Germany 2025
Opening October 2, 2025

Directed by: Christian Ditter
Writing credits: Christian Ditter, Michael Ende
Principal actors: Alexa Goodall, Araloyin Oshunremi, Kim Bodnia, Claes Bang, Jennifer Amaka Pettersson

Momo (Alexa Goodall) is a young girl with red hair and freckles, who lives in an outside environment in the middle of an old amphitheater. Her goal is to bring people together and solve their problems. Her best friend Gino (Araloyin Oshunremi) works as a tour guide and delivers pizzas. Another friend is an elderly man named Beppo, who sweeps streets. He doesn’t measure time according to the length of the street, but measures his work step by step, piece by piece. A corporation called Kontex, with employees all dressed in grey, decides to steal everyone’s time. Now nobody has time for anyone else. Momo gets help from a mysterious turtle named Cassiopeia (voiced by Naomi McDonald), also called Tass. The turtle “talks” by writing messages on his shell, and eventually takes her to Master Hora (Martin Freeman) who is officially the Guardian of Time. His house is full of ticking clocks. Master Hora decides to sleep for one hour, an experience quite new for him. Until now he has always been awake in the midst of “time.”  In his hour of sleep the world stands still.

This fantasy film concerns time in all directions and options: origin, worth, loss, return, etc.  “Time is the heart—not the clock.” A pink flower petal plays a role, eventually decorating the world with more pink petals. Gino is also known as Gigi and Giro. Momo is based on the book by Michael Ende, published in 1973, translated into about fifty languages and selling over 12 million copies. Not a film for kids, it is recommended for twelve years and older. I suggest even older, e.g., sixteen. Young actress Alexa Goodall, as well as the turtle Cassiopeia are worth our viewing, in an otherwise repetitive story, for which you may have a bit of time, which “we only have now.” Filmed in Croatia and Slovenia. (Becky T.)