Written by Maria Mutter
The brother is in debt to questionable friends, and his sister just wants to be left alone: “Who We Wanted to Be One Day” is a serious Viennese sisterhood drama. Director and screenwriter Özgür Anil presents one of the most complex relationships: from a purely legal perspective, the siblings have no obligations to each other, but research knows an unwritten law that holds that loyalty between siblings is the ideal.
Anna Sook as Anna and Augustin Grosz as Patrick live this conflict in “Who We Wanted to Be One Day” as sister and brother. They have reached completely different points in their lives. Anna, the heroine of the film, goes to evening high school and studies with a dear friend. She wants to obtain a high school diploma. During the day she works where she wanted to study: at an acting school. Her mother reveals her desire for a hospital bed. Anna stays only briefly to visit patients. Now the actress is back, her mother is calling for her, when Anna's voices get louder and she rushes out of the room. Gunther has returned to his mother's life. One look at actress Anna Suk is enough and you will get an idea of the family's circumstances.
Luke Allmayer
Augustin Groz was honored as Best Young Actor at the Max Ophuls Festival. He is currently studying in New York and wants to write a film himself.
Anna Suk and Augustin Grosz are convincing
“Who We Once Wanted to Be” is showing today in selected cinemas, for example in Stadtkino Wien. All dates available here.
“Who We Wanted to Be One Day” shows young people who haven't fallen on the side of butter. Anna's brother always appears out of the blue: Augustin Grosz plays him quite believably in faded jeans and with a hunched posture. He needs money and Anna must give it to him. But how often should Anna help him out of trouble? However, Anna lets him into her rented apartment.
When the two attend the first student performance of Ibsen's family drama “Ghosts,” Patrick has to leave the hall midway through the play, clearly distraught. Anna passes on all her contacts for him, and his dear learning friend finds him a job. But Anna forgets the date of the poetic tournament with him. She removes her makeup late at night at home, where she has been waiting for hours for a message to arrive – the orientation student, who does not want to think of a label for the relationship, is moving to Munich and has already forgotten Anna at the first party.
Who We Once Wanted to Be takes a lot of time to its characters' emotions and remains grounded in a rather bleak reality throughout the entire story. At some point, the situation escalates – and then Özgür Anil's debut becomes truly exciting.
