Benjamin (Leonard Scheicher) only wanted to accompany Katharina (Viktoria Schulz) to Cuba to look for her brother Wanja (Jakub Gierszał), who is researching manatees there. Then Katharina‘s friend Judith (Maya Unger) is on board and Wanja is nowhere to be found. The three of them ask the locals and follow a trace. However, the search doesn‘t seem to be high up on the priority list for everyone. Katharina wants to savor her power as a privileged white person in poor Cuba, and looks for a man who she can pay for sex. Judith doesn‘t want a relationship, but does fall in love with a Cuban, and Benjamin helplessly looks on. Wanja, in the meantime, is determined to free a Cuban and his family from their poverty using his father‘s money.

Director Bettina Blümner, who debuted with the remarkably observed documentary PRINZESSINENBAD 15 years ago, directs a cinematic equivalent of the trendy word “cringe.“ Watching these young people as they exploit the country and its people and ineptly try to help them is deeply uncomfortable. On the other hand, they‘re confused and don‘t have an idea of who they are, what they want, and how they should deal with the wealth gap between Germany and their vacation spot. These contradictions are what make thecoming-of-age road movie charming. The three protagonists embody all of it with disarming honesty. Blümner and her cinematographer Janis Mazuch (SEARCHING EVA) mix cinematic images of water and beach with video diaries of the protagonists, staying on them even when it gets painful.

Lars Tunçay

Translation: Elinor Lewy