In the manner of modern crime films from American filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese and Brian DePalma, director Fatih Akin unflinchingly probes the romance of gangster life within new immigrant communities in Hamburg. Short Sharp Shock focuses on Gabriel, a Turk who has decided to leave his criminal past behind after completing a prison sentence. However, his best friends, a Greek immigrant dating Gabriel’s sister and a native Serb trying to join an Albanian gang, have quite different plans for him.