This is a 90-minute television movie from one year ago that takes us on the journey of a family when their youngest daughter is diagnosed with ADHD. The film's title "No time for dreams" sounds a bit pretentious, but can refer really to any character in the movie. What it most likely refers to is maybe a scene that includes the father deep in the second half already when he has a bit of a breakdown saying that there is nothing to his life anymore other than work and caring for his struggling daughter. I am undecided if I like the title. It does not sound completely bad, but the reference is just too vague for me to be honest. I would have preferred another. As for the character you see on the poster here on imdb, signs for an illness become more and more obvious when the girl only manages the first two tasks in a classroom test, but does them correctly. She is just very slow. But she is not stupid. On the contrary, there is talk on one occasion that her IQ is pretty high for a girl her age. The film's director Christine Hartmann had worked on many crime movies already and also on children's films such as "Hanni & Nanni". However, I cannot say I am amazed by her body of work at all as she has also been part of (more than) a few projects that are the opposite of good quality. The film's writer Regine Bielefeldt (so it does exist! sorry just had to) is not unexperienced either, but her filmography is even worse than the director's because she really has nothin in there that reeks of quality. May sound harsh, but it's true. Very weak body of work.
The two female child actresses have been pretty prolific already as well despite their young ages. Bohacek, who plays the sick child, has been in films with Jürgen Vogel, Bully Herbig, August Diehl, Alexander Fehling, really impressive for a girl her age. Stella Kunkat, who plays the sister, will always be linked for me with "Dschungelkind", a film I really liked since the first time I watched it. As for the grown-up cast, I have to say, I have only come across Sarnau so far I believe. But her I like too, even if she is not always hitting the right notes 100% here, but I will get to that later. While the movie is initially really only about the child with ADHD, the struggles within the family become more and more dramatic, so it is quickly about everybody, the other daughter who feels neglected, the mother who collapses because of the stress and the father who blames his genes for her daughter's struggles. One thing I like about this movie is that it really elaborated in all directions when it came to what's the best way to help the girl and cope with the entire situation and even if it gives a concrete solution in the end, we do not find out if it is actually the right one. And if it is, it may only be for this particular case and not for all ADHD patients in general.
Also, I enjoyed the way people's opinions on the whole matter are depicted, like the grandmother's attitude or the other mother's (best friend to Sarnau's character) approach to the issue. The latter for examples gives her (Sarnau's character) a hug as if her daughter had been diagnosed with a terminal disease or something. But this shows how the perception of ADHD is really different depending on who you ask. And of course, you also never know how much somebody really cares and worries or to what extent they are just pretending. There's many people out there who still think it's nothing, which is of course not the right approach either. Not at all. But it is an important subject and thus a good thing this film got made and looking at the number of ratings here, i definitely think it is on the underseen side. There are not too many films on the subject of ADHD. So the key story is fine, but I also think there are some small moments that won me over, like when early on the girl did not bring her set square, another girl steps in and says she has two and gives her one of hers. That was pretty sweet I think. It's these moments that also add some nice quality overall here and make it easy for me to decide to give this one a thumbs-up. Nonetheless, there are weaknesses too. I do think sometimes less can be more and maybe the ultimate escalation scene near the end was a bit over the top for my taste. Or I could say "scenes". There is the father's breakdown that I was talking about early on and I still don't think it was relevant enough to use a quote from it as the title. But maybe it is just me and I see such an illness not as life-changing as I should because I never got in contact with it directly. But I do know that it is a general complaint as well, simply by people with healthy children (usually more than one). So it is nothing that is by any means exclusively linked to children with ADHD or their parents. So yeah, I know I'm repeating myself, but I still don't think it's a great title.
Speaking of exaggerations, I do believe as well that the scene in which the mother collapses was a bit too much. It may or may not have happened like this, but I thought it was too much and had an ounce of pseudo drama. This is maybe where Bielefeldt's lack of talent came through. The one that can be seen with her body of work. It's especially a pity though that they did not cut these moments because one of the film's strengths was its great subtlety on many occasions. And maybe my one favorite scene is the kaleidoscope talk from the end, which is not only a moment in which the two sisters were bonding again despite their previous conflicts and the older sister feeling neglected. It was absolutely worth sitting through some of the previous mediocrities for that. Real moment of beauty there and I totally have to find my old kaleidoscope myself. I don't really care how accurate the girl's elaboration was from a medical perspective, it was just truly nice. All in all, it's definitely worth a watch for everybody with an interest in the issue of ADHD, although I am not a man of medicine and cannot say how serious this film should be taken if you really have somebody near you struggling with this. It's not a documentary obviously. But you can also watch it if you don't have such an interest. It was easy to care for the characters and their well-being. Honestly, looking at how many horrible German television movies got made in the mid2010s (especially by Theaterkunst GmbH), this is a truly positive surprise. Just a little less drama and escalation would have been nice, more quiet suffering. Positively recommended.
The two female child actresses have been pretty prolific already as well despite their young ages. Bohacek, who plays the sick child, has been in films with Jürgen Vogel, Bully Herbig, August Diehl, Alexander Fehling, really impressive for a girl her age. Stella Kunkat, who plays the sister, will always be linked for me with "Dschungelkind", a film I really liked since the first time I watched it. As for the grown-up cast, I have to say, I have only come across Sarnau so far I believe. But her I like too, even if she is not always hitting the right notes 100% here, but I will get to that later. While the movie is initially really only about the child with ADHD, the struggles within the family become more and more dramatic, so it is quickly about everybody, the other daughter who feels neglected, the mother who collapses because of the stress and the father who blames his genes for her daughter's struggles. One thing I like about this movie is that it really elaborated in all directions when it came to what's the best way to help the girl and cope with the entire situation and even if it gives a concrete solution in the end, we do not find out if it is actually the right one. And if it is, it may only be for this particular case and not for all ADHD patients in general.
Also, I enjoyed the way people's opinions on the whole matter are depicted, like the grandmother's attitude or the other mother's (best friend to Sarnau's character) approach to the issue. The latter for examples gives her (Sarnau's character) a hug as if her daughter had been diagnosed with a terminal disease or something. But this shows how the perception of ADHD is really different depending on who you ask. And of course, you also never know how much somebody really cares and worries or to what extent they are just pretending. There's many people out there who still think it's nothing, which is of course not the right approach either. Not at all. But it is an important subject and thus a good thing this film got made and looking at the number of ratings here, i definitely think it is on the underseen side. There are not too many films on the subject of ADHD. So the key story is fine, but I also think there are some small moments that won me over, like when early on the girl did not bring her set square, another girl steps in and says she has two and gives her one of hers. That was pretty sweet I think. It's these moments that also add some nice quality overall here and make it easy for me to decide to give this one a thumbs-up. Nonetheless, there are weaknesses too. I do think sometimes less can be more and maybe the ultimate escalation scene near the end was a bit over the top for my taste. Or I could say "scenes". There is the father's breakdown that I was talking about early on and I still don't think it was relevant enough to use a quote from it as the title. But maybe it is just me and I see such an illness not as life-changing as I should because I never got in contact with it directly. But I do know that it is a general complaint as well, simply by people with healthy children (usually more than one). So it is nothing that is by any means exclusively linked to children with ADHD or their parents. So yeah, I know I'm repeating myself, but I still don't think it's a great title.
Speaking of exaggerations, I do believe as well that the scene in which the mother collapses was a bit too much. It may or may not have happened like this, but I thought it was too much and had an ounce of pseudo drama. This is maybe where Bielefeldt's lack of talent came through. The one that can be seen with her body of work. It's especially a pity though that they did not cut these moments because one of the film's strengths was its great subtlety on many occasions. And maybe my one favorite scene is the kaleidoscope talk from the end, which is not only a moment in which the two sisters were bonding again despite their previous conflicts and the older sister feeling neglected. It was absolutely worth sitting through some of the previous mediocrities for that. Real moment of beauty there and I totally have to find my old kaleidoscope myself. I don't really care how accurate the girl's elaboration was from a medical perspective, it was just truly nice. All in all, it's definitely worth a watch for everybody with an interest in the issue of ADHD, although I am not a man of medicine and cannot say how serious this film should be taken if you really have somebody near you struggling with this. It's not a documentary obviously. But you can also watch it if you don't have such an interest. It was easy to care for the characters and their well-being. Honestly, looking at how many horrible German television movies got made in the mid2010s (especially by Theaterkunst GmbH), this is a truly positive surprise. Just a little less drama and escalation would have been nice, more quiet suffering. Positively recommended.
