German Currents Presents Mountain Miracle (2017)
An asthmatic with an attitude, Amelie (Mia Kasalo) has reached the point where people don’t dare make fun of her illness. (Call her an “asthma cripple” and she’s likely to kick the soccer ball you’re looking to retrieve even further out of bounds.) Eager to ignore her allergic disorder, Amelie’s happily divorced parents send her to a clinic in South Tyrol; if the therapeutics don’t cure the restless teenager, the view will. There, she takes up with herd manager Bart (Samuel Girardi) — don’t all remote sanitariums come complete with a dairy farm? — a curly-haired redhead with a galaxy of freckles. So far, I am indeed engrossed by the manner in which the character gets a handle on her disease. And in my youth, I would have no doubt cheered on the couple’s ensuing escape up the mountain. Today, my allegiance quickly shifts to the parents, who start to fear the worst when the police return with their missing daughter’s jacket, soaked through. At the risk of sounding like my father, the hills are alive with lessons to be learned. Directed by Tobias Wiemann. — Scott Marks