The films of the Austrian director and professional misanthrope Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days, Paradise: Love) don’t tend to be filled with empathy for the rest of the human race. He delights in teasing out the most shameful secrets and mortifying indignities of everything from old age to sexual desire, frequently combining the two for added impact. But in his latest picture there’s a hint of something new.
Rimini, co-written by Seidl and regular collaborator Veronika Franz, is a maliciously funny drama about an incorrigible ladies’ man and failed German lounge singer trawling an out-of-season Italian resort and surviving on the dregs of his meagre celebrity. Richie Bravo (Michael Thomas) is the absolute worst person imaginable. Slicked with beer sweats and fake tan, he sharks his way into the affections of the elderly female fans in hotel bars that are lit like the killing floor of an abattoir.
