In the family film “Greetings from Mars“Everything revolves around ten -year -old Tom (Theo Kretschmer), who dreams of flying the first person to Mars. But where the planning of the intergalactic mission concerns his imagination and creativity, he holds pedantic rules and structures in everyday life. His extraordinary skills in mathematical thinking help him organize his world, but when something unforeseen happens, Tom is quickly overwhelmed by overload and panic.
In her second feature film, director Sarah Winkenstette (“too far away”) succeeds in presenting fears and excessive demands as a natural part of life without falling into the cervical cliché. Instead, she tells with sensitivity and humor about a boy with an autism spectrum disorder who learns to leave his comfort zone and face his personal challenges.
Vera (Eva Löbau) has to go to China at short notice-and therefore look for a solution for her three children, which is not so easy, especially because of Tom's Autism spectrum disorder.
Tom lives with his mother Vera (Eva Löbau) and his two older siblings in Hamburg. His universe consists of rules, firm processes and its passion for space. But when his mother has to go to China for a short time, he suddenly faces a completely different challenge: six weeks with the grandparents in the country. In order to make it easier for him to change, his mother gives him a logbook with the idea of viewing the stay as a trial marsmission.
Because if he exists the time in the distant village of Lunau with the unknown grandparents, he should also make it to Mars. Tom accepts the challenge and appoints his telephone -loving sister Nina (Lilli Lacher) as a radiowoman and his hyperactive brother Elmar (Anton Noltensmeier) for the first officer. Together, the trio sets off to plan Lunau – a journey full of unpredictable complications and new knowledge …
Warning color red
Based on the children's book of the same name by Thomas Möller and Sebastian Grusnick, who also wrote the script, we get to know Tom how he sits in a converted closet. It is his personal retreat where he feels safe. Here he can delve into his world of thoughts and devote himself entirely to his passion for astronomy. But when his mother opens the closet door, her red fingernails trigger almost a panic attack with him. For Tom, red is an overwhelming color that connects with blood, warning signs and emergency situations.
Winkenstette uses various audiovisual stylistic devices to make the perception of her ten -year -old protagonist tangible for the audience. When he is overwhelmed, noises distort, voices are blurred to indefinable noise, and the picture begins to flicker and blurred. In this way, his sensory overstimulation is not only understandable, but also noticeable. At the same time, the film uses white drawings as an animation elements to make Tom's fantasies and its thoughts based on patterns and numbers: The family's car becomes the spaceship of the Lunau mission, and the completed attic turns into a structured observatory.
In the country with his grandparents, Tom (Theo Kretschmer) feels as strange as on Mars.
“Greetings from Mars” is characterized by a light -footed narrative style. Although the boy's fears who prefer to run around in a spaceplate are taken seriously, the film never tilts into heaviness. In this way, the hippie grandparents maneuver their three grandchildren with their relaxed lifestyle on the country and non-existent WiFi from their comfort zones and thus ensure some amusing moment. Without staging Tom as a pitiful outsider, Winkenstette also illustrates how challenging it is for him and his environment to comply with the rules and structures that are so important for him or even to move them. It becomes clear that it is not a question that Tom simply has to adapt, but how he can make his own way through everyday life.
Small progress, such as walking through a red door, can already stand for a big personal change. Theo Kretschmer embodies the always questioning and frightens Tom -looking Tom with impressive sensitivity. Although this is his first film role, he masters the challenge of credible to present Tom's uncertainty, his panic states, but also his determination. Especially in the final scene, when Tom shows an open smile for the first time, the feeling arises that he has accompanied him on a significant development step.
Conclusion: “Greetings from Mars” is light-footed-amusing family cinema that explores the world of a special boy in a sensitive way. The film tells of being different, big and small challenges and the search for your own place in the world. A warm -hearted adventure for the whole family.