Ringo is a loser. His wife has left him, he’s bad at his job, and he has no friends. One night, which he spends alone at the nearest bar like on every other night, Ringo Fleisch (Martin Rohde) decides to quit his job as a scaffolder. The very next day, he starts working at a roller coaster operation at the fairground, where the eccentric carny Fränkie (Charly Schultz) convinces him to box against fairground visitors at his stand with the promise of quick money and fame.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL RINGO, Dominik Galizia’s third feature and the spiritual sequel of his surprise hit HEIKOS WELT stumbles through the plot like Ringo stumbles through his life. That’s totally fine, because the center of the film are the exaggerated characters, their quirky particularities and the situations that occur in their encounters. They are all original in their way: whether it’s Fränkie and his wife, who philosophize about amateur boxing in their trailer, big Heinz (Peter Trabner), a pantomime with aggression issues but a lover of children, or Jenny and her mullet having brother Mirko, who involve Ringo in criminal wheelings and dealings. The setting in which the characters come into contact with one another is provided by the neon light of the fair, the grainy glossy look of the 35mm film and the soundscape from the synthesizer. Their encounters are full of allusions to the film classics from the 70s to the 00s, but know how to set themselves apart with their own ideas. Without narrative or emotional depth, but with heart and absurd situational comedy. That’s why ROCK ‘N’ ROLL RINGO already feels like a German cult film that can be ranked alongside BANG BOOM BANG, MANTA MANTA, and SUPERSTAU.

Lukas Hoffmann

Translation: Elinor Lewy