Der weiße Kobold (2022)

Manfred “Freddy” Sternthaler, a down-to-earth logistics coordinator who cares about doing things properly, works as a dispatcher for a Vienna freight company. There, Freddy discovers his boss Zuko’s illegal dealings. A driver’s card had been used even though the driver in question was on sick leave. Zuko sends Freddy to buy cigarettes at the nearest bar, where he meets art agent Ema Dragovic. Fascinated by Ema, Freddy lets her persuade him to pose as her missing brother so he can attend an upcoming art exhibition expected to attract prominent collectors. Ema’s brother Martin is a gifted but addiction-prone artist who, while high, mixed a kilogram of cocaine into his paints and incorporated it into a series of paintings. The drugs, however, did not belong to him but to Heinzi X, the owner of a Vienna nightclub, who wants them back. Ema works as a drug courier for Heinzi X and had temporarily stashed a delivery in Martin’s studio. At the exhibition, Freddy meets the unpredictable billionaire Laurenz Brückner, who unexpectedly exhibits paintings by his girlfriend Tara Ambramovic instead of Martin’s, as he had promised. At Martin’s studio, Freddy and Ema find Martin and a small child dressed in white, whom Martin, while high, calls his “white goblin.” According to Martin, the child had come up to him in the Augarten. Ema asks Freddy to take the child to the police. On the way, Freddy runs into the child’s grandmother, who suspects he is a child molester. The police then pursue Freddy, but he manages to escape. Brückner and Heinzi X had been at an auction in London, where Brückner had snatched a golden Leberkäse sandwich from Heinzi for 35,000 euros. To make up for the loss of the drugs, Heinzi demands the golden sandwich from Freddy. Freddy threatens his boss Zuko, saying he will expose his illegal dealings unless Zuko helps him. Freddy, Martin and Martin’s friend Momo manage to steal the sandwich from Brückner’s estate. Before they leave, Martin sets fire to his paintings that were still being stored at Brückner’s. Zuko blocks Brückner’s driveway with his truck, preventing him from giving chase. Freddy takes the golden Leberkäse sandwich to Heinzi X, who demands another 25,000 euros. In a bar, Freddy, Martin and Ema meet Mr. and Mrs. Agosian, who are impressed by Martin’s art. But after Martin has burned some of his paintings, Freddy suggests the painting of the white goblin, which is still in the studio. Ema offers Freddy a partnership, and he accepts.