I’ve just seen ‘Oh boy’, apparently originally called ‘Coffee in Berlin’. Of the films I’ve seen so far at the 2014 Festival, I have enjoyed this the most. Both director and lead actor are new arrivals. Visually the film’s grainy black and white reminded me of Wings of Desire (of course). There are some beautiful moments of absurd comedy and, for the most part, a lightness of touch. It soon emerges that everyone the protagonist Niko comes across is in a mess of some kind, some realising it and some not. His non-committal stance turns out to be the most prized attribute of the film. There is a scene near the end of the film where Niko walks in to a late night bar and encounters an old man with an Ancient Mariner feel, compelled to tell his painful and poetic story. Its a strong part of the film but, for me it never quite became the key to the film in the way that I was expecting it might and when, later that night the man dies in hospital, I felt a touch of a rather unnecessary and perhaps sentimental narrative. There’s little about either the film or the director on IMDB but I have found this summary and not much else save that it won awards when shown at the German Film Academy Awards.