Spoilers Alert:
It is a shimmering trip through the pulsating and hedonistic subculture of a modern city, but above all it is a portrait of a close friendship: YUNG accompanies four girls on their journey through Berlin. One cannot deny the authenticity of the film. Nevertheless, there are weaknesses. We reveal what these are in our review.
Janaina (Janaina Liesenfeld) sells herself in her children’s room to internet customers who are willing to pay.
The authentic presentation and the explicit sex scenes are the only unique selling points of “Yung”, which ultimately doesn’t tell any more than so many other films of this type, which began in 1981 with “Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo”. Henning Gronkowski is now looking at a new generation of junkies, partygoers and sex service providers, but the problems that come with it are the same; and also the findings. The reflection that takes place on the part of the young people then feels rather forced. In their interviews, the girls basically just explain what’s happening on screen and don’t say anything more than the pictures already do. That doesn’t mean that “Yung” doesn’t have some strong individual moments. In particular the opening scene, in which we see how one of the girls initially appears to be having a completely normal, everyday conversation with her father, before the next moment the supposed father turns out to be her suitor who is about to have a woman who is many decades younger than her to have sex.
“The film doesn’t need the corresponding moments in this detail. And yet, during extensive masturbation and sexual intercourse scenes, the camera sometimes looks – in the truest sense of the word – between the actresses’ legs.”
In moments like these, “Yung” becomes uncomfortable in the way that a film can only be when it makes the viewer feel like they’re taking part in something real. And it’s surprising that he does this far too rarely, even though the makers do everything they can to capture the dirt and disgust, but also the fascination of the city of Berlin. But perhaps we have seen all of this too often by now.
Conclusion: You can’t deny “Yung” an absolute sense of authenticity. The four main actresses are an event. But the calculated game of breaking taboos, especially in the extensive sex scenes, runs counter to the authentic presentation. And this offshoot of the “Berlin youth brutalized” genre doesn’t really tell anything new.
“Yung” is available on DVD and Blu-ray from July 24th.
