Jargo

Maria Solrun wrote and directed this slim film that purports to be a coming of age film (yes, yet another!) with too few variations from the ordinary to make it remarkable. Picture This! productions can usually be counted on to bring us interesting conceptual films: this one simply doesn't belong.

Jargo (Constantin von Jascheroff) is a German lad brought up in Saudi Arabia, an ordinary boy whose father (Udo Kier) admonishes him that he must 'become a man' before his 16th birthday (we're not sure what that entails...). Moving to Berlin, Jargo maintains his Arabian clothing until he encounters a similar aged German Turk Kamil (Oktay Ozdemir) and here begins his introduction into the world of juvenile cool (read delinquency). Kamil has a girlfriend Mona (Nora von Waldstatten) who catches Jargo's eye more than the ripe but wise Emilia (Josefine Preuss). As Jargo and Kamil bond, Jargo's father's image continues to admonish him that he must 'become a man' and Jargo's clouded psyche both imitates and rejects his father's history, leading to significant changes in Jargo's 'coming of age' and his relationship with his new found friends.

The script is flimsy and pointless and aside from some young actors who please the camera (Preuss and von Jascheroff), there really is very little to maintain interest for an hour and a half. Even the featurettes with conversations allowing Solrun to verbalize her film concept can't save this ordinary little movie. There are many more very fine little films about youths facing adulthood: this isn't one of them. Grady Harp