What would you do or rather what would you not do to protect your kid if faced with the situation that she or he has done something very wrong? When do mistakes that everybody makes at the teen ages turn into something very different and very abhorrent? Is the line of demarcation between sanity and insanity, between being a normative person and a monster that clear? These are some of the questions one keeps asking while watching 'We Monsters' ('Wir Monsters' in German) directed and co-written by Sebastian Ko. I knew nothing about this film maker, according to IMDB this is only his second full feature film, and it's quite good.
It's a thriller, and a good one, so I will avoid telling too much about the story. Two separated parents come together to help their daughter in a critical moment of her life. There are enough surprises and changes of perspective to keep the interest of viewers alert from start to end. There is also a quite serious collection of subterranean themes like responsibility, borders of parental love, teenage revolt and communication between generations. All these come together in a more than satisfactory manner.
The film is supported by solid acting by the whole team of actors, but especially by Mehdi Nebbou in the role of the father and Janina Fautz as the teenage daughter. A slightly higher dose of cinematographic effects would have turned this film into a horror movie, but film director Sebastian Ko seems to have chosen to stay within the limits of a realistic psychological thriller. I found it good as it is. The horror version can be left for the American remake.
