…though to be honest, I spelled it out and then went back to see if my statement was actually true. I am insecure after all. I made Pip watch “Manifesto” the film because I had seen the exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof before Pip came to Berlin and loved it more than possibly any video installation I have ever seen in my life. I remember having spent a good amount of time in there to listen to what was said, and now I am so glad that I can revisit the scenes over and over again because of the existence of the film.
Manifesto
A manifesto is something very fascinating to me. I am inexplicably drawn to them even though they are (almost by definition) not particularly well written from a language point of view. The lack of beauty in their language makes them clear and concise, and the lack of self-doubt (and relative dumbness that follows from it) makes them strangely convincing. They are also very 20th century, as it seems to me that their time is over by now. (Why is that?) All of this makes them fascinating to me, I suppose, even though I almost feel like I shouldn’t be so fascinated. I actually tried to find many of these manifestos and read them as I was watching the film, and of course I didn’t know many of them (but I knew most of the authors at least).
Cate Blanchett is a goddess. I knew that she likes to slip into different roles from her “Coffee & Cigarettes” skit, one of my favorite ones, but it’s wonderful to see how versatile she is in even more roles. She pulls off any of these characters convincingly, but I think my favorite one is still Blanchett as a blonde and successful lady, because she puts on this wonderfully smug smile that is a little bit of a trademark of hers. The film is worthwhile just for seeing her alone, and I am not sure any other actress could do it.
With the existence of this film version, I would love for this film to somehow become more popular and canon within Berlin films. Everyone knows “Berlin Sinfonie einer Großstadt” or “Lola rennt”, but less people probably know “Menschen am Sonntag” or this one. The latter two feel much more Berlin to me though, and give me a much stronger feeling of nostalgic recognition for my hometown.
If I had to recommend one film from the last few years, it would be “Manifesto”. It’s probably so obscure that anyone who would be interested in my recommendations hasn’t seen it yet.