Isi or Isabella Voigt's family is worth billions of Euros. She lives in a fancy mansion in Heidelberg and can technically do anything that she wants. Well, almost anything that she wants. Isi's life was already planned out for her by her parents. She wanted to train in New York to be a chef but they think otherwise. There is no career in being a chef her mother said. Determined to carved her own path, she decided to rebel against them, blackmailing them to get what she wants. A life free from their orders.
On the other hand, in Manheim, lives a frustrated boxer named Oscar Markowski, people call him Ossi because it sounds better than Oscar. He lives in a small and moldy house with his mother Betty, grandfather and best friend, Tschünni. Ossi has been training for a long time to fight Yannis Vukovic to vault up his career. However, his time for training was always interrupted by his part-time work for his mother's loaned gas station and troublesome grandfather. His situation got worse when his sponsor for the fight against Vukovic backed out. Determined to achieve his dreams, Ossi just need €8,000 to make his dreams come true.
In a serendipitous event these two individual met in a burger joint in Manheim. Thinking that they can take advantage of each other, they made a deal to solve their problems.
Oliver Kienle's Isi and Ossi is his first time partnership with Netflix and it stars Lisa Vicari (Dark) and Dennis Mojen (EneMe) as Isi and Ossi respectively.
Using the oldest trope in the filmmaking book, the setup of the film can be a great example if we are to do an in-depth analysis on money tropes. In this film, the poor guy struggles to meet ends as the world seems to closes in on him. He almost always dresses the same and seems to have a limited vocabulary evident by his failure to know what "discontinuity" is. He has no control over anything and seems to be inferior to everyone. The film frames Ossi as the one in much need, an honest depiction of poverty.
The rich girl, however, has more power to dictate her surroundings and seems to be more in-control of the situation she in. She appeared in many dresses and is subtly controlling anyone for her favor. The film see Isi as the superior of the narrative.
It perfectly captured the thick line of poverty and wealth as it slowly unravels the psyche of its players. A line that the film tried to break, but didn't.
What makes this film ineffective is that it wasn't sure whether it will support the idea that money cannot solve everything. In the film, money did solve everything. It helped Ossi and his family to get what they want and it helped Isi to jumpstart her journey towards Independency.
However, somewhere in between the film, Isi found happiness cooking for Ossi's family and she found contentment working rather than depending on her parents' wealth. It framed the idea that money is nothing and what is important is the people that surrounds you but towards its end, its saying that money is something and its actually everything.
The lack of struggle and the easy answer to the struggles laid out in front of the protagonists makes the lessons this film wants to impart irrelevant and unaffecting.
Its, as well, pressing to see that this film would rather abandon the main reason that Isi undergo such development to serve the romance expected in it. The ending where Isi decided to reframe her dreams is a respected decision but also a disservice to the narrative it built and the viewers who invested on the character.
Overall, Kienle was unable to effectively tell a story that can drastically change our perception toward money and aspirations. The narrative seems to traverse back and forth on its ideas, without ever taking a stand to whether take the money or not; to achieve your dreams or not; and to help someone or not. It eventually ends up as a confusing and deterring film.
1/5
