Lost Killers

Mannheim, Germany, is the setting for another portrait of immigrants struggling against the odds. Familiar fare, you might think, or at least it would be if writer/director Tsintsadze hadn't taken a leaf out of Kusturica's book and brought a strong vein of anarchic comedy to their tribulations. A Vietnamese prostitute, who went into a coma after sex, is out for vengeance against the crocodile who ate her mother; a Haitian refugee is prepared to sell one of his kidneys if this will take him to Australia; and a Croatian-Georgian double act have set themselves up as hired assassins, but are having problems pulling the trigger. The plotting is episodic, and although the proceedings are too self-consciously absurd to generate much credibility, the raucous acting is cumulatively ingratiating.