"Wholetrain" is a German 85-minute movie from 2006, so this one is over a decade old already and here we have the first of only 2 feature films so gar by writer and director Florian Gaag. But for a rookie effort he got a pretty decent cast together as you will find names in the list of actors here like Matschenz, Kempter and M'Barek who are still pretty famous, probably even more than back then, here in Germany today. Sprayers are a crucial subject at the core of this film, but the longer it goes the more you will realize that this is really not at all the essence here, what the film is about, even if references subjects cloely related to this activity on several occasions, like most of all trouble with the law and that's also with what the film is about to start. Anyway, it is not a very long film by any means and that is good in my opinion because the contents were nothing I ever really warmed up to. Or the characters. And I don't think that has to do with my non-existing interest in the subject of spray-painting and some of the culture that comes with it like for example the hip hop music. The actors probably tried their best to make it work and this is one reason too why the film is not a failure, but the script just wasn't on a level to let them shine and get us curious about what happens to them next. And this is true from start to finish. The story-telling and editing did not seem smooth at all and maybe it shows the director's lack of experience. You really need to use this as a big excuse in order to give a positive recommendation to this movie. From a neutral perspective, however, I just can't. I hoped this would be better judging from its imdb rating, but it rarely lives up to its premise. Watch something else instead.
Review of Wholetrain
