It couldn’t get much more lesbian than this: “Ninja Motherf*cking Destruction“ tells a queer love story filmed over the course of eight (!) years.

Leonie and Marlene share an inseparable friendship – until Leonie falls in love with Naomi, diving headfirst into her first relationship. But Naomi comes with her own struggles: depressive episodes that increasingly take a toll on their relationship, and especially on Leonie as her primary source of support. Caught up in trying to care for Naomi, Leonie gradually neglects her other relationships, hurts her former best friend Marlene and ultimately loses herself in the process.

When the relationship finally comes to an end, Leonie realizes just how isolated she has become. She leaves Berlin to get her life back on track and starts a gardening apprenticeship. Amidst this new beginning, she comes to realize that something is still missing: her best friend.

The film convinces through its raw authenticity: minimal make-up, handheld camerawork and the complexity of adolescent relationships captured so well that it hurts. 

Raising relevant questions of queer identity, director Lotta Schwerk was longing for a display of queer women without drifting into lesbian sexualization, nor ruthlessly romanticizing mentally ill women. With a predominantly FLINTA team and cast, she gives voice to young women falling in love and navigating all the complexities that come with it – not through unnecessary sexualization, but with remarkable honesty and vulnerability.

Perhaps most impressively, Schwerk was the same age as her protagonists while writing each year’s script, carefully taking the story one year at a time. Made without film school or public funding, “Ninja Motherf*cking Destruction“ has become a wild, unfiltered portrait of the bittersweet experience of growing up.

“Ninja Motherf*cking Destruction“ will be released in German cinemas on 16 July.