Nothing special happens in the quiet, peaceful, and sad German city of Anröchte. Until the day in which its residents’ daily lives are disrupted by strange events: Hun knights armed with sabers perpetrate an arbitrary massacre for no apparent reason, decapitating people at random. Inspector Konka arrives in town to solve the mistery, along with his faithful assistant Walter, a philosopher type who reflects on the human condition as he wanders the melancholic streets of Anröchte. They settle in a hotel room that looks like something out of the 1970s, just like everything else in the city, from the fun fair to the billboards and faded wallpapers, courtesy of Jesse Mazuch’s excellent cinematography. Meanwhile, the mayor denies the attack so as not to harm tourism (but what kind of tourism is there in Anröchte?). Dark humor and urban melancholy, somewhere between the portrait of a small German town and a celebration of the absurd, in a tragicomic universe that gradually reveals its darker and more subterranean side (literally, as in the scene in which Walter, in one of his nostalgic urban excursions, goes down to the city’s sewer system and finds kids with big ears alienated by videogames). In a scene that could be out of any Monty Python episode, the mystery seems to be solved, but assistant-philosopher Walter’s questions remain unanswered: “Where does all this hatred come from? Why can’t we just live in peace?” (MD)