rweiler-1 Reviews

Youth (I) (2015)

Old men conducting/directing their lives without a lot of memories

[9/10 · 18 September 2015]

Paolo Sorrentino (from Naples, Italy) has turned an astonishing movie.

The pace is sometimes slow, cautious, then brutally rapid. Two old men are of course acting a fine piece of craftsmanship, a composer, a film director, life-long friends find themselves disillusioned about life and old age and in turn react in different ways to this plight. Another extra dimension is the voyeuristic deployment of life in a five star hotel in Switzerland, its kings, the guests and their servants, the hotel staff.

The well-to-do and celebs of this world find a retreat in exclusive fine hotels to find their bearings, to relax in the wellness facilities, a possibility to unwind in their hectic lives. Sorrentino has conjured up an impressive array of stars and talents, but this sometimes seems like a casting event. Overdoing the good thing: „Maradona" makes a surprise appearance as well as a Hitler impersonator. Sorrentino gives Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel a wonderful stage for their (dirty) old men phantasies and memories of the past. The composer Fred Ballinger was notoriously unfaithful to his wife Melanie, who put up with it, only to end up as a demented death mask of the only person he really loved in a psychiatric ward in Venice. His daughter confronted him with his past, his emotionally starving her, his unfair unfaithfulness. Fred, being retired, is apathetic, once directs a herd of cows mooing and the sound of their cowbells. He refuses to have his memories published, refuses stubbornly to conduct his „Simple Songs" for the British Queen, who sent an emissary, speaking the Queen's English, who seemed to be unsuccessful in convincing Fred to perform just this once more. At the end of the movie we can see him complying blandly, but with great success. His scenes with his daughter, who was just abandoned by her young lover, who preferred Paloma Faith to her.

are very moving. The dialogue has some very open discussion of love, sex and marriage, there are scenes of outspoken passion of great intensity. Some great takes are performed by young talents, the young masseuse, Paul Dan (Jimmy Tree) who played a young blasé actor whose ennui of being identified with just one film role is quite understandable and well done. Then there is this young girl who absolutely astonishes the former with her quip.

Nick Boyle, the famous film director describes his dozen or so films all as „crap" and is seen working on his last film project „The Last Day in Life" which is portentous because he ended his life after Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda ) told him just that in very outspoken terms.

He had prided himself to be a „women's director", in „Wiesen" (place name meaning "meadows") he sees dozens of his women characters in a dream-like scene, all talking to him, complaining, whispering. His entourage is seen brainstorming for film ideas, all to no avail, the ending of the film is still missing, the main woman character suddenly shows up, calling Nick destructive, repulsive, a failure. Both pretend to have furthered the other's career.

Some delightful scenes show philosophic questions being raised, dis- cussing old age, youth, love and marriage, fame, wealth. The two old friends have their fun and games, telling each other „only the good things" in life, playing tricks (mostly on Nick) and both complain of amorous and urinary problems .

Taxi (III) (2015)

A daring tribute to film-making in difficult times/places

[8/10 · 16 July 2015]

The genre of films made in or about taxis has already produced some masterpieces: „Taxi Lisboa" (1970) and „Night on Earth" (1991). Now Jafar Panahi, living in Tehran, has made a very important film that gives us Westerners a glimpse of what it is like to live in the Iranian capital nowadays. This is already his third movie that he made unlicensed and undercover. In 2010 he was imposed a 20 years' ban on producing films, is not allowed to leave the country and was put into prison. Iranian film-making is of two kinds, Panahi mused: local films for the public in Iran, heavily censored and films produced with the idea in mind to participate in international film festivals. He was awarded the Berlin Golden Bear this year. Viewing this film one feels really disconcerted by the director's taxi driving- and-filming stunt, his composed feature and the chaotic lives that passengers bring with them into the cab. Tehran has 12-15m inhabitants, with urban transport being chronically difficult. There are buses and taxis, but an underground system is still under construction. Taxis then are an obvious choice for the setting of an „under- ground" movie that discusses Iranian lives and hopes for a better future. The main theme of the film is how one can live in a society where strict laws are enforced about many things that seem to us unimportant or even trivial: A woman going to a basket ball game may be harassed and even arrested. It is the women characters then who make some very strong statements in the film. There is a lawyer and human rights activist, a friend of Panahi's, who was herself punished with a prison sentence, but pursues in her activities. Then the heroine of the film: supposedly Panahi's niece, a very bright school-girl who films street scenes and the director/taxi- driver/uncle with her i-Phone, is learning about film-making „that can be shown" in Iran, i.e. that would pass censorship. Life in a society that is strictly controlled by guards and police, laws that seem hard or impossible to be observed finds loopholes and the open question is how much Iran's government really is in control. But then of course the enforcement of laws may be random or imposed rather on the poorer levels of society.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014)

Teaching the Swedes to dance the flamenco

[9/10 · 6 February 2015]

Roy Anderson's conclusive piece of his trilogy shows abysses of human existence and the pointlessness of some human lives, so don't expect to be entertained in any way when you go to watch this film. A knowledge of Kafka's works, the Absurd theater and Bergman's films may however help you to give a more objective reception to the film. Some of the scenes show intense directing skills and seem like painted still lifes from the last century. Also Waiting for Godot comes to mind, when one looks at the two old men trying to sell their pathetic "fun" articles and failing invariably. There is intense beauty in the take in the old men's home when Jonathan and Sam argue and Sam is listening to the same melancholic song over and over again. Or a scene in a tavern, where half the clients can't afford a drink and then are offered one if they kiss the ugly landlady for which they stand in line and actually do so. Two very brutal nightmare scenes are not designed for the shy, timid or unexperienced film friend. A whiff from the past is experienced when the Swedish king makes his appearance(s) in the tavern, a dreamer sovereign who loses his war "because he did not have enough horses for his campaign." The title perhaps suggests that even a bird may think more about existence than some people do. It may also convey the reason why some of the movie is filmed from a bird's eye view.