Seen at...
Center of my World
- Director: Jakob M. Erwa
- Writer: Jakob M. Erwa; Andreas Steinhöfel
- Producer: Cornelius Conrad; Mathias Forberg
CGiii Comment
Think...a beautiful summer's day with black clouds mustering...just over the horizon.
Think...the beauty and power of youth, with all those raging hormones and the irrationality that is gifted to those teenage years.
Think...of lives led when sexuality is - quite simply - not an issue.
Think...of first love, that first kiss...those tingles!
Think beauty...because, this film is beautiful...to begin with...
Jakob M. Erwa puts us right in the eye of the hurricane...perfectly framing the idyll with chaos. Sadly, summer doesn't last forever!
Louis Hofmann (as Phil) captures the vulnerability of the boy-becoming-a-man with assured aplomb...
This is a film about [his] relationships...with a parent, with a parent's lover, with a [twin] sister, with a best friend, with a first love...how they evolve, why they dissipate and disappear.
Wrought from Steinhöfel's novel, Erwa has managed - thankfully - to retain the charm of the book...the directorial quirkiness serves - admirably - to amplify the joys [and heartbreaks] of youth.
Here's a film that will take you on a journey, covering the entire spectrum of emotion. Be enthralled, be frustrated, be envious, be everything that this young man goes through...because, dear hearts, this film will drag you in...it will involve you, enthrall you, slap and tickle you...
This is damn fine filmmaking.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
After a summer spent with his his best friend Kat to escape his family, Phil goes back to school and starts to question his feelings towards Nicholas, a new classmate.
Center of my World is a 2016 German coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by Jakob M. Erwa, based on the 1998 bestselling novel The Center of the World by Andreas Steinhöfel.
Phil (Louis Hofmann, "Freistatt", "Tom Sawyer") ist 17 Jahre alt. Mit seiner Zwillingsschwester Dianne (Ada Philine Stappenbeck) und Mutter Glass (Sabine Timoteo) lebt er in einem kleinen Städtchen und sie waren immer etwas anders. Glass war noch jung, als sie ihre Kinder bekam, und wechselt ihre Liebhaber schnell, seit Phils Vater verschwand. Phil ist schwul. Dianne soll angeblich mit Tieren reden können. Als Phil nach einem Sommerurlaub heimkommt, sprechen Dianne und Glass plötzlich nicht mehr miteinander. Eine Erklärung dafür haben weder Familienfreundin Tereza (Inka Friedrich), eine lesbische Rechtsanwältin, noch Phils beste Freundin Kat (Svenja Jung), die rebellische Tochter des Rektors. Als das neue Schuljahr beginnt, kommt ein neuer Schüler in ihre Klasse: Nicholas (Jannik Schümann). Phil ist auf den ersten Blick verliebt. Nicholas scheint Phils Gefühle zu erwidern, aber Phil ist sich nie sicher, woran er bei Nicholas wirklich ist.
Cast & Characters
Louis Hofmann as Phil;
Jannik Schumann as Nicholas;
Sabine Timoteo as Glass;
Nina Proll as Pascal;
Svenja Jung as Kat;
Sascha Alexander Gersak as Michael;
Inka Friedrich as Tereza;
Clemens Rehbein as Kyle;
Thomas Goritzki as Lehrer Hanel;
Ada Philine Stappenbeck as Dianne;
Christian Skibinski as Passant