Tiger Milk

Based on a novel by Stefanie de Velasco, German filmmaker Ute Wieland’s Tiger Milk is largely a girls-gone-wild tale about two 14-year-old best friends carousing through the streets of Berlin with insouciance and a streak of malevolence. Although edgy, the basic story would be merely routine but for an interesting twist concerning the precariousness of immigrant life in Germany, as well as clashes between multiethnic groups who are at one another’s throats. Jameelah (Emily Kusche) is a kid from Iraq who fled with her mother following the killing of her father and brother. Nini (Flora Thiemann) lives with her layabout mother and the latter’s boyfriend (Nini’s father abandoned them years before). The two chase around the city together: shoplifting, stealing from men soliciting prostitutes, and provocatively shouting among pedestrians. At times, their nonsense strains credulity, particularly when they decide to lose their virginity at the same time in the same room with two older guys (who paid the girls 200 euros)—strangers to Nini and Jameelah. Of greater plausibility are a couple of subplots, one that is focused on the growing possibility that Jameelah will be deported, and another about a lethal clash between Bosnian siblings over a relationship with a Serb. Taken together, these various story threads don’t form something whole and integrated. But Tiger Milk (a reference to a horrible-sounding mix of milk, passion fruit juice, and alcohol that the girls enjoy) does feature a few arresting scenes and a heartbreaking conclusion. A strong optional purchase. (T. Keogh)