Reviews
Rendezvous (2006)
Why???!
It is not quite unusual that you leave a movie asking yourself: Why? Most times there is an explanation. Something like: The audience is probably going to love it; at least it was funny; or something like this. None of this is the case with this film that might (not even) pass as an overly ambitious project of a first-year-film student. The plot is a mediocre and quite obvious piece of theater. The actors act like they were on stage. Not to talk about the direction of photography (inexistent). We could hence easily neglect Rendezvous, unfortunately however, interesting films will not have had the chance to come to the theaters because pretentious crap like this takes the spot. And other "ambitious" film directors might get the impression that with a portable DV camera the good old Godard sentence that every camera movement is a question of moral, was not valid anymore.
Klassenfahrt (2002)
Still hope for German cinema
It is a sad story with German cinema. Out of the maybe ten films, that arrive in theaters in a considerable number of copies each year, there are one or two, that are good, the rest, well, let's not talk about it.
In order to see really interesting German films, and apparently they exist, you have to either go to some festival or to Paris, where three German films were shown under the title "La nouvelle vague allemande" in three theaters in the beginning of 2005.
In the case of "Klassenfahrt" we can understand why these films might have a bigger success here in France than in Germany. Winckler is one of the few Germans who are able to show us pictures, which have a significance, pictures, which tell a story, pictures, which have no need of funny little accessories the likes of "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" seem to need. No digital camera, no funny shaky images. What a relief! Qualities you might find in the French cinema of the likes of Garrel. Winckler shows us a middle school class from the East of Germany (funny, many of the good German films of the last years have to do with the East: "Goodbye Lenin", "Halbe Treppe", "Vergiss Amerika", "Sonnenallee"...) on a trip to the Baltic Sea in Poland. The story centers around the shy and disturbed Ronny, the girl Isa, he admires, but has difficulties to communicate with and a Polish acquaintance of the two. In the difficult atmosphere of an adolescent school trip and a sad Polish sea-town, a dramatic action evolves without ever sliding into melodrama and without ever claiming a grown-up perspective of morality. He rather seems to listen to what his figures have to say, he observes them, just enough to make us understand the situations and never exposing them as stupid, underprivileged kids.
Hope to see more of this. In German cinemas.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Nice try, but!
It is incredible with how boring a film one can achieve the notion of great cinema. "Eternal Sunshine" lacks originality, inspiration and cinematic inventiveness.
We observe a couple, Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey, admittedly great actors, who find the "true love". Or at least something like this. The beginning promises an enchanted film: Carrey, a pretty ordinary guy, standing on the platform waiting for his commuter train, decides spontaneously to take a day off and go to the beach. There a girl, Kate Winslet, introduces herself to him and they spend the day together. After the introductory credits, he meets her again and she does not seem to know her. Then we get to know the story how she had him erased from her memory and he decides to do likewise.
As the erasing is being done, the technician, just the perfect nerd, is having a little party with his girlfriend and the erasing gets out of hand. At the same time, we see the scenes from his life with Kate Winslet, which are being erased. Carrey decides to keep the memories and so he imagines her in his childhood, so that the technicians can find her. These episodes are just a series of pretty conventional episodes of a love story as we have seen it hundreds of times. And the imagined scenes of Kate Winslet in Carreys childhood lack any originality besides funny images of a big Jim Carrey, the size of the small Jim Carrey under his mother's kitchen table, which is not exactly a revolution (just compare the fantasy scenes in Carax "Les amants de Pont Neuf", to name just one example of more than ten years ago).
It is pretty soon in the movie that we understand, that the scene at the beginning was an episode that has taken place after the two had their memories erased and meet again. Thus we never lose track of what is happening (which would have been interesting in a film about a loss of memory or "virtual reality" - compare for example David Fincher "The Game").
Eventually, with the two back together, or at least the possibility of this, we learn, that true love is a sentiment beyond particular memories. We had already guessed. And we know that erasing memories is cruel. Yeap, that's true!
There are a number of interesting ideas and string scenes, for example when one of the technicians takes on the role of Carrey and cites lines he has stolen from his belongings, in trying to approach Winslet, but all of this is just not enough to carry the whole film.
This movie has about the narrative quality of a mediocre video clip. And because his director has done video clips, we might have at least expected some visual creativity. But, helas, nothing. A hand camera is all we get, yet we never understand why. The film has a basic disposition of a classic movie, with the additional ingredient of 5% MTV. "It might be an avantgarde movie, and even if it has none of its qualities, it shows all its defects", says the critic in Fellinis 8 1/2 and it seems that he has give a description of this film.
Malèna (2000)
Not exactly a masterpiece
It is very sad to see, that the movies of an obviously capable director get worse every year. After the disappointing version of "Novecento" in 1999, Tornatore now fails to put together the two main strings of "Malèna". You can still see his mastership even in this movie. He presents an enchanting vision of a Sicily long gone, that he already evoked in his previous pictures. And he stands in the Italian tradition of showing melancholic childhood memories, that was perfected in Fellini's "Amarcord".
Still Nino's story does not go along well with the tragic fate of Maddalena. On the one hand we are presented with the nostalgic view on the story of a child becoming a man, on the other hand we see how Maddalena is destroyed by envy and admiration. As those two stories belomg to a different genre - to a different way of telling "tales" they ridicule each other, making the movie with it's anecdotes partly unbearable.
Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (2000)
Difficult follow-up
It is quite difficult for a director to make a new film after producing the best film his country has seen in a decade. Tom Tykwer's "Krieger und Kaiserin" is this follow-up. It is a romantic love-story, that is refreshingly unconventional. If there were more films like Tykwer's latest, it would be easier to criticise. Compared with the mainstream of popular cinema it is wonderful. But at times it is just a little boring, a little too slow. Compare "La fille sur le ponte" with it and you will see, that you can make a similar film that is much more fascinating, due for example to the use of a black and white material.
Scary Movie (2000)
Stupid, boring, pointless
For quite a long time I haven't seen a movie with gags as stupid and tasteless as this one. There is a handful of funny ideas, that make fun of Scream and Blair Witch Project. But they drown in a mountain of stupidity. This is only a parody of itself.
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
Cannot keep up with the book
Unfortunately a great chance was missed when making a movie of Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece "Slaughterhouse Five". The book is excellent and it is very hard to have a movie live up to his postmodern style of writing. Instead of using some experimental techniques, the director turns it into a pretty regular film and totally leaves out the aspect of Vonnegut's criticism of American society, which plays an important role in the book.
If you don't know the book, it's OK as a film, quite entertaining, but it definitely compares up to the Vonnegut's artistic level.
Crna machka, beli machor (1998)
Life is beautiful
Emir Kusturicas new film is a great example of good movie-entertainment. From the very first moment on it appears sympathetic to us. You see a man lying lazily in the sun, above him a hamster running in a wheel that drives a strange mechanical fan. In the background we hear some traditional Jugoslav music. A boat arrives with Russian goods and we see the little crook making a deal with the people on the ship. Of course everything goes wrong. Kusturica makes us love the strange environment and the strange people he presents us. The plot is complex as there are many people involved. Yet their patterns of behavior seem familiar to us; the jokes are mainly slapstick and the viewer can easily guess how the fairytale-like story will end. The director also puts very much thought into details, that eventually give the story the "final touch". One can sometimes compare his talent in this field to the great master Jacques Tati. There for example is a pig which is about to eat the inner parts of an old German "Trabant"-car, every time we see it (about four times) the car is more wrecked. There are the two cats that are seen coupling next to two ice-cooled corpses in the attic of an old house. The big difference to other comedies using the same structures and methods is that Kusturica really loves his characters and shows that all their "faults" are part of their personality; the figures in this strange society are basically like you and me.
On connaît la chanson (1997)
Certainly French
"On connait la chanson" is a great French movie. Not often the culture and lifestyle of a country is shown so happily, modern and still entertainingly in a film. The plot is not "straight", it's rather a patchwork of single stories, that are connected with each other. The French chanson, the title says it, plays a central role. It is this kind of music, though sometimes pretty close to kitsch, that is so typical for France. Instead of expressing their feelings only in words, the protagonists sing lines from well-known chansons, all the way from Maurice Chevalier to Serge Gainsbourgh.
Fortunately, there is no dubbed version of this film, the subtitles do very well. So if you want to know something about France and especially Paris today, go and watch it. Also people who normally don't like foreign films will have a lot of fun with it.
Novecento (1976)
Fantastic historical movie
Historical movies often tend to have little content besides the historical foundation they are built on. Yet this one here is different. On the background of the Italian political systems between 1900 and 1945 we both get a history lesson and see a great human story. The film has a very international cast, French, American, Italian etc. and its way of storytelling does also not follow the specific traditions of a certain national cinema. On the same day in 1900 two children are born on a strictly aristocratic farm in the Italian province of Emilia Romagna: One on the "slave's" side and one on the "master's" side. They grow up together, but in two totally different worlds. Yet somehow they become in a way friends. But the difference of their class origin can never be overcome. The final clash starts, when in 1945 after the Allied invasion Italy becomes democratic and the old system is abolished. If you get the chance to see it, go for it. It's over 4 hours long, but those four hours are a very rewarding experience. 9 of 10 points!
Del perduto amore (1998)
Great movie connecting personal with political affairs
One can really feel the 50s of an old Italian town, when watching this movie. Most of the pictures are shot on grey and rainy days, giving the action something of a dull-looking background. Yet before this background we get to know a twelve-year-old boy who is kicked off a boarding-school and comes home to Sardinia. Here, he is looking for some "source of education" and gets in contact with a young emancipated communist woman in her 20s who he, wanting to become a priest, feels somehow attracted to. Immediately he is torn into the on-going dispute between the corrupt DC (Christian Democratic party) and the other parties. In the end we learn, that the young woman's struggle is hopeless in the world she's living in, but that emotional warmth will always be there - even in rough times.