Of Girls and Horses

A city girl gets a crash course in country living in Monika Treut's lyrical German film. Alex (Ceci Chuh) is not happy about being sent away to a horse farm in the middle of nowhere, especially after she discovers that cell reception is weak and that she can't smoke indoors, but she eventually finds other pleasures under the wide open skies. A background in petty crime and scars on her arms indicates that Alex's internship is meant to serve as therapy/rehabilitation. Fortunately, she finds a sympathetic mentor in horse trainer Nina (Vanida Karun), who has a girlfriend—a situation that intrigues Alex. When Kathy (Alissa Wilms), a less worldly teenager, comes to stay at the farm, Alex is jealous that Kathy and Nina get to ride while she cleans the stables, but Kathy's curiosity about Alex grows into friendship and the pair dance, ride bikes, and play in the mud flats. While Kathy's father bought her a horse, Alex's home life isn't as comfortable—she lives with an adoptive mother and has never met her father (in her spare time, Alex studies Portuguese in hopes of traveling to Brazil to meet her birth mother). When Nina goes into the city for a few days, Alex introduces Kathy to a few bad habits, leading to some unforeseen problems. A fine coming-of-age tale, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)