A tough but romantic heroine, a cool, capable hero, a pair of cybernetic detectives, and an illicit smuggling ring are all elements of this post-New Wave German fantasy, set in a nameless, near-future city of crumbling apartment blocks and abandoned, industrial slag heaps. The unlikely plot revolves around a desolate motel/gas station where the elderly proprietors supplement what little commerce comes their way by shepherding undesirables across the frontier, for a price. Enter the cynical and resourceful Inga, who takes over the operation, followed by a small crowd of misfits awaiting illegal passage to (of all places) sunny Tahiti. The cast of characters is perhaps meant to represent a cross section of modern German society, but with a satire this deadpan it's difficult to be sure, and hardly relevant at any rate. The film is both energetic and entertaining (if at times somewhat bleak), showing more or less the direction in which commercial German cinema was heading in the mid 1980s.
