Three friends, Pete (Peter Kondra), Marc (Andrej Vickers), and Mike (Mikael Schallock), all who lived together in college, haven’t seen each other in five years. Their lives have changed since then, but more importantly, they have changed during the time they’ve spent apart. Now, they’ve come back together in Germany to party and rekindle their dwindling relationships with one another–but not all relationships can be fixed, and the people they are now may not mesh like they each have hoped. While this group of Good Old Friends comes together once more, they will find themselves in the midst of trauma, pain, and the slow burn of life. They will end up in a series of unwelcoming predicaments, but they will see themselves through. Right?
Good Old Friends attempts to blend comedy and horror in this buddy-esque film. From grotesque humor to daunting realities, Directors Konda and Schallock attempt to pull different genres into their film, and to a degree it works. Comedy is subjective, and not everyone will gravitate toward the same sort of comedy, so the comedy present in Good Old Friends may appeal to some–but I’m not part of that group. The comedy that Konda employs as the writer lands on two different ends of the same spectrum–both too far off from what the majority may find accessible or enjoyable and too simple. On one hand viewers see something that is far too subtle, and never manages to reach far enough to touch viewers. And, sadly, on the other hand, viewers get something far too exaggerated to make sense or to relate to the realities of the real world. Ultimately the comedy falls flat–and Good Old Friends, and the potential that the filmmakers saw for it comedically, fails to see the light of day.
Unlike the comedy, the narrative needs to fall somewhere on one end or the other of the cinematic spectrum. The film either needs to be simple enough that viewers are able to connect the real world to the one they see on screen, or it needs to be so far gone, so exaggerated, that viewers are able to look past the ridiculousness and just appreciate the cinematic prowess of all those in charge of creating Good Old Friends. This is not to say that every film needs to meet one of these two agendas, but Good Old Friends falls into a part of cinema that simply doesn’t work for it. Konda attempts to combine the two ends of the spectrum, and the ridiculousness and simplicity end up battling one another like a civil war, ultimately hurting the film as a whole.
There’s a moment, maybe three or four minutes, toward the end of Good Old Friends as the friends sit and talk in a car about their constantly dwindling relationship that expresses to viewers the potential of both Kondra and Schallock in every capacity of Good Old Friends. The acting, writing, and directing take a step in the right direction, just as the emotion present in the narrative peaks. In these three or four minutes, as tensions rise, the writing reaches an all-time high, and the characters finally reach viewers. Good Old Friends is fantastic in this moment–presenting to the world all of the potential that exists in each and every facet of the film.
Good Old Friends is clearly a film made by fans of cinema. The constant, unrelenting references to Hollywood greats–and even some of the lesser-known entities of the film world–expresses to viewers that both Kondra and Schallock are well-versed in the world of cinema. This is appealing to fellow cinephiles–but some of the references may be lost on the rest of the world.
It’s clear that Kondra, Vickers, and Schallock possess talent in a number of ways. Their combined writing, directing, and/or acting talent exists somewhere beneath the surface, begging to be set free, but Good Old Friends only sees that step forward into the light a time or two. While some potential exists within Good Old Friends, the film as a whole fails to entertain as a result of it being unable to pinpoint what it is and where it exists in the world of cinema.
Directed by Peter Kondra & Mikael Schallock.
Written by Peter Kondra.
Starring Peter Kondra, Andrej Vickers, Mikael Schallock, Marie Céline Yildrim, Ronja Klatt, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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