Why do I prefer to frugally dose mainstream American films every time I watch or program movies? Because in international cinemas I find more variety, less formulaic and repetitive stories, and more original motion pictures, with less arrogance, violence and sex (of all kinds), and more concern for humanity and its well-being.
I have added to my recently watched list of very good movies the German comedy drama «The Ordinaries» by Sophie Linnenbaum, where all people are part of an elitist cinematic universe, divided into Outtakes, Extras, and Leads, all under the control of a repressive and exclusivist Institute. The Outtakes (referring to the shots discarded or not used in the editing of a film) are in black and white, they are pursued by "law enforcement agents" and rejected by the Extras and Leads. Extras are those who are always embellishing the shots, like players on a football team, soldiers in a troop, waiters, customers, firemen, policemen, nurses. The Leads dominate this universe through a despotic, racist and oppressive rule, and hold all management positions.
In the plot, Paula, a teenage Extra studying to be a Lead, is looking for her father. Her mother, who is also an Extra, assures her that her father was a Lead and a martyr of the Great Massacre, an event that is later defined as a revolutionary uprising of the Outtakes. Her best friend is Hannah, the mulatto daughter of a family specialized in musicals who, at the slightest provocation, begins to sing songs as bland as those in most musical comedies. With Hannah's help, Paula enters the Archive of this universe and discovers that there is no trace of her father, not a single piece of film, not a single flashback, which should not be the case because her father was "a Lead and a fallen hero during the Massacre, who protects her and her mother, hidden between one take and the next shot."
Paula begins a search and asks Hilde, the maid of the musical family, to help her. The maid is, in fact, a Casting Mistake, a mature man who was given the role of a maid and goes around most of the film dressed as a woman in a subversive attitude against the Institute. Simon, a young and sweet Outtake with whom Paula becomes friends, offers to help in the search.
The film (and its humorous or highly revealing film references) may not be fully understood by an audience unfamiliar with film jargon, but it is still a very moving film without that information, as Paula's search for her father, the roots of fear and love, is a very human story about emotions and the pursuit of happiness, identity, and freedom. Check it out if it crosses your path. It is a remarkable motion picture.
