让音乐小声点 / Mach die Musik leiser (1994)

　　MACH DIE MUSIK LEISER portrays a group of teenagers in Essen, an industrial town in the Ruhr region in the Western part of Germany. It's the summer of 1993. School's over for most of the adolescents, who are mainly played by non-actors. The individuals’ decisions on the future are not determined yet. Bored uncertainty, shy and somewhat helpless passivity dominate the sparse actions and day to day activities – modest quarrels with parents, attending a concert (hardcore stalwarts "Biohazard"), watching pictures in the nearby drive-in-theatre (Cameron’s "Terminator") or on video (Raimi’s "Evil Dead"), meeting with friends in coffeeshops, pubs, along footways and park benches. At first glance nothing specific or dramatic is going on. But as the movie evolves the viewer gets more acquainted with some of the characters’ in- and exterior changes during their rites de passage.

　　MACH DIE MUSIK LEISER is Arslan’s first feature film, his graduation movie from Berlin film school. It already has him following a style of contained observational accuracy. A style connecting documentary and fiction, resting upon the means of spatiotemporal representation, not upon dramatic suspense.