Film: Straight
Release date: 27th September 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 59 mins
Director: Nicolas Flessa
Starring: Adrian Can, Annabelle Dorn, Beba Ebner, Frederic Heidorn, Marion Kruse
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Studio: Bounty
Format: DVD
Country: Germany
Shining a light on the issue of social misconception, and the pressures created by society’s desire for obligatory conformism, Nicolas Flessa’s short German film plunges straight to the heart of the matter of repressed sexuality. Set in the Berlin district of Neukoelln, otherwise known as the city’s “ghetto,” Flessa looks at the intertwining lives of three young adults as they come to terms with their individual feelings and the implications this may have on them and those around them.
Jana is a social worker yet keeps her occupation hidden from her parents, who she believes would think less of her if they knew. She is stuck in a lacklustre relationship, with her boyfriend David, which is devoid of any spark and romance. She increasingly begins to feel lonely and isolated in the claustrophobic clutches of the capital, and spends her days frustrated - and dreaming of having a family with her close friend Julia.
Her boyfriend, David, spends his days focusing on work, and for the most part completely ignores his significant other. When he and Julia do eventually spend time together, the resulting exchanges fail to produce fireworks, and the two are aware of their continuing and increasing drift, both emotionally and physically, which causes him to turn his gaze towards other people to satisfy his desires.
It is when both of these characters come into contact with a German-Turkish male drug-dealer named Nazim that the landscape of all their lives becomes shifted irrevocably, as a triangle forms that will cause them all to reassess their views about theirs and each other’s desires…
To say the production costs of Straight are low is an understatement, as the cinematography resembles that of a third year media student’s latest creation, but perhaps that is not as big of a criticism as it initially sounds. Being undoubtedly low budget and classifiably independent, director Nicolas Flasse, who has a track record of creating cinematic shorts, is able to be as brutal with his characters as the issues he addresses them with. He deals with the sexuality of his protagonists in a manner that is often treated with contempt in wider cinema, and is bracketed into a comedy genre for cheap laughs at the expense of the individual’s feelings. In Straight, Flessa manages to allow a lot to be said without words, he focuses on gestures and the movements of his actors to transmit the subtext to create the sense of believability needed to engage with their plights.
Through the understated and subtle script, the director can emphasise the underlying pulls that each of the individuals feels, the need to put a façade and pretend that they aren’t how they are. Flasse focuses on the external social forces that drive the need for secrecy, lies and denial that reside within two of the three focal characters. From the imposing pressure of parents and societies ideas on what constitutes a ‘normal’ relationship to the excessively masculine posturing of Nazim’s drug associates, and the need to be someone you’re not to save face, Flasse contrasts the emotions of Nazim and Jana to the laissez-faire attitude of David. He casually drifts from one person to the next, not particularly bothered about the emotions that others may feel towards or because of him. He is a particularly selfish individual who acts purely for self-gratification, which is in stark contrast to the confused activities of the others, who are seemingly searching for their true selves in the process of this complex love-triangle.
If there was perhaps one criticism of Straight, it is that while Flasse does address the need for secrecy felt by both Jana and Nazim, it is perhaps not explored enough, or the pressures not felt enough to create that gut-wrenching emotional pull that films of this nature often need. Straight would benefit more from being slightly longer and allowing there to be a greater feel of danger; a slowly increasing suspicion of Nazim’s homosexual tendencies by his gang-mates; or a sense of continual pressure from Jana’s parents to settle down and start a family. Without the heightened sense of paranoia or anxiety caused by the social pressures that the director acknowledges, yet fails to capitalise on, Straight can sometimes not deliver the punch the predicament desires to create.
Straight is an interesting short film that while not entirely unpredictable, engages the viewer with the style in which it sets about its task. Set in the seedy atmosphere of the Berlin ghetto to highlight the equally seedy and dubious relationships that are failing and being forged. The actors undertake their roles with an understated gusto that befits the relatively lo-fi feel of the photography, and allows the limited script to come to life through the range of emotions that are at the front of this films driving force.
While there are areas for potential reworking and growth that would allow the drama to be exploited to its most engaging, Straight proves to be anything but, as it weaves the lives of its three characters together in a delicate yet brutally believable manner. BL
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