Leroy (2007)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Armin Völckers

Writer:

Armin Völckers (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Leroy (16) is an Afro-German boy who, not only notoriously unlucky, must also battle with an identity...

Plot Keywords:

Neo Nazi | Interracial Love Relationship | Berlin Germany | African German | Interracial Kiss

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Alain Morel	...	Leroy
Anna Hausburg	...	Eva Braune
Constantin von Jascheroff	...	Dimitrios (also as Constantin v. Jascheroff) (as Constantin von Jascheroff)
Günther Kaufmann	...	Leroys Vater
Eva Mannschott	...	Leroys Mutter
Arnel Taci	...	Achmed
Afrob	...	Blacula
Paul Maaß	...	Hanno
Julius Jellinek	...	Horst Braune
Andreas Schulz	...	Siegfried Braune
Raphael Wild	...	Wotan Braune (as Raphael Wildt)
Cay Helmich	...	Evas Mutter, Frau Braune
Conrad F. Geier	...	Evas Vater, Herr Braune
Wilfried Hochholdinger	...	Jerome
Kerem Can	...	Zoltan

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduction

Trivia:

When Leroy and his dad talk about men and women in dad's laboratory, they are having a drink that reads "Ghetto Raid".

Movie Connections:

References Blacula (1972)

Starts with potential, then drops quickly

I saw this movie, which has yet to reach outside of Germany while taking classes in Potsdam. I thought I would be excited to see a movie before it gets its international acclaim. Plus the topic is so unique, hearing the different voices of German cinema. Faith Akin exposed the Turkish German to the world, why not the Afro-German? Leroy is a teen-aged Afro-German youth. He begins a relationship with a pretty and sweet girl named Eva. What's the catch? Eva's family are a bunch of right wing neo-Nazi skinheads.

This film, upon reading its synopsis, I was expecting a gritty, humane drama about racism, much like a Spike Lee movie. But a comedy? That was the part about it that turned me off. It started out so great, but just went further and further down the spiral.

Given Germany's history, the subject of neo-Nazism is a real and sickening subject. The writers of this film treat it like a comedy. Eva's skinhead brothers are portrayed more like the Three Stooges, rather than Edward Norton in American HISTORY X. There were more and more jokes about neo-Nazism makes the film in just plain bad taste.

Also, LEROY tries to be like a lot of American comedies, the jokes, and the parodies of old blaxploitations do not work, especially for German cinema. Just shows that American humor doesn't translate well in other nations.