Couldn't make it to the halfway point. i still didn't know what the movie was about. it was just boring nothingness. i had to watch it on amazon prime or i woulda watched it at high speeds early on and maybe gotten thru more of it. but at normal speed it, i couldn't believe i was only 40 minutes in when i looked, felt like over an hour (1 viewing)

Unlike the protagonist of Klip (Serbia, 2012), teen Mifti does not allow her self-worth to be defined by her lovers. Either misunderstanding or being intentionally misled in her relationship with middle-aged Alice, Mifti naturally reacts with pain and anger, but any bad choices she makes arise from instinctual attempts (without forethought) to find or please herself, not others.

Axolotl Overkill shows a slice of life of a teen with too little parental guidance and too much urban opportunity for self-destructive behavior. But it's just one slice, from the middle of the loaf. Unlike a true coming-of-age tale, nothing here hints that sex, drugs, or rock-and-roll are new to Mifti; she's been like this for a while, apparently. And unlike Goodbye First Love (France, 2011), Axolotl Overkill shows no maturation of the main character. The salamander called "axolotl" is neotenic - its development halts at a juvenile phase, never taking adult form, and we are left expecting Mifti won't grow up any time soon, either. The resulting storyline may thus be less satisfying to many viewers (including me), but it is nonetheless a realistic portrayal of one possible youth experience, of a nature that may be unfamiliar to many.

It's very well acted, directed, and filmed. It lacks traditional story-telling closure. Whether it has heart, whether you will feel empathy for the young character, depends on each viewer. It's worth watching once.

A hugely stylised character study of a German teenage girl who, after struggling to cope with family issues, resorts to Berlin nightlife. The film is so in the moment though that when it is all over you ask yourself 'oh wait, what was that about again?' Winner of the Sundance cinematography award, it has a keen visual feeling and the main character Mifti is somehow endearing despite her bad behaviour. It sets the scene nicely through Mifti's confrontations with people too caught in the moment to really have a grasp on life but the story line is so convoluted that it spoils the film's charms.