This is a beautifully made and conceived picture from the director of Deutschland ’83, Edward Berger. Jack lives with his 5-year-old half-brother Manuel and their twenty-something mother Sanna in a Berlin tower block. While Sanna loves her children, she’s also selfish and unreliable, inclined to skip out on the kids for jaunts away with new men or old friends.

Berger focuses on the gentle devastation that paternal rejection can generate, as we observe Jack evolve from a child with adult responsibility into a young adult whose eyes have finally been opened. It is a thought provoking and moving film with a stunning performance by acting newcomer Ivo Pietzcker who plays Jack. A real gem, this one.