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Die Ehe der Maria Braun

After this, I saw one more Fassbinder film but couldn’t really concentrate on it. The impression “Maria Braun” made one me is rather difficult to put into words, and I am fully aware that I might not do the film justice here, because of my personal bias.

I don’t know whether I can judge the film at all. In terms of style, I am a much bigger fan of “Katzelmacher”, in which clarity and the Ozu-like rigid camera prevail. I liked that a lot and I find it perfectly fitting for “Katzelmacher”. “Maria Braun”, in comparison to that, is nothing all that special, or so I feel. It’s a typical auteur film mainly interesting for its story, the way the actors interact with each other and the message of the film. “Maria Braun” is supposed to be a portrait of the German woman after WW2, and even though I am not sure if it is an adequate, let alone representative one, I am quite smitten with her.

Indeed, Hanna Schygulla does a wonderful job at portraying the possibly most interesting female character I have seen in a film for… how long? I suppose the last woman is Hildy in “His Girl Friday”, but that is a screwball comedy. It’s not comparable to the depth at which Maria Braun is portrayed. Since the whole film is about her, we were able to see many facets of her character: The woman who is willing to do anything to achieve her happiness but ultimately is unable to. She is strong and weak at the same time, and the love she shows to her husband is very girlish and devoted yet modern and . The most interesting is the way she treats her lovers: Clearly she shows affection to them, but when it comes to her husband, she is amazingly ruthless towards anybody who could potentially want any harm to Hermann. She even goes as far as to say that she wanted her child to be named Hermann – that is so emancipated and devout at the same time. It stands for everything Maria Braun is, the woman who wears way too elegant clothes for the time while carrying a board with her husbands name.

I am just as much in love Hanna Schygulla as the rest of the world, and for me, she is going to be Maria Braun forever. Although I want to watch “Lili Marleen” and a million other Fassbinder films very much, I have a feeling that this film will have a special place.

Katzelmacher

This movie is so German! It’s like a German Godard! XD

It seems that Fassbinder’s films were compared to the Nouvelle Vagues a lot. Elga Sorbas kind of looks like Anna Karina when she dances, the well-composed black and white shots look like Truffaut’s, and nobody actually truly loves even though the films are all about it.

In general though, I’d say that the Neue Deutsche Welle is completely different. People in the Nouvelle Vague look awfully attractive even though they look somewhat awkward, and the people in the Neue Deutsche Welle look awfully awkward when they are actually very nicely dressed. In Nouvelle Vagues, nobody is in a relationship but there’s always some passionate obsession. In this film however, everybody is in a relationship but passion doesn’t seem to exist. There is sex everywhere but no eroticism”… it’s somewhat fascinating. I feel like I am reading a Horváth book. “Eine Liebe und so, das hat immer etwas mit Geld zu tun.”

“Der ist kein Italiener nich.” Even this pseudo-Bavarian is surprisingly amusing to hear, it makes me think of Horváth even more.

Oh yeah, so apparently h i s father has known Fassbinder personally, and whenever you actually know somebody, you feel completely different about his films. So I can see h i m being completely, completely bored with “Katzelmacher”. (It’s so slow too!) But I’m different. While I’m still wondering about whether it was a good idea to see “Katzelmacher” before any other Fassbinder, I am inexplicably fascinated and intrigued by this film.

The Seven Year Itch

But apparently it doesn’t work on a woman like Marilyn Monroe. I know that Pip thinks “Some like it hot” is somewhat shallow, stereotypical and preditacle, mainly due to Marilyn Monroe’s character. Now if that is the case, it’s even worse for “The Seven Year Itch”. It’s pretty obvious what is going to happen, and Marilyn Monroe’s character is pretty much the most oblivious woman in the world, I kind of feel sorry that she had to play these characters. How is it even possible that a… uh, misogynist movie like this can be such an incredible success?

I had fun watching this, but honestly, I was expecting much more from a Billy Wilder film. If “Sunset Boulevard” was the pinnacle of the characterization of a woman, “The Seven Year Itch” is pretty much… oh God it’s too awful. But apart from that, of course there were a bunch of funny scenes thanks to Tom Ewell, A little similar to John Cleese and Jack Lemmon, he just has this face that makes you want to laugh.

“I think you’re just delicate.” I think I preferred Marilyn Monroe’s passionate kisses from “Some like it hot” – this is just awkward. Nothing really happens in this film in general, and I felt strangely reminded of “La Peau Douce” (a Nouvelle Vague compared with Marilyn Monroe! Ahaha, I thought it wasn’t possible). The characters are somewhat boring and besides those great daydreams of the main character (a storytelling device I fully approve of, especially since those generate the most funny scenes), there is absolutely no sparkling between Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe. Again this is mainly because the latter does not behave like a woman, more like a male fantasy of the stupid blonde.

All in all, I figure Billy Wilder does a wonderful job at putting Marilyn Monroe’s sex appeal onto the screen and I am glad to have seen this, but if that is the main appeal of the film, I think you have a be a very big Wilder fan to really enjoy this somewhat out-dated film.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Elle Fanning is cutest thing in the world, why is it that Dakota is so much more famous anyways? XD

There is something extremely fascinating about this film, and I can’t pinpoint down what it is. Is it because it feels like the film is about life itself? Is it because of its dignity and elegant style? The main character’s southern accent? The thoughtful monologues?

Even though I don’t know what it is, and even though I’m not even all that fond of the story nor it touched me particularly, I think that there is something very special about this film. It’s strangely inspiring, from the wonderful and extraordinarily memorable war scene played backwards at the beginning to the travels of Benjamin Button near the end. The film made me feel like there is something profound to life itself, and that we have to savour it the way it is.
At the same time, I did find parts of the film ridiculous though – the way Daisy approached Benjamin for the first time and kissed him; I didn’t feel like there was anything romantic to it at all. The same thing goes for the way they got together for the second time. She just said “Sleep with me” and he said “Absolutely”, completely out of the blue. I was taken aback and surprised, so that scene did nothing for me. I did warm up to their relationship very quickly, because they went so well together, but at first I felt like they did a bad job.

I am in love with the style of the film and thought that it was brilliant at the beginning until Benjamin’s childhood, and ever since he and Daisy finally got together. Although the movie is far from perfect, and its kitsch annoyed me at times, I felt like it’s one of those films that make a difference, and I would recommend it as such.

Inception

Everybody and their mother has seen “Inception”, and everybody told me to see it on a big screen. After I was able to find the seemingly only person in Atlanta who hasn’t seen it, it turned out that they don’t show “Inception” in theaters anymore. Luckily, the IMAX in Boston is still screening the film – and I’m so glad to have seen the film this way. I have no idea what an impression the film would have made on me if I had seen it on my own laptop.

Indeed, “Inception” is a feast for the eyes. I can’t quite decide whether I prefer Christopher Nolan’s or David Fincher’s style… There are certain similarities (relatively cold aesthetics, very timeless style, fast pace, near perfect special effects, impressive dialogue) and both of are very 2010. I think there is something beautiful in the uber perfection that they are trying to achieve. Everything seems perfectly matched, from Ellen Page’s lipstick to the choice of weapons and the décor and architecture of the dreams. This impression was greatly helped by the pace of the film; there was not a minute of stillness in the film, and those 2 1/2 hours felt more like half an hour. Of course, the everlasting soundtrack contributed to this impression of fast-pacedness.
But oh God, this soundtrack made me wanted to kill myself. Was it really playing all the time? That’s the impression I got, and in certain scenes in which you expected haunting silence or a dramatic piece of dialogue, there was this goddamned music!

Not having seen “Revolutionary Road” nor this “Infernal Affairs” remake and having stopped watching “The Aviator” in the middle, I don’t think I ever saw any other Leonardo DiCaprio film besides “Titanic”. Ever since, I have read a lot and the consensus seems to be that he turned into a fine actor. With “Inception”, I’d say I agree.

Poor Ellen Page had a horrible role. She had the opportunity to wear “mature” clothes and wear her hair in a way that really suits her, but really she was more than negligible in the movie. This role could totally have been filled with some other random woman (while Juno could not!) as her character went no further than being this supporting character who finally ‘understood’ Cobb. She is Watson to Sherlock Holmes, because he has to explain himself to her… and nothing more. Sure, she’s tough, smart and can fire a gun at the right time – but what more is there? Even though I still think her way of walking is still a little weird, I hope that she’ll soon get a role that doesn’t only give her money, but also the possibility to show ‘herself’.

I would call “Inception” a Deep-plot-what-deep-plot?-film. Critics seem to be praising “Inception” as a film with a new concept explored deeply. It’s the new “Matrix”! Now that might be true, but the point is, “Matrix” is not exactly deep either. During the film, there were quite a few scenes (most of them involving that impertinently annoying woman, Mall) that made my eyes roll. No single side character has a history or background of his own, nor anything like a character trait. But the worst is that there probably hasn’t been such a bloated, simply explainable back story in all of film history. The “mystery” about Mall appeared and was solved so quickly, I couldn’t quite believe myself. Unfortunately this made the whole love story in this film completely pointless for me (as it was in “Matrix” too, by the way) and I was sad Ariadne had no love interest. The original Ariadne at least had one – though it was one-sided, I think.
Dreams are overrated, yet fascinating. There is some critic that said that nobody in this movie is crazy (whereas most movies dealing with dreams also deal with craziness in a much more adequate way), and the dreams in the film are all clearly explained. This is definitely not how dreams really are, perhaps more like how we wish dreams to be. We want to control our subconsciousness, or something. So much for depth.

While there is nothing that can touch the genius of “The Dark Knight” in the past years, I think that mainstream movies are doing pretty well these last years. “Inception” is a creative work with a compelling story, absolutely stunning visuals and some great actors. It was not a revelation but I absolutely understand its popularity and would wholeheartedly recommend it – like everybody else.

The International

Pretty images, solid story… I also like Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, but really the only reason for me to see this movie is that it was the opening film to the Berlinale which I attended back then – but of course, I haven’t seen the film at the time, it was sold out and I wasn’t that interested in it. Now, I just had to see the film because it was the opening film, but when it comes to the film itself, I was still not expecting much.

It turns out to be much better than I expected. The scenery chosen is absolutely beautiful at times, the action scenes pick up on speed very quickly and I should have known that you can’t go *that* wrong with Clive Owen after all. Also LOL Armin Müller-Stahl! XD
I absolutely loved the Guggenheim shoot-out scene. There is probably no building as stylish and suitable as the Guggenheim when it comes to these kinds of things, and I think the video installations exhibited there were extraordinarily beautiful. (Amazing enough, considering that I hate video installations after all!) I didn’t use too like action scenes like this, but it seems I changed too: One should never disregard a good laugh or a good action scene. ;)

So yes, I understand the criticism about how the dialogue seems to evoke depth when it’s actually not… But I don’t mind. It’s so blatantly not deep and somewhat harmless in that way. It’s also entirely un-emotional, and thus much less ridiculous than, say, V for Vendetta. I mean, hey, it’s a good story and the political bla-bla is merely an action device – so what? I liked it. I even liked the sort of end this movie had.

This is, admittedly, the first Tom Tykwer film I have ever seen, and I must say I am quite a fan of his style now. I guess I will have to watch “Run, Lola, Run” one day?

The Social Network

Yesterday, at the dinner with the Germans (I call them “the Germans”, but there’s actually more Americans and Indians than Germans), for the first time I suddenly broke into speaking German. The same thing happened later in the movie theatre when I said “Fantastisch!” to some scene I really liked.

And there were many of those scenes. First of all, I found the movie to be very funny. The slightly nerdy, elitist, ridiculous jokes were exactly my type and kind of represent the whole film: It’s a product of our generation. (How old is Fincher again?) In that respect, “The Social Network” does an amazing job at capturing how life in this generation works, even if it’s a little exaggerated (we don’t do that much drugs, at least I never actually do, but I believe no other generation did as much as they show it in the movies). It’s “work hard, party hard”; both at the ESCP and here in Atlanta, I see that very clearly. Perhaps we work a little more in Atlanta and they partied a little more in Paris, but that’s how it goes. Life is beautiful and exciting, and this is how exciting it is.
The best scene illustrating this is the scene in which they hold a hacking competition to find their interns. Again, most likely an exaggeration of real life, but it illustrates how life among crazy people works. Nerdiness is cool nowadays, and involves as much expensive alcohol as the management parties.

Fincher has mostly doing action films. Even “Zodiac” is a story-based thriller (albeit a rather boring one). “Zodiac” was the reason why I felt a little reservation which kept me up from looking forward to “The Social Network” too much. Even though “Se7en” and “Fight Club” are so great, I feared “The Social Network” would be more similar to “Zodiac” in its pacing and story-line (considering how they are both based upon real events). But I completely ignored how much character action can draw me in. I think I love this film in the same way as I did “25th Hour”. There aren’t that many friendships breaking up in films, and when a large part of a movie is about that, I can’t help but glue my eyes to the screen. Is Shii going to sue me one day too? :D (He’s going to have Pixelmatsch help him!)

I’d say the main reason why I prefer “Inglorious Basterds” is because I’m a film buff, and I am in love with Daniel Brühl. But where “Inglorious Basterds” is a tribute to films, “The Social Network” is a tribute to film-making, I think it’s a masterpiece. The fast forwards, the cuts in the very first scene, close-ups of people at the right minute, the brilliant use of music – it’s not only a film about our generation, it’s made in the way a 2010 film should be.

For me, this was a film to reflect and think about, a movie in which I saw myself even though it has no connection to me (I’m not a CS major, I’m not into internet start-ups and entrepreneurship, I surely don’t go to an elite institution anymore and don’t deal with the rich and famous – thank God). This might just as well be the “Inglorious Basterds” of 2010. Who cares about “Inception”?

It happened one night

Cheerful and romantic, it’s quite the opposite of your average screwball comedy, somehow, perhaps because it was the first one made. The visual style of the film still looks like it’s from a silent and the fashion, random people happily waving and singing, especially the dramatic acting makes you think of the silents.

Ah, the walls of Jericho. It’s quite cute really, which also feels so immensely different from any other screwball comedy I have seen. This one has less dialogue, but has more funny, slapstick style scenes. Nevertheless, the chemistry between the main characters (who, of course, are arguing throughout the whole movie) is made apparent in a beautiful way, and so very modern for its time. Even though Ellie breaks down crying, she is a strong, tough woman who has a mind of her own and knows how to use words.

Every time I watch a road trip movie, I have to mention again how much I love them. This one is no exception – the simple fact that they are on the road together makes the way become closer feel so natural. Of course you would fall in love with this woman you argue with throughout the whole trip! The road trip makes these two characters who otherwise would never have known each other confront each other, and by extension themselves. So what if the script is rather cliché, silly and predictable – I loved it.

Claudette Colbert looks like a silent star. In fact, she reminds me a lot of Loris’ mother, which I suppose is a good thing. She suits this role perfectly (although I would have loved to see a young Bette Davis in it!) and I think both of them perfectly deserved their Oscars for these performances. On the other hand, Rhett B… Clark Gable kind of felt out of place in his role (but perhaps this is only because the only male lead I can see in a screwball comedy is Cary Grant), but acting-wise, he’s perfectly brilliant. And as a person, I can see how Clark Gable has much more of a ‘manly charm’.

As an avid fan of screwball comedies, of course I had to see the film which pretty much started the genre in Hollywood. I’m glad I finally did, and would totally recommend it (though not necessarily as entry drug).