After Sam, a penniless Afro-German singer, discovers he's HIV positive, he gets utterly drunk, spends a few miserable days, but promptly falls (back) in love. Amidst a crumbling former East Berlin (its bulidings, cars, people & culture), Sam develops a "family" for the new millenium, for the new generation of post-drug cocktail AIDS victims. The fragile "family" he forms includes his on-again-off-again boyfriend Rainer, and his best friend Bastl with his latest fling, Mike. Like the old, schmaltzy East German songs which Sam is recording, the sweet innocence of the characters struggle to prevail, the misfortunes of the characters nothwithstanding.
Acting
Sanoussi-Bliss's raw, unsentimental vulnerability as Sam
Direction
Using crumbling East Berlin as fifth character
Score
Ostalgie songs weaponized against tragedy
Director
Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the first German films centered on Afro-German experience, directed by a Black German filmmaker—practically unicorn status in 2001 German cinema.
The 'drug cocktail' reference dates this precisely to the late 1990s HAART transition era, when HIV became manageable but not for everyone—Sam represents the ones left behind.
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