50
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
Jan Ole Gerster seems infatuated with his main character, but to little avail beyond reveling in his aimless despair.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
Gerster and Schilling are more successful when they allow Niko's behavior to be their main subject.
50
Sporadically amusing and sprinkled with a fine silt of truth that helps elevate Niko above the movie around him, A Coffee In Berlin is at its best when it rolls up the blueprints and lets its hero figure things out for himself.
60
A snappy, quirky German indie that will thrill fans of early Jim Jarmusch.
40
The Guardian by Leslie Felperin
This debut for German writer-director Jan Ole Gerster seemingly aims to transplant a mumblecore aesthetic into Berlin, with all the requisite aimless hipsters, whimsical touches and rambling narrative dips and dives; but someone forgot to add spontaneity or edge.
80
Jan Ole Gerster’s deceptively slender character study has a complex undertow, subtly linking its wallflower anti-hero’s acceptance of his failings with his country’s wider atonement for its World War II past.
25
A tedious exercise in tedium.
75
McClatchy-Tribune News Service by Roger Moore
An engaging take on a drifting character at an age when we’re all adrift.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Sheri Linden
A delightfully unforced comedy with a sure grasp of character and setting.
60
Time Out London by Trevor Johnston
It’s all rather charming, though, since leading man Schilling remains affable while never underselling this kindly yet feckless dropout’s sheer spinelessness.