seems like a completely different film
Constantine Film
Sun and Concrete is a good film – with exceptions
But then there is one thing that doesn’t work at all in sun and concrete. And those are the parts of the film that take place in the school that Lukas, Gino and Co. visit. Nothing here feels real anymore. Here the young residents – and the overwhelmed adults – become annoying clichés.
Pupils are constantly screaming and throwing furniture in the classroom. The teacher naturally becomes a Nazi because of the “bad”, supposedly undisciplined migrants. When someone from politics announces a donation of several expensive computers to the school, he is laughed at mercilessly because he stumbles on the way to the podium. And the headmaster finally goes completely nuts when those same computers are then stolen and camera teams appear on the school premises.
Escalative everyday life at the problem school Constantin Film has already produced it before – with the Fack ju Göhte series. However, it was clearly designed for comedy, deliberately written completely over it and on punch lines. The school scenes in Sun and Concrete, on the other hand, are neither particularly funny nor do they fit in with the rest of the film. Instead, they seem like alien bodies that only exist to attract an additional audience to the cinema.
The fact that these moments don’t work at all is particularly surprising because co-screenwriter Felix Lobrecht makes people laugh full-time. Still, the coming-of-age drama is worth watching. Because sun and concrete is a good film – as long as it doesn’t try too hard to be funny.
Sonne und Beton has been in German cinemas since March 2nd, 2023.