Am Rand der Städte

“Nike has a balcony, Katrin has a son, Ronald drives a truck, Tina’s a waitress, Oskar and Helene are old and alone. Whether in the middle of their lives or almost at the end or just at the beginning, they all ask the same question: Can love last through the seasons? Or is it just a messenger in the brain that comes and goes?
“Nike lives upstairs and Katrin downstairs, with open windows. Nike takes care of Oskar and Helene and someone else who no longer knows his name. Katrin runs her legs off looking for work. Her son Max runs in his old gym shoes into his first misfortune.
“In insecure circumstances the balcony is a secure place. But one day Ronald takes a seat there, who as a man does everything right and a whole lot wrong. Where is Katrin going? Everyone needs someone when the moon shines over the city. Life goes on and death, and it is still summer in Berlin.” (Wolfgang Kohlhaase)
Based on Wolfgang Kohlhaase’s screenplay, but partly with improvised dialogue and lay actors, Andreas Dresen has created a delightful kaleidoscope of summer life in Berlin. He filmed the spontaneously whimsical scenes on 16mm with a handheld camera and a small, flexible crew on location in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg.