This tragicomedy is a self-ironic portrait of a young man who drops out of university and ends up wandering the streets of the city he lives: Berlin. Then on one fateful day, everything changes: his girlfriend rebuffs him, his father cuts off his allowance, and a strange psychiatrist dubiously confirms his 'emotional imbalance'.
It manages to make an entertaining story out of nothing in particular. And just when you get comfortable passively observing a passive observer, the minutest of twists becomes its own call to action.
Niko's problem is not just that he's spoiled and lazy, but that he's a wimp about it. He only maintains viewer sympathy because everyone else in the film is so obnoxious.
In Gerster's view, Berlin's unresolved past taints its bustling charm and glossy serenity, as well as every familiar course of practical action-yet his movie veers toward the historical kitsch that he satirizes.
In spite of its insufferably whimsical tendencies - exemplified by its original title, "Oh Boy" - the film may have turned out to be a deeply profound modern postscript about fascism.
