The Goldfish

Oliver is a banker. He keeps his clients' money in Switzerland and his own is there too. One day he has an accident and loses the use of his legs. He is placed in a care home; there is a blind woman there, an autistic man and others. Oliver takes no interest in anyone; his one concern is reaching the Swiss account and getting the money out before the tax inspection begins. Then he notices that a care home's minibus draws nobody's attention at the border. He proposes an outing to the group. Alireza Golafshan wrote and directed. Tom Schilling, Jella Haase, Birgit Minichmayr, Kida Khodr Ramadan and Axel Stein are in the cast. It is a German production. The matter it treats is using people as instruments; Oliver takes the group as camouflage and the film does not hide it. The film refuses to build a sentimental story out of disability and leaves its characters rude, difficult and funny. Each member of the group has an account of their own and none of them walks into Oliver's plan naively. The narrative runs in the shape of a road film and follows the way to Switzerland. Tax evasion is the engine of the story and the film builds it as a crime comedy. Some of the jokes walk a line and are meant to be uncomfortable. The ending does not entirely forgive Oliver. The narrative also shows daily life in the care home and is not satisfied with the journey alone. Its limit is the mould; the narrative follows a familiar road film shape and surprises little. Who it is for: viewers who like German comedy and road films. Who it is not for: the jokes are sharp, the shape familiar, and the ending mild.