Kleine Kreise

Paul is very good at setting up extremely unsuccessful businesses. He lives in a garage between a trading company and a furniture store. Ever since his wife left him, he hasn’t seen much of his son Niki any more. When Niki spends a weekend with him, the two go and drive a few laps in a racing go-cart. They soon acquire a taste for it. Together with the grumpy old shopkeeper Karl, whom they abuse as sponsor for their adventures, they prepare to spend the whole summer holiday going from race to race. It soon becomes clear that they don’t have a hope in hell in the races, but Paul is much too headstrong to give up at once.Hilpert: ‘The idea was to make a beautiful, aesthetic film, without the characters sharing that feeling for aesthetics. On the contrary, they have to be very ordinary, even a little folksy. I just happen to like beautiful films that are not what is called realistic, but which do offer a very personal version of the world.’Kleine Kreise is characterised by a calm, almost laconic narrative and taciturn characters. The film is set against the anonymous backdrop of German dormitory suburbs, industrial estates and business parks, ambiguous areas that are not in town nor in the country. The unknown cast, in the case of Jakob Matschenz (Niki) even making his début, is one of the pillars of this intriguing film.