General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Oh Boy

Oh Boy is a 2012 German tragicomedy directed and written by Jan Ole Gerster, his feature film debut, in which Tom Schilling plays Niko Fischer, a law-school dropout in his late twenties who drifts through a single day in Berlin while his comfortable life quietly falls apart.¹^•² Shot in black and white with a jazz soundtrack, the film became one of Germany's most successful recent independent films and won six Lolas at the 2013 Deutscher Filmpreis, including Best Feature Film in Gold.³^•⁴ In English-speaking markets it was released under the title A Coffee in Berlin.⁵

Key fact	Detail
Director and screenwriter	Jan Ole Gerster, his feature debut and graduation film at the dffb film academy in Berlin¹^•⁶
Lead role	Tom Schilling as Niko Fischer, with Marc Hosemann, Friederike Kempter, Ulrich Noethen, Justus von Dohnányi, Michael Gwisdek, Katharina Schüttler and Frederick Lau²
Format	85 minutes, 35 mm, 16:9, black-and-white photography by Philipp Kirsamer⁴^•³
Production	Schiwago Film GmbH in co-production with Chromosom Film GmbH, Hessischer Rundfunk and ARTE, funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg²
Shooting	7 June to 10 July 2010, in Berlin⁴
German release	Premiere at the Munich Filmfest on 2 July 2012; theatrical release 1 November 2012; rated FSK 12⁴
Major awards	Six Lolas at the 2013 Deutscher Filmpreis; European Discovery (Prix Fipresci) at the 2013 European Film Awards; Bambi for Best National Actor⁴

Spoilers

Plot

Niko Fischer is in his late twenties and dropped out of law school two years earlier, a fact he has concealed from his wealthy father, who still transfers money every month.² The film follows one turbulent day in episodes. It begins badly when his girlfriend Elli ends the relationship, and worsens: an ATM swallows his debit card because his account is empty, a psychologist at the MPU driving-license test, which Niko must take after repeated drunk-driving offenses, certifies his "emotional imbalance", fare inspectors catch him without a ticket on the U-Bahn, and his father Walter summons him to a golf course to cut off the monthly 1,000 euros.²^•⁷

Running through the day is a small, repeated quest: Niko keeps trying to order an ordinary cup of coffee and keeps failing, first because a café charges 3.40 euros he finds excessive, then because he has no cash.² Along the way he encounters neighbors, his friend Matze, an old schoolmate, and an elderly man named Friedrich in a bar, who tells him his life story. A former classmate, Julika Hoffmann, reappears and confronts him with their shared past.² The distributor's synopsis frames the question the day poses: whether Niko will finally leave his comfort zone and change his life.¹

Production

Gerster, born in 1978 in Hagen, Westphalia, worked for the production company X-Filme Creative Pool before studying screenwriting and directing at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb); Oh Boy was his graduation film there.⁶^•² Filming took place in Berlin from 7 June to 10 July 2010.⁴ The film was completed only hours before the deadline for its 2012 festival premiere.⁵

The producers were Marcos Kantis, Martin Lehwald and Alexander Wadouh for Schiwago Film GmbH, in co-production with Chromosom Film GmbH and Hessischer Rundfunk and in association with ARTE, with funding from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.² Philipp Kirsamer was the cinematographer, Anja Siemens the editor, and Juliane Friedrich the production designer.²

Style and music

The film is photographed in black and white and moves between melancholy and humor, portraying both its protagonist and the city he inhabits.¹ Its structure compresses a coming-of-age story into a 24-hour span told in episodes.⁸ The Goethe-Institut's catalog notes that Gerster recalls the early works of Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese's After Hours, as well as the late-1960s Schwabing films, while developing his own tone.⁸

The score, by Cherilyn MacNeil and the band The Major Minors, is jazzy; the International Film Festival Rotterdam's description credits it with helping carry the film from slacker comedy toward what it calls a poignant ode to Berlin, its residents and its past.³ The film's Berlin setting is itself treated as a subject, with locations such as the Prenzlauer Berg apartment of the title character tying it to earlier German city films like Berlin – Ecke Schönhauser.²

Release and reception

The film premiered in Germany at the Munich Filmfest on 2 July 2012 and opened theatrically on 1 November 2012, distributed by X Verleih.⁴ It was also selected for the Forum of Independents at the Karlovy Vary festival in 2012, and screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2013.⁷^•³ It was released internationally as A Coffee in Berlin.⁵

At the 2013 Deutscher Filmpreis it won six Lolas: Best Feature Film in Gold, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Gerster), Best Actor (Tom Schilling), Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film Music.⁴ At the 2013 European Film Awards it won the European Discovery award and the Prix Fipresci, and Schilling received a Bambi for Best National Actor in 2013 and the German Actor Award for Best Actor in a Comic Role in 2014.⁴ Earlier festival honors included the Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino for screenplay, the German Independence Award for Best German Film, and an audience award at the Munich Filmfest in 2012.⁹

The film has remained available on home video and streaming: a Blu-ray and DVD edition from Warner Home Video appeared in Germany on 24 May 2013, and in the United States it streams under the A Coffee in Berlin title on subscription and ad-supported services.¹⁰^•¹¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2011 to 2012 › Released in 2012

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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