Possibly one of the best films ever to treat the subject of graffiti culture comes from Germany, of all places, in this exuberant story of a group of young men trying to reconcile their all-consuming lifestyle as "writers" with their growing responsibilities as adults.

When more ambitious and accomplished pieces by another gang begin to appear around Munich, the KSB crew is pulled in conflicting directions. Despite outside pressures on some members of the group to keep a low profile -- one is on probation and another has a young child -- their pride leads them to try to one-up the new crew by "bombing" a whole commuter train -- an epic and risky undertaking that they think would reaffirm their street cred. While Wholetrain intelligently portrays this uneasy transition into adulthood with empathy and strong performances from a cast made of mostly non-professionals, its greatest pleasures are the fantastic montages (accompanied by an equally good soundtrack featuring KRS-ONE and others) of the actual construction of the pieces, thrilling in their authenticity and attention to detail, not to mention their infectious energy. Although the crews (whose members reflect the new Germany, coming from a diverse background of races and classes) speak German, international slang like "toy" and "burner" needs no translation, and the shooting locations of Warsaw and Munich nostalgically recall pre-Giuliani New York with stunning pieces covering seemingly every square inch of cement and steel.