Janosch (Sascha Backhaus) has problems at school and despises the lifestyle of his bourgeois mother. He runs away from home to his friend Koma (Simon Goerts), whom he had met at a holiday camp. Koma is an Oi! skinhead (punk-skinhead) who has little political motivations, preferring a lifestyle of partying and binge drinking, and enjoys skinhead and punk rock music. Janosch is struggling with his sexual identity, attracted to Koma, who doesn't seem to notice. Koma and his girlfriend Sandra (Sandra Borgmann) are expecting twins soon, but Koma invites Janosch to stay in their nursery for the time being. Before long, Janosch has cut off his hair and immersed himself in skinhead culture, but he finds little outlet for his homoerotic desires. Sandra wants Koma to change his ways. She blows up his secret hideaway with dynamite, but this only angers Koma, who blames this on the punks he had a fight with previously.
Sandra decides to find Janosch a girlfriend, specifically Blanca (Britta Dirks). However, while she takes a strong liking to him, he is not attracted to her. Janosch becomes aware of a group of self-styled "modern primitives" who modify their bodies with tattoos and piercings and encourage free sexual expression. He gets to know a few of them and becomes physically involved with Zottel (Jens Veith), a punk who earns a living with small circus acts at wealthy people's parties. The two fall in love. However, the skins regard the primitives as their enemies, and Koma is not at all happy with Janosch's new friends or the open acknowledgement of his homosexuality. Janosch's happiness ends when Koma attacks Zottel and kills him. In a fit of fury, Janosch grabs a brick and slays Koma.
This movie is the directorial debut of the Reding twin brothers and took about five years to film, mostly due to financial constraints. It is shot in black and white, underscoring the film's gritty feel. The film won the German Camera Award and an emerging talent award at the L.A. Outfest. Tom Ammermann composed the original music, and Ben Reding and Dominic Reding wrote the screenplay. In German with English subtitles.
