Yesterday, I saw L’enfant (English title: The Child); the portrait of a thief. His relation to his girlfriend, who just gave birth to a boy a few days before the action sets in, is shown in this movie, and it is paralleled to his relation with life in general. It quickly becomes clear that Bruno, the thief, is living the moment, involved in his immediate surroundings, be they people, his partner, the stick that he strokes through the water, everything. Everything only for the moment. Out of an unplanned situation he decides to sell the new born baby, and is confronted by the consequences of this almost immediately afterwards. The movie does a very good job of showing how Bruno deals with this change in his life, how he adepts to a changed situatedness. The consequences he has to face are dire, but – and here the movie stands out – they are neither Hollywoodesque nor totally bleak and depressing. A good movie.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Archive for the ‘review’ Category
Close-up portrait.
Friday, November 18th, 2005Freunde, Musik, Oslo.
Tuesday, November 8th, 2005Lars Saabye Christensen ist einer meiner zeitgenössischen Lieblingsautoren. Ich mag sowohl seine Kurzgeschichten als auch die Romane, die ich bisher gelesen habe. Hier möchte ich etwas zu Yesterday schreiben, einem seiner älteren Romane. Der Held der Geschichte ist ein Junge, der mit seinen Freunden, zwei großen Jugendlieben, Eltern, Lehrern und Nachbarn aufwächst. Die Sprache ist direkt, die Geschichte weitgehend chronologisch erzählt – das Thema, das sich durch den Roman zieht, wird im Titel angekündigt: die einzelnen Kapitel und Lebensabschnitte werden mit den damals veröffentlichten Liedern und Alben der Beatles parallelisiert. Dieser schöne Aufhänger wird nicht überreizt und behält seinen Charme, auch für Leute wie mich, die bisher eher wohlgesonnene Passivhörer der Beatles sind. Die Geschichten und Lebenswege kommen einem nah, rühren an und erinnern an Episoden aus der eigenen Vergangenheit. Das Lesen dieses Buches von Saabye Christensen ist ein schönes Erlebnis, viele Bilder sind bei mir hängen geblieben und bereichern meinen Alltag an den Tagen nach Yesterday.
Wasser für den ozean.
Thursday, October 27th, 2005Ein weiteres Geburtstagsgeschenk trägt den Titel Über das Wasser. Es handelt sich um eine Novelle, geschrieben vom niederländischen Autor Hans Maarten van den Brink. Mich hat ja schon das Cover des Buches sehr angesprochen, zwei ruhig durch leicht bewegtes Wasser gleitende Menschen in einem Ruderboot, die im Wasser eine Spuren hinterlassen. Zwei Wirbel werden zurückgelassen, dort wo die Ruder eingetaucht sind. Sehr schön und sehr gut die feine Vergänglichkeit aufnehmend, die eines der Hauptthemen der Novelle ist. Die Hauptfigur ist ein Junge, der vom Wasser, vom Fluss und vom Rudern fasziniert ist und sich aus introvertierter Perspektive kurz vor Ausbruch des zweiten Weltkriegs zögernd eine neue Welt erschließt. Immer angetan vom Wasser, vom Befahren desselben, von der Kraft seines Ruderpartners. Hier tritt auch der meines Erachtens einzige Mangel hervor: der Ruderpartner des empfindsamen Helden schlägt in die in der Literatur so gerne bediente Kerbe der blonden Hanse
– Menschen, denen alles leicht zu fallen scheint, die sich zielstrebig, selbstbewußt und kraftvoll durchs Leben bewegen und die sich immer Gegensatz zur feinfühligen Hauptfigur befinden, für die sie ein Faszinosum sind. Ein Klischee, dessen Ausdruck sich auch schon bei Thomas Mann findet und das mich noch nie überzeugt hat. Davon unbetroffen bleibt die Stimmung des Textes sehr schön, vieles bleibt offen und lässt Raum für eigene Gedanken. Ein hervorragendes Büchlein über Freundschaft, Wasser und das Dahinfließen der Zeit. Eine Lesefreude von kurzer Dauer, aber nachhaltige Eindrücke gebend. Dank an Henning für die treffliche Auswahl!
Das Buch, das ein Film sein will.
Wednesday, October 26th, 2005Gestern Abend habe ich die Lektüre eines meiner Geburtstagsgeschenke beendet (leider ohne Widmung, aber ich begebe mich mal auf dünnes Eis; es war wohl von Christian, Maja, Markus und Meike – takk!). Es handelt sich um den Titel Der Schwarm von Frank Schätzing. Ich war überrascht, ein Buch dieses Typs – eine Mischung aus Deep Sea Science Fiction und Thriller – von einem deutschen Autor gemacht zu sehen. Natürlich gibt es wenig gute Gründe für diese Überraschung, da es wahrscheinlich an ordentlichen deutschen SF-Autoren nicht mangelt, wie ein Blick in die leider eingeschlafene Reihe Phantastische Bibliothek des Suhrkamp Verlags schnell zeigt. Nichtsdestotrotz. Frank Schätzing hat sich allerdings weniger an deutsche SF Traditionen angeschlossen, als sich dem amerikanischen Format zu widmen. Leider nicht dem Format eines Ray Bradbury oder Arthur C. Clarke (letzterer hat einige schöne Kurzgeschichten und Romane zur Tiefsee veröffentlicht), sondern eher dem Format von Hollywoods SF Kino Megasellern, die in dem Buch auch immer wieder erwähnt und zitiert werden. Das ganze Buch ist wie eben einer dieser Filme aufgebaut. Das heisst auch, dass es spannend und effektvoll ist. Aber gibt es darüber hinaus noch etwas, das mich anspricht? Die Sache mit dem Schwarm ist fein und eine gute Idee – allerdings sind kollektive Intelligenzen und die Menschheit bedrohende Schwarmwesen nun wahrlich nichts neues. Immerhin, sauber ausgeführt. Was mich noch am meisten gestört hat sind die öko-philosophischen Platitüden, die einigen Akteuren in den Mund gelegt werden. Das würde doch, bittesehr, die Story für sich erzählen können, ohne das es ständig ausgesprochen werden müsste. Diese Plumpheit ist ein Problem vieler Drehbücher – wie Olli mich zu sehen und hören gelehrt hat – und dieser Roman giert geradezu danach, verfilmt zu werden. Dann und wann wird auch die Science
in dieser Fiction zu lehrbuchmäßig vorgestellt… Ich habe den knapp 1000-seitigen Roman innerhalb weniger Tage durchgelesen, fesselnd war er also schon. Aber angesichts all der besseren Bücher, die man so lesen könnte, kann ich eine keine unbedingte Leseempfehlung aussprechen.
Not sure about the violence.
Wednesday, September 28th, 2005About a month ago I saw Sin City – impressive pictures, super soundtrack and excellent actors that blend into the the dark and gritty world of Frank Miller’s Sin City perfectly. It is the best comic adaption that I have seen so far. Comics are one of my favorite media – the story telling possiblities offered by putting pictures into sequences are stunning. (If you haven’t done so until now, you definitely have to read Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, which is also translated into German. One of the few must have reads that I would recommend to anyone.)
However, I do have one problem with the comic market which definitely moves into focus when watching Sin City as a movie: the aggressive depiction of violence. From my perspective, the violence in Sin City wasn’t too bad; I found it less disconcerting than the comic sequence in Kill Bill vol. 1 for example. The use of colors other than red for blood, the obvious non-realism of the massive amount of injuries sustained by the protagonists and the whole mystic and dark atmosphere made dealing with the violence easier for me. Nonetheless, I remain skeptical about the whole kill splatter shoot die moan guts-flying-around issue – my non-spilled guts tell me to…
IMDb entry | Trailer
Shouldn’t forget this one.
Sunday, July 24th, 2005For a while a vague doubt has been nibbling at my mind – I knew there was a movie that I recently watched but that I haven’t told my dear readers about yet. And I knew that it was a movie that I really liked, even though I had my doubts before watching it. A few days ago (I think it was when I saw Inga Busch in Alles of Zucker), I remembered. The title of the movie is Confidences trop intimes (eng: Intimate Strangers). My doubts were related to the fact that it is a french movie that deals with psychotherapy. I wasn’t sure if I would actually want to see and listen to an intellectually sophisticated movie that dealt with the slippery aspects of the psyche, of therapy, and therapists. Fear not! This movie deals with these subjects but it doesn’t require its audience to cultivate an intellectual’s habitus. This is because of a good story. But this is especially because of the two excellent and perfectly cast actors that play the main roles in this movie: Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini. I was astonished, charmed and extraordinarily amused by the way Luchini portrays a tax attorney (in)voluntarily becoming psychotherapist. If you thought the genre of romantic comedy does not exist in French movies, you are mistaken. You should enlighten yourself as soon as possible and spend and enjoyable evening with this movie.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Rakete über Brokdorf.
Monday, July 18th, 2005Beim sich-einen-Abend-in-Darmstadt-vertreiben hat sich in der vergangenen Woche die Gelegenheit ergeben, einen Film mit denkbar schlechtem Plakat zu schauen: Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb. Glücklicherweise ist der Film weitaus besser als das Plakat. Schauplatz ist Schleswig-Holstein, ein Dorf in der Nähe von Brokdorf. Ein besserer Schauplatz ist schon mal kaum vorstellbar. Sehr leicht vorstellbar scheint allerdings, dass es sich hier um ein Schauplatz-technisch positiv voreingenommenes Textchen handelt. Darsteller, Story und Bilder sind alle gut. Bei den Bildern hatte ich insbesondere während der ersten Minuten des Films die Befürchtung, dass hier zu sehr eine ja ach so schräge 80er Jahre Requisite präsentiert wird, aber im weiteren Verlauf des Films ist dieser Eindruck nahezu vollständig verschwunden. Besonders gefallen hat mir Rakete, gespielt von Jens Münchow. Überzeugendes Spiel und ein hervorragender Charakter, der einigen Bekannten aus Jugendtagen charmant nahe kommt. Auch bei Rakete hätte die Gefahr bestanden, den Charakter zu sehr als unterhaltsames Kuriosum aufzubauen, aber auch dieser Verlockung wurde widerstanden und Rakete bleibt ein spannender und sympathischer Charakter. Vielleicht am Besten hat mir die schon vorher als spannungsgeladen aufgebaute Duschszene gefallen. Insgesamt ein wirklich gelungener Film, den sich nicht nur Freunde der norddeutschen Tiefebene anschauen sollten. An die Angst vor dem radioaktiven Regen nach Tschernobyl konnte ich mich zum ersten Mal seit langer Zeit wieder lebendig erinnern.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Gritty, not super.
Tuesday, June 21st, 2005This is how we like our heroes. Batman has all the potential to be one of the grittier characters that one needs: an ambivalent symbol, no real super powers, a history of guilt and mistakes. To my dismay I did not like any of the Batman movies that I saw since the nineties. Except for the new one. Batman Begins is directed by the director of Memento, Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins has a great cast, and it is not nearly as clean and plasticized like the other Batman movies. The story did not really work that well for me in the first quarter of the movie – it seemed like they tried to spin a story that is to grande for a super-hero movie. After a while, the paced accelerated and the story unfolded in some nice twists. One other thing that made this movie not the perfect experience – although it is hard for me to admit this – might be Liam Neeson, whom I usually like very much. However, his presentation of the role of the potential villain was not completely convincing for me. A thing that I liked about this movie was that they did not go for Matrix like martial artish fighting scenes. There are several fighting scenes, but the camera is always really close to the action and the cuts are very short. Keeps the old men safe from harm and adds to the grittiness. I saw it in a dubbed version and I am not sure if they meddled with some of the sound effects, which seemed to be out of sync or at least not exactly matching what could be seen on the screen in a few scenes. Overall, I enjoyed this movie and would recommend watching it in the cinema. It is good enough, especially if you like one of the many stars in the cast, who sometimes act in unusual roles or outfits.
IMDb entry | Trailer
It’s about the voices.
Wednesday, June 15th, 2005Even though I heard that it only got bad reviews I took my chances and went to see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The only two precautions I took were (a) going there with nice people (Olli, Mia, Manu) and (b) avoid the dubbed version. (b) was pretty obvious, I think. British culture and language plays such a crucial role in Douglas Adams‘ writing that one should avoid translations if it is at all an option. If I remember correctly, The Hitchhiker’s Guide has been the first novel I read in English. Voluntarily.
If I would have known before watching the movie that Alan Rickman does the voice for Marvin, the depressed hyper-intelligent robot, I wouldn’t even have considered being lazy and watching the movie in a dubbed version but in a cinema that is only a three minute walk away. Alan Rickman is great. As readers of this blog with a sound memory sure remember, I totally adore his death scene as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood… So, the voice acting in general was great, as was the casting. Douglas Adams’ novel is such a great piece of writing because it often strays away from the main plot, putting in funny little notes and stories. This is almost impossible to do well in a movie, I think. They tried to capture that stylistic element in this movie, and they did not fail. However, they lost quite a bit of the charm on the way. I don’t know if this could have been solved better – I guess not. If you know your way with towels and if you don’t mind movies adapted from novels then I think you will enjoy this movie. If you’re into absurd British humor and haven’t read Douglas Adams yet, you are probably the best possible viewer for this movie and should definitely watch it. If these two statements don’t apply to you I don’t care if you watch it or not…
42! ;)
IMDb entry | Trailer
A warning – don’t waste your time and money on this.
Tuesday, May 31st, 2005Somehow, I got the impression that people liked the last part of the prequels to the classic Star Wars trilogy, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, more than episodes one and two. I wonder how this happened. Yesterday evening I watched it with Olli here in the Kulturbrauerei in a dubbed version. It was as terrible as the others were. Cheesy dialogue, non-working puns, uncompelling actors, and – as Olli pointed out – no focus on a real main character. The story dips into this and that, people say that they are troubled, but everything remains wooden and unplausible. Of course, the special effects department is good, but I wasn’t blown away either. The soundtrack has nothing particularly enchanting or interesting in store and the pictures are much too obviously linked to what feeling currently should be induced into the audience. Bah. Nothing at all of the gritty and edgy charm that the original trilogy had in its best moments. Stay away. Don’t throw any more money into George Lucas’ throat. Maybe that keeps him from writing and directing more of this expensive garbage in the future.
IMDb entry
At least it is politically correct.
Sunday, May 15th, 2005There are Cinemaxxes in Copenhagen too! And they play the kind of movies that you would expect there too. In this case it was the highly advertised Kingdom of Heaven. It is not as worse as I had feared – Kerstin told me in advance that it is not a “now-we-will-show-you-in-a-sandal-flick-how-evil the arabs-always-were” kind of movie, so we decided to take the risk and watch it (no rental of DVDs without a Danish “yellow card” – whatever that may be). I would have expected the acting of Orlando Bloom to be worse, even though I still think they should have been able to cast somebody else for this role. For me it would suffice to cast Bloom for support roles. Other actors were much better. Kerstin really liked Eve Green as Princess Sibylla and I have to admit that she was quite enchanting with all this mascara. I also liked many of the other actors in Ridley Scott‘s otherwise great cast, especially Liam Neeson (it took me ages to realize that I have last seen him as Professor Kinsey). The quality of the pictures and many of the cast make it a movie for the theater, Bloom and the script of the movie make me recommend it for one of those DVD evenings when some sandal-wise entertainment is in order…
IMDb entry | Trailer
Europe in Episodes.
Saturday, May 14th, 2005Last week, I saw One Day in Europe with Olli. Who dampened my expectations a bit. However, I really wanted to see it since I quite liked the trailer. It was a good decision (and Olli thought so too). Solid movie, every episode had some comic aspects without being silly. What I liked most is that the actors, though comic, all had a somewhat tragic touch to them. Which is probably the result of all of them being involved with some kind of theft or robbery in a foreign and strange city… Sometimes though the film-maker’s philosophy creeps into the dialogues, which doesn’t work too well. If it’s still running in a theater close to you, check it out and spend a nice evening.
IMDb entry
Picking up the threads.
Tuesday, April 26th, 2005There is a lot of stuff that should have been posted here. I’ve seen several movies – the new Woody Allen Melinda and Melinda, Willenbrock starring the down-to-reality Axel Prahl, and Million Dollar Baby by and with Clint Eastwood. All of these movies are worth a visit. Another thing which is always worth a visit is the beautiful city of Hamburg. I was lucky and had the opportunity to be there last weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect. I visited several friends, strolled along the Elbe, met Kerstin who was able to leave Kopenhagen for the weekend, together went to and enjoyed Anja’s, Anke’s and Heike’s 90th birthday, made a gorgeous two hour revival bicycle tour through the spring-blossoming western vicinity of Buchholz, spent a few hours in a school sports hall watching kids play handball, and did my share of sauna-ing. Perfect weekend, indeed.
Last Saturday, I went to a party in Tini’s and Andi’s house in Kreuzberg (happy birthday Tini!) which had a pretty scary motto: Pimp your Kopf. Inspired by the idea Marc gave me, I took out scissors and cardboard paper to cut myself a Mitra. Mitra? Yup, and thats why I was greeted by a crowd of drunken Erasmus students shouting “Paparazzi!” It took me more than a few minutes before I overcame my confusion about the fact that I did not carry any cameras with me but people still kept on saying “Paparazzi!” to me and enjoyed themselves tremendously. Could they interpret the white hat as a cook’s hat, perhaps the cook of the excellent Italian restaurant here in Prenzlauer Berg that is called Paparazzi? Finally, I figured it out: they were saying “Papa Ratzi!” – and quite correctly they did. After this obstacle to mental relaxation on the part of yours truly was overcome, the same had a very good time…
Multi-layered humor.
Friday, March 18th, 2005Finally! I was quite eager to watch The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. After being pointed to this movie by Elizabeth and watching the trailers (see below) I was hooked. This was the most anticipated movie for me since the last part of The Lord of the Rings. Red woolen hats! Bill Murray. Owen Wilson. Willem Dafoe. Jeff Goldblum. The extraordinary, incredible, marvelous Cate Blanchett. What a cast! Absurd low-key humor. It has almost everything that I really like in a movie. Could it live up to these expectations? Difficult to answer. I was not disappointed after watching this movie, but I have to admit that I wasn’t gripped by uncontrollable attacks of laughter during this movie. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed it very much. The humor was less blunt than I would have thought, and I am quite sure that I will discover more and more of the brilliantly funny ideas that made watching this movie really worthwhile when I watch it again. Which I will do. Preferably in English, since I am convinced that something got lost in the translation of this movie. (heh.) There are many adorable characters in this movie. The astonishing cast works out wonderfully in this movie – I am still baffled by how different Cate Blanchett can look and act in different movies – I don’t know any other actor or actress that would be a match for her in this regard. The story is interesting, several strands interweaving, not everything being resolved, some unexpected twist of drama, characters that unfold. The interns were great. Loved the interns. I still have to smile thinking about the fact that Cate Blanchett is called “Jane Winslett-Richardson” – Steve Zissou’s ship is not the Titanic, and we don’t have Leo doing a cameo, but for me, this is just one of the many examples of the fine tuned humor of this movie. To be continued…
IMDb entry | Trailer | Webisodes
Somewhat overrated.
Friday, March 18th, 2005Good cast, good story, adequate photography. I liked Sideways when I saw this movie a few days ago. It just wasn’t as good as I would have expected it to be after all the praise it received. Perhaps the praise is the result of it being an independent american movie that does some close-to-real-life storytelling instead of generating just another Hollywood story. However, from a European perspective this is not exactly an overwhelming achievement. Nonetheless, it was pleasant enough to watch this movie, and if you’re looking for some storytelling and just this hint of real life in a movie; if you’re looking for a story about aging men and women who haven’t yet given up on their dreams you should watch this movie. Being interested in wine and liking the californian countryside are two more good reasons for watching it.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Sweden is in Berlin.
Sunday, February 20th, 2005
Thanks to my movie-biz apartment mate Olli I got a ticket for Popularmusik från Vittula, a movie based on the novel of the same name. To my dismay this movie (and the novel) are classified as being “for teens”. Germans seem to have a problem with (Scandinavian) Literature that deals with the adolescence and young adulthood, not accepting it into the body of “serious” or “adult” fiction. Grrrr. Well, as can be guessed from my frustration about this, I am quite convinced that these are really good stories, that should be read by adults, and especially by them! A bit of reflection about what you actually wanted to do when you were younger, about your dreams, and – quite essential – about your dissappointments, your bad experiences would certainly do some good not only in these troubled times. This movie does a very good job reflecting this, with an adequate amount of lightness, humor and seriousness. I have laughed more than my share while watching this movie, and I was moved and touched. Get the novel (which I haven’t read yet) or watch the movie. While you’re at it, try to get one of the novels written by Erlend Loe (sadly, they have been out of print for much too long here in Germany).
IMDb entry
I like his style, but he has been better.
Friday, February 18th, 2005The last movie I saw in Darmstadt has been A Very Long Engagement (German title: Mathilde). This is the most recent movie directed by Jeunet – and it is again featuring Audrey Tatou (best known as Amélie). In the World War I setting of this movie, the fantastic elements are not as outrightly presented as in his other films. Still, there always remains some uncertainty if something not quite normal or natural is going on or not. Jeunet pays much attention to detail and to color – that is why I really like his movies. However, for me this movie does not come close to Delicatessen or The City of Lost Children, both probably belonging to my top ten movies. I guess the reason for this is that he is best when he was working together with Marc Caro, head-on into the grotesque and arabesque.
IMDb entry | Trailer
After the long blogging break it is again time for … tada! … another quiz: From which famous American author did I learn the words grotesque and arabesque?
First: puzzlement, then: delight.
Thursday, February 3rd, 2005This is why one should have student or university film clubs: to be pointed to movies that are really good, but that you would normally not see. Last week I’ve seen one of these pearls, again presented by the Studentischer Filmkreis Darmstadt. Radio no Jikan is set in the studio of a radio station and revolves around the many mishaps, mismanagements, misunderstandings, small favors, flirtations, frustrations, and other human flaws that make life interesting. First, I was a bit insecure if this movie is meant as a drama or as a comedy – and I am still not totally sure – since Japanese customs are unknown to me, it took me a while to adapt to what was going on and who might be good or bad or nice or unfriendly. However, I guess much of this movie’s high quality stems from the fact that this really remains a bit in the dark. Most of the characters have their charming sides, and almost all of them annoy you too. Excellent ensemble movie with a totally chaotic, dramatic and hilarious ending. To be recommended. As should be the folks from the Filmkreis, who even prepared a small introduction in Japanase (I think).
IMDb entry
Slow beauty.
Saturday, January 22nd, 2005Surprisingly, I had the opportunity to watch Girl with a Pearl Earring in a movie theater this week – would have thought that this chance has passed by. I did like the movie. Vermeer’s pictures are beautiful, the colors used for painting, the food, and the linen are beautiful, and, of course, Scarlett Johansson is exquisit. This is not an action film, the music is not adding much to the drama either (at least I did not notice that), so you have to rely on your eyes and your patience for the story to unfold. If you can do that, you will most likely like this movie. I did. Oh, I already said so. Well, it’s true.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Oh, what a beautiful movie.
Thursday, January 13th, 2005This is not the title of one of my favorite songs by Ray Charles. But it could be said about this movie. Lars, Sybille, and yours truly enjoyed watching the story of Ray Charles’ life unfold on the screen. Listening to the great musician and watching how and where those songs were created and performed makes me wonder why I have never taken the opportunity to go to a concert of the recently deceased Ray Charles. This is not an outstanding movie, but it is very decently made, Jamie Foxx’ performance is great, and the music makes it a definite recommendation for everyone who doesn’t hate Jazz.
Ah, almost forgot it: the title is another quiz. The first person who guesses the title of the song that I hint at will be invited to a free beverage!
IMBd entry | Trailer