Axolotl Overkill (2017)

Mifti is a beautiful and reckless 16-year-old girl. Her mother is dead, and her wealthy, eccentric father is too self-absorbed to be responsible for her. Mifti has no use for peers her own age, and being aware of the sexual power she wields with her looks and youth, she immerses herself in a world of adults of questionable character. Lovesick over an elusive older woman, she strikes up a friendship with Ophelia, an actress, and together they test the limits through Berlin nightlife and extreme partying. Writer/director Helene Hegemann, whose novel Axolotl Roadkill was a controversial best seller in Germany, makes an astonishingly accomplished and stylish debut feature. With its soul and R & B soundtrack, this tightly and kinetically edited tale of youthful excess and exuberance is a trippy, picaresque ride through adolescent impulses and desires. Jasna Fritzi Bauer makes an indelible impression as she balances toughness and vulnerability, perfectly capturing a girl's search for love and her ultimate realization of needing to free herself in order to move forward.