No Hit Wonder

At the end of a short-lived bout of long-aspired fame, a singer decides to end his life. Finding himself in a secure psychiatric ward, but desperate to leave, he joins his fellow patients in the choir.

Once upon a distant moon, singer Daniel Nowak had a hit called Time, Time, Time – and that was it, nothing else of note ever again. A classical one-hit wonder, Daniel now tries to squeeze as much as possible out of his erstwhile fame by humiliating himself in reality shows and crooning his one song at unsexy occasions like the opening of small businesses. When a tired and disgusted Daniel survives a suicide attempt and finds himself on a secure psychiatric ward, his life takes an unexpected turn for the better and brighter – in the shape of a choir made up of patients only.

This could just be a droll comedy about outsiders successfully taking on the world, but writer, director and actor Florian Dietrich digs deeper in his sophomore fiction effort: not only is No Hit Wonder a true feast of style and directorial elegance carried by a brilliant ensemble of actors, but also rich in emotional demi-tones and unexpected observations about the state of things. Quite the masterpiece of intelligent entertainment!

– Olaf Möller