Trying to make it as a musician while raising a young son turns out to be two full-time jobs at once in Rickerl, a 2023 Austrian-German comedy-drama.
What is Rickerl about?
Erich Bohacek, known to most people as Rickerl, is the kind of guy everyone likes and nobody quite bets on. He wants a real music career, the kind that gets him out of small gigs and into something that sticks, but he's also trying, harder than he lets on, to be a good father to his little son. The film follows him as those two goals keep colliding — the hours a music career eats up are the same hours a kid needs, and Rickerl has to figure out, scene by scene, what he's actually willing to give up. Voodoo Jürgens plays the title role, with Ben Winkler as his son and Agnes Hausmann, Nicole Beutler, and Simon Morzé rounding out the people in his orbit.
About the cast
Voodoo Jürgens, a musician as well as an actor, leads as Rickerl, with Ben Winkler playing his son and Agnes Hausmann, Nicole Beutler, Simon Morzé, Linde Prelog, Alina Schaller, and Elisa Schlott in supporting parts. Adrian Goiginger, whose earlier films have leaned on close, personal family stories, directs.
Context & significance
Rickerl is an Austrian-German production from 2023, running 104 minutes and blending comedy with drama rather than committing fully to either. Its setting in the Viennese music scene gives the film a specific, lived-in backdrop rather than a generic city, and its focus on a flawed but sympathetic lead is closer to character study than to a conventional feel-good arc. The pull between ambition and responsibility that drives the story is familiar in outline but grounded here by a specific setting and a specific father-son relationship.
Watching Rickerl on Ktime
Rickerl streams on K-Time with a free account login, and this page is free to read without one. The film includes Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so it can be watched in Farsi or in its original German-language audio with Farsi text on screen.