Das Trio (Hermine Huntgeburth, 1998)

For German viewers, the sight of Götz George, hard bastard detective Schimanski on the long-running crime series Tatort, as a gay circus compere and pickpocket in a mid-life crisis must boggle the mind as a piece of leftfield casting. For other audiences, it comes across as an engaging performance all the same, in Huntgeburth's slight but charming comedy drama.
George leads the trio of the title as Zobel, a Faginesque patriarch of petty theft, accompanied by his put-upon lover Karl and waifish daughter Lizzie. Their low-grade lives take a turn for the unsettled as Karl is hit by a car and the remaining duo are forced to enlist a novice to their crew. And then the inevitable emotional complications ensue.
I would have liked more on the intricacies of their scams; what we get is handled amusingly but doesn't surprise a great deal. Nevertheless, the director's touch remains light overall and the twist on the traditional menage-a-trois set up is refreshing, as is the unrepentantly amoral attitude to the protagonists.

6/10