Rimini

Once he was a success; now he performs for schlager-loving tourists. Inebriated, with an almost empty bank account, his mother has just died and his father has dementia. Richie Bravo is really down on his luck in Ulrich Seidl’s first feature film in a decade. In the old days, blond Austrian pop star Richie Bravo celebrated triumphs; but since his fame has waned, he’s left hustling as a charming lounge and schlager singer, complete with beer gut and suit straining at the seams. His domain is the tourist venues in Rimini, the Italian coastal resort popular with German and Austrian tourists.

Seidl selected Rimini in winter as the backdrop for his first feature film after Paradise: Hope (2013). The deserted beaches, shut-down hotels and rain-and-wind…