Boys from the Forest
Genre: Drama
Director: David Wnendt
Writer: Wyatt Allen
Cast: Lazar Simaifar, David Ali Rashed, Quang Anh Le, Emilia Eidt, Ruben Meiller, Albrecht Schuch, Michael Lott, Nhung Hong, Martina Eitner-Acheampong
Plot: Plot:
(Voice Over Lazar Simaifar)„My name is Lazar, I’m 19 years old and today I would like to talk about where I’m from. Do you ever think about how different your life would be, if you would have been brought up in a different neighbourhood? All my life I’ve spent in the same neighbourhood that goes by the name of Waldhofen“
It’s a dark rainy day in Waldhofen. We see a supermarket and alcoholics gathering in front of it, a forrest can be seen approaching from the back of the supermarket. Lazar (Lazar Simaifar) works here, sorting things into the shelves. It’s already pretty late only a few people are still in the store and even fewer employees are around. Ruben (Ruben Meiller) approaches, greets him really friendly and talks about Emilia’s party and if Lazar will be there too. Lazar doesn’t know yet. Ruben tells Lazar that he is a really cool guy, but he really has to look out for who he hangs out with. David (David Ali Rashed) also approaches the two, Ruben tells them that he just wants to buy some alcohol real quick as he is about to meet up with a girl and excuses himself. After Ruben is gone, David asks Lazar if he is friends with Ruben. Lazar tells him that Ruben is his classmate and one of the most popular guys in school and always really nice to him. David tells Lazar that this is his whole ploy and he is just a rich kid who is fake nice. David informs Lazar that the game on saturday starts at 10am and asks him if they can start. Lazar is hesitant, waiting for Ruben to pay for his things and leave the store.
Lazar with a pack of flour in his hands, goes up to one of his coworkers working at the checkout asking him if he knows where he has to put these. The coworker is visibly annoyed telling Lazar that he should know by now. David uses the distraction and packs some alcohol and cigarettes under his sweatpants. He has stuffed the sweatpants into his socks so nothing can fall out of them. He leaves the store, while Lazar is still getting instructions on where to put the flour.
Next day in school. A classroom filled with students. Lazar is sitting in the back, looking out of the window bored while the teacher Herr Friedrich (Michael Lott) is talking about an essay that is due on Monday. Herr Friedrich talks about how that essay will be the last chance to improve their grade before the final exams. Lazar’s eyes wander to Emilia (Emilia Eidt) a classmate of his sitting across the room. As soon as she notices, she looks back, which makes Lazar looks away quickly. Herr Friedrich wishes everybody a great weekend just as the school bell rings and the students leave. On his way out Lazar gets stopped by his teacher. Herr Friedrich tells him that this essay is especially important for him, as he doesn’t see Lazar getting his degree without getting a good grade on his essay. Herr Friedrich says that Lazar is a talented student but he seems to be to focused on other things.
On the hallway Lazar meets Emilia. Emilia invites Lazar to her birthday party at her parent’s place. She tells him her parents aren’t there so she invited most of the class and Lazar can bring some friends too. She also raves about the weed she got from him a couple weeks ago and asks him if he can maybe bring some of that with him. Lazar can’t promise but he tries his best.
Next morning. Quang (Quang Anh Le) plays organized football (“soccer” for the Americans) and David and Lazar are watching from the stands. They are talking about Emilia’s party while Quang is having a really good game. David memorizes that Emilia is the rich girl that Lazar has a crush on. Lazar affirms, but tells him that he doesn’t think that he has a chance with her and he also has to write this essay or else he will probably not get his degree. David is surprised that Lazar is struggling as he thought that Lazar is one of the smartest guys he knows. Lazar replies that he might not know that many people. David wants them to go to the party, he tells him that the rich guys like Ruben always hook up with the cute girls in their daddy’s Benz while they take the bus home alone and that will change tonight.
Meanwhile Quang is only able to be stopped with fouls and gets into a scruffle with his opponent. After some trash talk the situation seems to calm down a bit, until in the next play Quang goes at his opponent playing the ball through his opponent’s legs and gets fouled hard by him. Once again a scruffle starts and Quang is throwing hands that don’t land. The referee gives him a red card, throwing him out of the game.
“My two best friends are David and Quang. I know both of them since kindergarten, can’t even tell you when and how exactly I befriended them. They were just there and than stayed. Sometimes I feel like they are the only people in the world who really get me.”
Quang, David and Lazar are walking through their neighborhood that goes by the name of Waldhofen (loosely translates to forest-city) filled with trees, Plattenbauten (large panel system buildings) with badly done graffitis on them and drunk unemployed people in front of the supermarkets. They are talking about Ruben. Quang says he is a spoiled brat and has heard him talk bad things about them and making fun of Waldhofen, Ruben also sold him laced weed one time. David is wondering why Ruben is selling weed when his parents are rich. The arrive at Quang’s sister’s apartment in a Plattenbau, Quang is playing with his niece distracting her while Lazar and David are buying weed from his sister (Nhung Hong). Lazar asks her about the weed they had when they were smoking with Emilia. She tells him that it was from this weird guy named Kasper, he plants his own but she can’t help him with that anymore as they don’t work together anymore. She hints that Quang knows how to get to him.
After leaving Quang’s sister’s apartment, they are walking to the edge of their neighborhood where a forest is about to start, they sit down on a remote wood bench and David starts to grind and than roll the weed into a joint while Lazar asks Quang about Kasper. Quang tells him that Kasper is a real weirdo, he is in his 30s but still lives with his mother and always hangs around teenagers. He only sells weed to „friends“ of his. Quang’s sister was buying from him for cheap and than reselling it for more to her customers but she told him that it was just too stressful to deal with him, even though the weed was really good. David says that Kasper asked him a couple of times to hang out with him, so maybe they could meet up with him. They smoke some of the weed they just brought and philosophy about life. David looks up Kasper’s social media and sends him a message, asking if he wants to hang out with him and his friends.
Quang has to go to work, Lazar wants to go home and write his essay but David insists on Lazar coming with him because he wants to show him something. They enter David’s apartment that he shares with his grandma. His room is filled with blank white tees and he shows him a design he wants to print on them. He tells him that this is his way out, he already made an instagram page showing off the designs and got many likes. Lazar skeptically asks him about what happened to his rap album he tried to record and if he still works at the phone store. David tells him that this is his true occupation and the phone store was just holding him back. Lazar wishes him best of luck but tells him he has to go and write his essay. David wants him to stay and hang out with him, he still has some weed they can share and Kasper also answered his message inviting them to his place, so Lazar doesn’t really have the time to go home and write his essay.
After smoking weed and playing video games for a while Lazar and David want to go to meet Kasper. They are walking to the high rise multi storey building seen from almost everywhere from their neighborhood. In front of the building they ring the bell and an older woman is answering through the intercom. David asks to visit Kasper and the woman nicely invites them to enter. They take the elevator to the twelfth floor.
“Sometimes it feels like the whole district is its own world, that seems completely normal for all the inhabitants, but to everybody who looks from the outside in, it’s weird almost absurd.”
Arriving there, the older woman (Martina Eitner-Acheampong ) is opening the door, surprised the two ask if Kasper is living here. The woman is introducing herself as his mother as she calls Kasper to come and greet his friends. Kasper (Albrecht Schuch) , a guy in his mid 30s a buzz cut and a white wife beater on, comes to the front door, happy to greet his guests. He tells them to come to his room with him to his „man cave“. They go to his room. It is filled with many posters. We see a poster of Al Pacino in Scarface and one as Michael Corleone, a picture of Denzel Washington in American Gangster and a portrait of Pablo Escobar. He shows them around a bit, it is a small room with a bed, a couch and a big TV. He shows them his biggest pride, goes to his shelf and pulls out a katana, it is rich in details and very sharp. Kasper tells them it is from the movie Kill Bill. He safely steps away from the boys and shows them some very awkward but intense samurai moves with his katana. He tells them if someone ever is dumb enough to play some games with him, he will really regret it. Lazar and David ensure him that his katana is really cool. He has already prepared a couple joints and some soft drinks for the boys as he tells them his plan to play some Tekken with them. David plays against Kasper but gets really annoyed when he always loses and Kasper awkwardly trash talks him. In the meantime Kasper’s mother is bringing them pizza that she just made for them. Now Lazar is playing with Kasper while David is looking through Kasper’s manga collection asking if he has any One Piece or Dragon Ball. David is weirded out by some really over the top hentai he found just as he sees a box filled with weed, a holy sound effect can be heard. While Kasper is distracted playing video games with Lazar, David takes some of it and takes it in his pocket.
Kasper has to use the bathroom. David tells Lazar that they can leave now, as he has what they want. They have an argument as Lazar doesn’t want to steal the weed from Kasper but David tells him he won’t waste anymore of his time with this idiot. Just as he is about go Kasper comes towards him back from the bathroom and asks him why he wants to leave already. David tells him that they promised to help his grandma with a new shelf she just bought but they completely forgot about it. Kasper is visibly disappointed but very understanding, he offers to help but David tells him that his grandma has really bad anxiety and reacts really bad to new people. Kasper wants to show them one last thing before they leave. Kasper wants to give them a present he goes over to his box filled with weed, but notices something is off. He pulls it out of the box and weighs the weed, confirming that something is missing. He turns really serious and tells David and Lazar that they chose to play with the wrong guy, he grabs for his katana as David tries to calm him down. Kasper attacks him with his katana only missing him by a couple inches. David screams at Lazar to run and that Kasper is crazy, as he throws things out of his pocket into Kasper’s face, trying to get a head start.
They pass Kasper’s mother and run out of the apartment followed by an extremely angry Kasper. They run down the stairs of the multi storey building while Kasper is taking the elevator, figuring it out it’s his only chance to get them. On their way down David pushes the button of the elevator on every floor they pass, so the elevator has to stop and open on every floor. Soon Kasper is rethinking his strategy and steps out of the elevator to chase them down the stairs. But their lead was enough and as Kasper reaches the ground floor, Lazar and David are already gone.
Lazar and David recoup and catch their breath, as they feel in safe distance. Lazar is really not happy with how this whole situation went as their was no need for David to steal the weed. David just tells him to relax. They meet up with Quang who just finished his work shift and greets them with a bottle of beer for both of them. Lazar is surprised to get a call from Emilia. She is already in a pretty good mood and asks if Lazar and his friends will still come to her party. Lazar tells her they will be there soon. Quang mentions that Emilia seems to be really into him, else she wouldn’t call him like that. Lazar is not sure about that, he asks David for the weed that he stole from Kasper. David is deeply reaching into the pockets of his track pants but still ends up empty handed. He apologizes to Lazar for seemingly having lost the weed on their escape from Kasper. Lazar can’t believe it, he even thinks of not going to the party but David and Quang build him up again, telling him that he will be fine as he doesn’t need the weed to impress Emilia.
They all drive the bus together so that they can finally appear at Emilia’s party. As they arrive at an upscale area, filled with beautiful single-family homes, a complete contrast to what we’ve seen in the movie up until this point, they walk their way to the house of Emilia’s parents. The backyard is filled with guests celebrating Emilia’s birthday. Lazar is greeted by many but Quang and David don’t seem to know anyone there. They find Emilia and wish her a happy birthday. She is very happy to see them, she hugs Lazar and Lazar is happily introducing her to Quang and David. David is complimenting her parent’s beautiful house. She thanks him and tells him that they should feel at home. She also reminds Lazar that she can’t wait to smoke the „special“ weed with him. Lazar wants to tell her that he doesn’t have it, but they get interrupted by a group of girls grabbing Emilia’s attention by dragging her away to show her a surprise gift.
Quang tells Lazar that he thinks Emilia seems nice and they would look cute together, but Lazar thinks he messed up for not having the special weed. Quang doesn’t think she really cares about it, it just seems like an excuse for her to ask him to hang out with her. Lazar, David and Quang get something to drink and try to get an overview of the party.
They see Ruben who greets Lazar friendly but than gets a little more serious with Quang and David. He puts his hand on Quang’s shoulder and tells them that he is a really good friend of Emilia and he doesn’t want anyone to ruin her party, so he wants them to behave and not make any trouble. Quang puts Ruben’s hand off his shoulder and tells him to fuck off.
Lazar, David and Quang see an unused trampoline and decide that they have to use it. At first all three jump around the same time until they figure out that it’s not working and only two can jump at a time. They play rock, paper, scissors to determine who has to wait. Quang loses and is huffy, he tells them he gets himself something to drink until it’s his time to jump. Lazar and David go crazy on the trampoline, doing somersaults and other cool jumps. The people around them start to look weird at them
David and Lazar are laying on the trampoline looking at the night sky. David tells Lazar that he should make a move, he thinks that Emilia already hinted at him a couple of times that she would like to hang out with him alone and now he has to take initiative and be brave. Lazar says that David is right and sits back up and is looking for Emilia. He gets up and goes up to Emilia and asks her if she has time now to hang out with him. She starts to smile and takes him to her room.
They enter her room, Lazar seems nervous and compliments her on her taste, she tells him they can sit down on her bed. Lazar confesses to her that he couldn’t get the same weed they had last time explaining her a bit of the struggle they had earlier that night, but Emilia doesn’t seem to mind. Lazar is rolling a joint for them while Emilia asks him about David and Lazar, mentioning that they seem pretty close. Lazar agrees, they are from the same poor neighborhood and grew up together, they understand each other like no one else does. Emilia thinks it’s cool that they can trust each other, in their class she feels like you could believe that everybody likes everybody but truthfully no-one really seems to care about each other. She says that most people are very inauthentic but Lazar is different. Lazar gives her the joint and lights it for her. Lazar is being brave by awkwardly telling her that she really looks especially pretty today. Emilia smiles and looks at Lazar’s lips while he moves closer to her.
“I often feel like being from where I’m from is holding me back, like a cement block always dragging me down. Every time something good happens I always wonder when it will be taken away from me.”
Suddenly they get interrupted by a girl who opens the door telling Emilia that there is a crazy guy with a samurai sword in her backyard. Lazar tells Emilia that she should stay in her room, while he runs downstairs to the backyard. Lazar sees how Kasper is standing in front of David with his Katana, clearly threatening him. Quang comes from the side attacking Kasper’s arm that he uses to hold the Katana. Quang can remove the Katana from Kasper and he rings Kasper down before slapping him in his face, telling him to fuck off. When Quang lets go off him, he quickly walks away, holding his cheek where Quang slapped him, while he is whispering curses to Quang and David. Quang is celebrating with the Katana as a trophy while Ruben pushes him away, telling him that he knew that they would only make trouble. Of course David defends Quang telling Ruben that Quang basically saved the whole situation. Ruben doesn’t want to hear it, without them this situation wouldn’t even have happened. He tells Quang that if he continues like that, he will live a miserable life just like his sister, selling drugs with a baby on her arm. Quang loses his cool and punches Ruben in his face, Ruben’s many friends are now going at Quang who of course gets help from David and Lazar. The three are clearly outnumbered and their only option is to leave the party. Ruben screams at them from a far that they should stay at the woods.
At the bus station the three friends sit down depressed from what just happened. David says that the rich kids can fuck off. Lazar has had enough, he loudly tells them that it’s the same shit every time. He is tired of always being on the losing side, watching the others win. Every idea goes wrong, they waste their time making plans while they are high that will never see the light of day. And they never learn from it. Quang can’t control himself, David has a new passion every week that he gives up just as quick and Lazar himself is on the best way of not getting his degree. Nothing will ever bring them out of here, all these ideas are just a distraction from their reality.
It’s quiet for a while, all three are starring to the ground until David mentions that Quang really hit Ruben hard. All three laugh while David replays the situation in an exaggerated way.
The three sit in the night bus. All in the back of the bus but quite a bit separated, keeping to each selves. Lazar listens to music through his head phones while writing his school essay on his phone. He titles it „Jungs aus dem Wald“ (Boys from the woods).
“Being from Waldhofen made me who I am. In the end, I think I’m blessed to have friends like this who always have my back. Things rarely turn out they way I want them to be, but that doesn’t mean that it’s bad. I feel like no matter what will happen to us we always can adapt.
Monday at school, Herr Friedrich is pulling Lazar to the side telling him that he was skimming through the mail that contains Lazar’s essay and he was really satisfied with it. Lazar is a bit embarrassed to see Emilia feeling a bit guilty for destroying her party, but to his surprise Emilia apologizes to him for how this whole thing turned out. She was really impressed by how loyal Lazar was to his friends. Lazar can’t help but starting to smile, he asks her if he can invite her to get some ice cream after school, she says yes.
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