AllMovie

The title may be misleading: co-directors Bartosz Werner and Irma-Kinga Stelmach's Prussian Gangsters deals not with the Eastern European mafia or with gangs per se, but instead weaves a gentle and idyllic dramatic tapestry about a trio of best friends coming of age in a small, contemporary German town. Of the boys, Oli dreams of opening a local club, but his girlfriend longs to abandon the small-town lifestyle and move to a more urban environment; Nico has dropped out of secondary school and wants to establish himself as a hip-hop star; and Tino falls far short of maternal expectations and must push himself to make headway in school. Meanwhile, as these boys sense a rift growing, with increasing rapidity, between themselves and their mothers and fathers, they cling ever tightly together to feel a heightened sense of security.