Chiko (2008)

There's a good chance the film will make you laugh out loud, but if it doesn't, there's an even better chance it will make you openly sob.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It never occurred to me that this film could be compared to classic gangster movies. To me, this film is about one thing and one thing only: true friendship. Chiko's friendship with a worthless piece of trash is more important to him than money, love, family and even his own life. IMHO, every other aspect of the film is there just to provide a setting for this one point. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but at least it's original.Regarding the immigrant stereotypes: I missed the first 5-10 minutes of the film, so maybe there was something there, but for most of the film I didn't even know they weren't German. Regarding the similarity to gangster films: The description of the 'good life' takes only 1-2 minutes and is necessary, so that we see what Chiko is giving up. All the other incidents are there simply to show us just how big a screw-up his friend is.Maybe you didn't notice, but Chiko even forgave his friend for stabbing him. After the initial surprise, he wasn't mad at him, he felt sorry for him.

A desperate attempt to mimic American mafia/gangster movies, this cliché-ridden mess plays as if a Hamburg high-school drama club had decided to stage a re-enactment of Brian De Palma's "Scarface". The non-stop, completely over-the-top profanities are, for the most part, unintentionally funny, the acting is limited to the usual swanky sputtering of threats and cuss-words through heavily gritted teeth, and characterization is virtually non-existent. Boring and predictable, this totally hits rock bottom when a montage set to the dull beats of an excruciatingly crappy German rap song shows Chiko rising to the top of the dope-dealing business, complete with loads of coke sniffing, money counting, drinking from champagne coolers in his own newly-opened restaurant and buying expensive jewelry for his girlfriend (the, sigh, hooker with a heart of gold he "bought" from her pimp) who promptly and happily flings herself into his arms when he shows her the penthouse apartment he got them. What made Faith Akin attach his name to this abysmal turkey remains his secret.

The first scenes of the movie are pretty authentic, but later everything gets a bit affected. Unfortunately the movie is made for the topic to high glossy. Especially the language doesn't match with the Hamburg "ASSI-DIGGA" Slang. Moritz Bleibtreu is like in "Free Rainer" disappointing and hasn't got his brilliance like in "Im Juli". Denis Moschitto acts for the figure Chiko to intelligent. Over all it is a well worth seeing movie with good dialogs and a good alternation to the Hollywood movies. I would rate the movie with a 6.8 – with a few more "DIGGA" it would have been a 7. The first scenes of the movie are pretty authentic, but later everything gets a bit affected. Unfortunately the movie is made for the topic to high glossy. Especially the language doesn't match with the Hamburg "ASSI-DIGGA" Slang. Moritz Bleibtreu is like in "Free Rainer" disappointing and hasn't got his brilliance like in "Im Juli". Denis Moschitto acts for the figure Chiko to intelligent. Over all it is a well worth seeing movie with good dialogs and a good alternation to the Hollywood movies. I would rate the movie with a 6.8 – with a few more "DIGGA" it would have been a 7.

The director is very clearly influenced by Scorsese and other crime movies from the USA. You could call it his "Mean Streets". Bare in mind that this is the first feature length movie he did (I'm sure many will follow).Produced by Faith A., you can also see his influence (his first movie "Kurz and Schmerzlos", a sort of translation as summary line above, literally it means, short and painless) in this movie. It's a really good movie, not without faults though. Violence and swearing don't count as faults though. As some cinema-goers stated they didn't like the violence in the movie, but I'd like to disagree. The violence isn't as explicit as it could be. But violence is needed in a picture/movie like this, to ground it.Far away from a masterpiece this is still a good addition to the crime-thriller.