Wholetrain (2006)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Don't Believe the Hype

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Wholetrain" is a German 85-minute movie from 2006, so this one is over a decade old already and here we have the first of only 2 feature films so gar by writer and director Florian Gaag. But for a rookie effort he got a pretty decent cast together as you will find names in the list of actors here like Matschenz, Kempter and M'Barek who are still pretty famous, probably even more than back then, here in Germany today. Sprayers are a crucial subject at the core of this film, but the longer it goes the more you will realize that this is really not at all the essence here, what the film is about, even if references subjects cloely related to this activity on several occasions, like most of all trouble with the law and that's also with what the film is about to start. Anyway, it is not a very long film by any means and that is good in my opinion because the contents were nothing I ever really warmed up to. Or the characters. And I don't think that has to do with my non-existing interest in the subject of spray-painting and some of the culture that comes with it like for example the hip hop music. The actors probably tried their best to make it work and this is one reason too why the film is not a failure, but the script just wasn't on a level to let them shine and get us curious about what happens to them next. And this is true from start to finish. The story-telling and editing did not seem smooth at all and maybe it shows the director's lack of experience. You really need to use this as a big excuse in order to give a positive recommendation to this movie. From a neutral perspective, however, I just can't. I hoped this would be better judging from its imdb rating, but it rarely lives up to its premise. Watch something else instead.

Considering that it was a nightmarish experience for me to follow a group of juvenile delinquents onto their ego trip to self-destruction, I have to admit that this film is surprisingly well made. The script, the acting, the graffiti, the locations, the music, they all gel. We always get the impression that the director is close and true to his subjects, rather than posing or acting as a social worker with a camera. On his invitation we get to follow a reckless bunch of young graffiti artists around in an unnamed German megalopolis (represented here mostly by Warszawa, Poland). By competing with another crew they are forced to produce ever bigger and more outrageous graffiti, until they face the ultimate goal: to vandalise, I mean adorn, a whole subway train with their spray-painted imagery. At the same time, they are fighting an even harder battle to keep the rest of their dismal lives in check. Dead-end jobs, nagging girlfriends, the law, the parentals. Especially the leader of the pack, David, has to make up his mind whether he wants to grow up and come clean or continue on his albeit exciting path to nowhere.For that opportunity to ride with the colourful crew, you have to buy into their machism and denial of the fact that their shtick is mostly plain and simple vandalism (and I'm not talking about putting a mural on some concrete bridge pillar).

I saw this at the 13th Bradford Film Festival in Yorkshire, England. Due to a serious lack of proper publicity (on the festival's behalf), only six or seven people showed up to the screening. This is a crying shame, because the film is great on so many levels.For a debut, Gaag has made an amazing piece on a subject sparsely covered in cinema. The characters are complex, well-written human beings and not just there as a backdrop to the graffiti writing. The whole cast give truly natural and intense performances; the main four writers (a crew of ethnic and native backgrounds) showing a deep passion for their art. The film could also be seen as an exposé on the ridiculous stance the German government (and governments world-wide) take on this subject. We gain real sympathy for these characters as their lives are torn apart, mainly because the authorities choose to make life so hard for them.The cinematography was spot on: a gritty yet delicate portrayal of life on the under-ground. Yet through the grey, dusky palette we get bursts of colour that literally "burn" off the writers' canvases. The train sequences really are joy to behold.The subject matter of the film should not be seen as a deterrent to spectators unfamiliar with the world of graffiti writing. I for one am no aficionado on the subject, but was drawn in and captivated through-out. The sound-track, also composed by Gaag, really is the icing on the cake and is a glorious testament to the 6/7 years of work he has put in to this film. I implore you to give it a chance - you will not be disappointed.

This movie was filmed in my hometown Munich and also in Warsaw, Poland. Since i know Munich quite a bit and i never saw one single graffiti piece drawn on a train or any serious graffiti somewhere in the city, i suppose the movie was entirely shot at Warsaw. The film is something else than the usual scene/underground releases, because it offers a story with characters. They perform pretty good. The music is superb, better than expected. Unfortunately the pieces are shown way too short. The story remembers me strongly of Beat Streat. You have the newborn child, you have the crew with the angry guy who's pieces got crossed. On the other hand, the Graffiti seems real with Wholetrain which it wasn't in BeatStreet.Unfortunately, the movie annoys in the end, when the only whole train of the entire movie shows up. They show the train mixed with shots of some poor guys cleaning the train and destroying the piece of art - before you can even can get a longer glimpse of it. That lecture was unneeded and seemed out of place. Overall its a nice German graffiti drama with great acting and great music, the story is well constructed but offers nothing new.