Losing Balance/DrauBen am see (Felix Fuchssteiner, 2009): Germany

Reviewed by Danae Thomas. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Metro 4 Theater.

The dramatic story of family lies, secrets and the breathtaking events that occur when the horrible truth is revealed.

Jessika is a young girl who lives with her parents and sister. Jessika’s world is perfect in the beginning; her parents are happily in love with each other and her father makes good money so they can have nice things. A horrible thing happens which is, Jessika’s father looses his job. Suddenly the roles are reversed as husband and wife as Jessika’s mom gets a full time preschool job and the father stays at home being depressed while playing his guitar all day. Everything seems to be crumbling for Jesskia and her family. A horrible incident suddenly occurs and Jessika’s parents tell her to not speak of what she just witnessed. Jessika is caught between telling the truth and following her parent’s orders. Throughout the film this confused girl has to deal with the fact that she knows a big secret about her parents and doesn’t know what to do about it.

While all of these suspenseful events are happening to Jessika and her family she locks herself up in the bathroom and cuts herself. I found myself wondering if Jessika was suicidal before her family started falling apart. There are many mysterious happenings  such as this that will keep you engrossed throughout the film wanting and yearning to know what’s going to happen to these characters next.

The characters are what make this film appealing to the audience with their powerful emotional struggles of abandonment, loneliness, and helplessness. We can see that just by looking at these characters individually. The mother especially is usually crying because of something mean and cruel her husband says to her. The father locks himself in the bathroom usually while playing his guitar and drinking beer, as an audience we can tell that he’s depressed because he’s not the one making money for the family. The roles are switched around as husband and wife.

If you can enjoy camerawork in a film then you’re in for a treat because Losing Balance (Felix Fuchssteiner, 2009) does an excellent work of capturing the emotions of these characters with close up shots and by using low key lighting to match with how their feeling.

Why should you go see this film? If your highly anticipating to find out what happens to this family that is crumbling? If you’re someone who can enjoy an intense drama film that deals with hardcore family dynamics than this is a film you should see.