User Reviews

"Ricky - normal war gestern" tells the story of a small boy, whose life gets turned upside down when he falls in love while his family is increasingly falling to pieces.

I like that the film doesn't really tell an ambitiously written plotline but rather fades out without a sharp beginning or ending. This supports the general feeling of an area where not much happens and the silent dance of joy and depression that sets the tone for the whole movie. There are not really loud tones in the story, nothing that takes your breath for a moment, but it is very easy to adopt to the characters and the feeling of a needed break-out without a possible realization catches a sentiment very well that is otherwise hard to visualize.

All in all this is one of the better German productions. Nothing that sets a new standard but it takes its plot serious, creates realistic characters and is very good in catching sentiments.

Apart from what the title suggests, not only Ricky is the center of this movie, but so is Micha. Micha is 15 years old, Ricky is 10 and the two are brothers and we get to see how they master the challenges of everyday life with and without the other. These challenges involve their parents for example as Micha does not want to take the path his parents chose for him. Instead of taking over the family company he aims for a career in repairing cars.

Another story-line involves Micha's love interest who seemingly takes more interest in Ricky. It's never 100% clear if she likes him "that" way, given he is much younger, but jealousy does not ask these questions and Micha is not amused when his little brother keeps bonding with the girl of his dreams if all he was supposed to do was finding out stuff about her. This side-plot added a lot to the story and I really liked the final shot with the two sitting on top of the tree and the girl going away as indifferent as always showing to some extent that their fraternal bond remained strong and did not get broken due to the girl.

Sometimes Ricky seemed almost too grown up mentally, but that was just a minor flaw. A bigger problem was the big dramatic highlight of the movie at the high tension line which just was too try-hard to be dramatic and possibly tragic and stood in complete contrast to the quietly smart rest of the movie. The car accident scene was slightly better. Other than that we get the usual teen angst topic, fear of failure, fear of being neglected etc. The love-hate relationship between the brothers was displayed accurately most of the time. However, occasionally their changes in mood were possibly a bit too extreme, particularly at one point when friends of Micha throw Ricky into the water and right afterward in the next scene the two brother almost cuddle. It's a fine line, but for the most of it, it works well and comes off as credible.

Apart from that, I liked the dog story involving the girl and everything about the treetop was nicely done too. There was no truly outstanding acting performances in this film, but everybody did an okay job. "Ricky" is director Kai S. Pieck's second feature film more than 10 years after the first and 25 years after his first short film. You can certainly say that, despite these long gaps, he still has the talent. Recommended.