Plot

The child-duo Rico and Oskar. One is more sluggish but because of fantasy and his own world view; the other is smart but scared of life.

10-year-old Rico is an unusual boy. Sometimes he's laughed at because he mixes things up in his head and doesn't know his left from his right. But he's brilliant at noticing the little things, like a piece of pasta lying on the pavement, or the strange goings-on in his apartment block. Whe his new friend, the gifted but anxious Oskar, is kidnapped, Rico gets the chance to test all his special skills--and his tenacity.

Preteen simpleton (Fede)Rico lives in a Berlin apartment with his mother, a single escort 'employee', obsessively clinging to post-its and procedures to compensate for his utter inability to think properly, leading to very unequal relationships with various neighbors. When he bumps into bright, younger but paranoid (autistic?) Oskar, the boys strike an instant friendship. Rico begs to stay home alone while his mother travels so he can ask Oskar over, but when Oskar doesn't come, Rico thinks he's become the latest victim of the city's serial child-abductor. Far-fetched 'clues' lead him to suspect anyone, even super-nice new neighbor Simon Westbühl, and investigate clumsily all over the neighborhood. By coincidence, he actually finds Oskar in need of rescue.—KGF Vissers