Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars David Kross, Jenny Elvers, Erhan Emre,
Oktay Özdemir, Kida Ramadan, Arnel Taci,
Kai Müller, Hans Löw, Jan Henrik Stahlberg
Written by Zoran Drvenkar & Gregor Tressnow
Certification UK 15 | Germany 12
Runtime 98 minutes
Directed by Detlev Buck
Before it gets a little too extreme and over the top in the final act, Tough Enough is a watchable but bleak urban thriller about a teenage boy who gets involved with gangsters. We don't get much backstory, first meeting Michael Polischka (Kross) and his mother (Elvers) just as her latest rich lover evicts them from his home. Having almost no money, the pair move from an upmarket suburb of Berlin to a grungy, immigrant neighbourhood. Of course, Michael — who looks a little like a younger version of actor Michael Cera from Superbad and Arrested Development — gets picked on at school by a particularly nasty gang of bullies (who at one point tie him to a chair, put a metal rubbish bin over his head and beat it with a baseballl bat).
He befriends a couple of brothers who are home alone much of the time thanks to their truck driver father. So they soon introduce their new pal to the joys of drinking beer and robbing houses — including that of his most recent "stepdad", a well-to-do doctor. Long story short, Michael finds himself in the employ of a local drug dealer. And he's running coke and heroin, and carrying up to 80 grand at a time. And, as we know, it will all end in tears. Smashing performances — especially from Kross — a killer soundtrack and the grungy locales make this an enjoyable, if not exactly pleasant, experience. It's a well-paced piece of social commentary that is yet another example of the excellent work coming out of Germany today — particularly from director Buck, who up till now has focused mainly on comedy. Now watch Hollywood try to remake this and cock it up.