Main Cast: Frank Giering, Guido A. Schick, Silvana Bosi, Florian Lukas, Barbara De Koy, Antoine Monot, Jr., Julia Hummer, Gustav Peter Wohler, Jochen Nickel, Michael Sideris
Release Year: 1999
Country: DE
Run Time: 77 minutes
Plot
In the port town of Hamburg, Germany, Floyd (Frank Giering) disappoints his sanctimonious boss by announcing that he's shipping out to South Africa and Singapore now that his two-year probation for an unspecified juvenile offense has been completed. When he shares the news with his devoted friends Chubby (Antoine Monot Jr.), a mechanic, and Ricco (Florian Lukas), a fast-food cook and would-be b-boy, they can't comprehend their thoughtful friend's willingness to trade camaraderie for a wider view of the world. Overcoming their anger and bewilderment, the guys decide to spend one last night with Floyd, but the problem, as always, is how to find some fun. A succession of fast-food restaurants, parking garages, and local watering holes chronicles the inherent boredom of life in the provinces. But a run-in with a convention of dragster-racing Elvis impersonators sends the boys and their friend Telsa Julia Hummer on a series of adventures that veers from the farcical to the almost-tragic. Absolute Giganten was screened at the 1999 Flanders Film Festival and thereafter received limited international distribution. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
This contemporary German coming-of-age story combines haunting depth and raucous humor with the kind of polished, style-infused surface that engages festival and multiplex audiences alike. The key is its heartfelt script, by first-time writer/director Sebastian Schipper, who, inspired by the Tom Waits song "Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night," turned a familiar tale of childhood's end into a thoughtful meditation on the tension between nostalgia and possibility. Producers Stefan Arndt and Tom Tykwer, fresh from their success with Run Lola Run, helped Schipper revise his original scenario several times in rapid succession, but the end result looks anything but rushed. Frank Griebe's reverent cinematography and Andrea Kessler's vivid art direction capture both the strip-mall shabbiness and the wide-open grandeur of modern European suburbia. The spot-on music, meanwhile, navigates smoothly between big, evocative strings and mood pieces by such techno notables as Finland's Jimi Tenor and France's Laurent Garnier. As Floyd, the young man whose imminent departure catalyses a night of desperate adventure, Frank Giering parlays his doe-eyed good looks and restrained demeanor into a charming and melancholy lead performance. Julia Hummer makes the young Telsa a model of quotidian luminescence, while Antoine Monot Jr. and Florian Lukas give their comic-relief sidemen just enough inner life to ring true. It would be easy to lose sight of the film's true beauty amid the technical finesse and gaudy excess of parking-lot dance videos, high-stakes foosball matches, and Elvis impersonators run amok. All such postmodern winking, however, is infused with a sense of bittersweet transcendence. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Cast
Frank Giering - Floyd
Guido A. Schick - Dulle
Florian Lukas - Ricco
Silvana Bosi - Walters Oma
Antoine Monot, Jr. - Walter
Barbara De Koy - Irmgard
Julia Hummer - Telsa
Gustav Peter Wohler - Horst
Jochen Nickel - Snake
Michael Sideris - Dieter
Albert Kitzl - Elvis; Hannes Hellmann - Klaus; Peter Franke - Meister; Alfons Lutje - Bewährungshelfer; Sven Pippig - Pornomann; Joshy Peters - Alfa-Fahrer; Andreas Schroders - Burger Manager; Ina Holst - Riccos Mutti; Anna von Krosigk - Riccos Schwester Manuela; Jessica Persson - Riccos Schwester Chantal; Joel Mouton - Riccos Bruder; Jannik Mouton - Riccos Bruder; Richard Beek - Tankwart; Martin Pawlowski - Arzt; Sabrina Brumm - Girlie; Johannes Silberschneider - Hans; Andrea Paula Paul - Tresenfrau Disco; Christian Ostertag - Elvisse; Mirko Hufari - Elvisse; Adi Stein - Elvisse; Speedy J - Elvisse; Big Bobby Faust - Elvisse; Michael Sander - Fussballspieler; Emil Senioch - Fussballspieler; Sascha Imbusch - Fussballspieler; Theodor Lewin - Fussballspieler; Adebesi Bola - Fussballspieler; Jona Sadhana Stumpfnagel - Fussballspieler; Marcnesium - Rastaman
Credit
Andrea Kessler - Art Director, Andorthe Braker - Casting, Bettina Kloempken - Costume Designer, Anna Droescher - Costume Designer, Sebastian Fahr - First Assistant Director, Sebastian Schipper - Director, Andrew D. Bird - Editor, Tom Spiess - Line Producer, Uwe Kirbach - Musical Direction/Supervision, Barbara Kreuzer - Makeup, Kathi Zimmermann - Makeup, Matthias Voucko - Makeup, Frank Griebe - Cinematographer, Patrick Brandt - Production Manager, Stefan Arndt - Producer, Tom Tykwer - Producer, Heino Herrenbrueck - Sound/Sound Designer, Kai Tebbel - Sound/Sound Designer, Kai Storck - Sound Editor, Ronnie Paul - Stunts Coordinator, Sebastian Schipper - Screenwriter, Anne Urban - Post Production Supervisor, Matthias Lempert - Re-Recording Mixer, Lucy Tanja Fricke - Script Supervisor, Gordon A. Timpen - Still Photographer, Hartmut Teschemacher - ADR Recordist
Frank Giering
Florian Lukas
Antoine Monot, Jr.
Julia Hummer
Jochen Nickel
Albert Kitzl
Guido A. Schick
Silvana Bosi
Barbara De Koy
Michael Sideris
Hannes Hellmann
Absolute Giganten is a 1999 German language film, directed by Sebastian Schipper. Set in Hamburg, it depicts how a group of young Germans react to the prospect of one of them leaving for ever, and involves drink, V8 engines, and an extraordinary game of table-football.
It was Schipper's first movie as a director. In the year 2000 the movie won the German Film Award in the category Outstanding Feature Film.
