Iran Filmlist on CINEGEEK.DE 

“As we stand here, the state of Iran is gunning down protestors and a savage massacre continues, blatantly, on the streets of Iran. I consider it my duty to call on artists and members of the global film community to speak out and not remain silent. Use any voice and any platform you have. Call your governments. Call on your governments to confront this human catastrophe rather than turn a blind eye.” (Jafar Panahi)

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Out of the clear white light, a few people emerge. Who are they? We are in an ordinary building with a blurred background. People are greeted by employees. It almost looks like a government building. They are told they are dead. The here and now is a stopover before it becomes final. They will spend a week here. During this time they are allowed to choose a memory from their lives. Not just any, but the most beautiful! This memory will be their life in eternity. They assemble a film out of it and take it with them. Everything else will be forgotten. This is the idea behind Hirokazu Kore-eda's After Life, a film so friendly and warm-hearted that it can join the ranks of the great humanists of cinema. What is the one great moment that constitutes a life? We are invited to explore it. One of the newcomers pretends to have only bad memories. A co-worker admonishes him to think deeper. Of course: A bad memory for eternity; that would be hell in the true sense! After Life doesn't need any special effects, bad choral music or similar swirls for this scenario. Instead, there's a lot of work: memories have to be collected and assembled into films. In this active zeal we recognize true happiness! 

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Natürlich bi ich nicht alt genug, um mich an das Studio 54 zu erinnern. Vielleicht war es so ähnlich wie das Berghain - mit dem Unterschied, dass im Studio 54 meistens wer Berühmtes beteiligt war. Angeblich kam man auch WIRKLICH nie an den Türstehern vorbei. Es war der Ort, an dem man gesehen werden musste. Eine Glamour Grube der Dekadenz. Bestimmt hatten die Insassen mehr Spass in ihrem Leben als ich mir je vorstellen könnte. Heute scheinen mir viele Berliner davon besessen zu sein, eine Art neues 54 zu schaffen. Eine Besessenheit, die von Mark Christophers fiktivem Spielfilm "54" aber kaum gestillt werden dürfte. Der Film hat leider ein unbefriedigendes Problem: Er ist viel zu zahm. Doch der von Steve Rubell und Ian Schrager geschaffene Club verdient etwas Dekadentes! 54 dagegen gibt nur vor, die New Yorker Disco Kultur einzufangen - nimmt ihr gegenüber aber eine merkwürdig distanzierte Haltung ein. Immerhin war das das Moment, bevor es Aids gab, als üppiger Hedonismus zu einer kollektiven Massen-Hysterie wurde. Sex, Drugs & Disco. 54 entwirft eine inoffizielle Geschichte aus dem Studio 54, bevor die Steuer-Behörde den Laden auseinander nahm. Frage: Ist 54 nun a) eine Retrospektive, b) eine Saturday Night Fever Runderneuerung, c) eine Parodie? Oder etwa ein verwirrender Mischmasch aus allem? 

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When we first see Mario (Massimo Troisi), we have to assume that he is still mentally a child.. He talks to his father, who seems to be debil too. Or just weird. In the next scene we realize that Mario is of normal intelligence, but grew up in an area where there isn't much to tell. But that's going to change... Mario lives on an island in the south of Italy where new things arrive very late, if at all. But one day Mario is hired as a temporary postman. He has only one customer, a stranger. It's the famous poet Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret) who fled Chile and went into exile on the island. Mario is fascinated by Neurda, who receives countless letters, especially from women. He discusses with his boss, the postmaster, about Neruda: The expelled communist rebukes Mario: Neruda is a political writer! Neither the one nor the other understands Neruda, but Mario decides on the job to visit Neruda daily - and maybe there are girls too! Slowly a relationship develops between the two. Peruda lives quietly and withdrawn with a woman, maybe his wife. Anyway, Mario notices that both love each other deeply. Mario takes every opportunity to talk to Neruda (which is very cute) and has him sign a book. Mario reads the book and says, "How can this book attract so many women? But in the end he goes through a development. He's no longer the naive postman, in the end we think we've discovered the soul of a poet in him (only that he didn't grow up in this environment). But Neruda also learns from the people on the island, whom he describes as the simplest in the world. Mario smiles knowingly - so he can't be that simple anymore. 

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Es gibt keinen besseren Film über das Leben am Campus als The Wonder Boys von Curtis Hanson. Der Film hat verstanden, dass die Studenten kommen und gehen, der Campus aber tatsächlich dort LEBT. Dabei ist es möglich, dass Fakultäts-Mitglieder jahrzehntelang im Modus Doktorand stecken bleiben - solche wie Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas). Douglas spielt dieses 50jährige Wunderkind, dessen beste Zeit längst vorbei ist ruhig und zurückhaltend, ja staunend. Vor sieben Jahren schrieb der Englisch Lehrer einen Roman, doch seitdem leidet er unter einer Schreib Blockade. The Wonder Boys begleitet ihn nun während eines Literatur Festivals auf dem Campus von Pittsburgh. Seine Frau, die ihn gerade verlassen hat, sehen wir nie. Sein Vater Walter Gaskell (Richard Thomas) ist Leiter des Fach Bereichs. Und Walters Frau Sara (Frances McDormand) ist die Chefin schlicht und ergreifend. Der Lektor Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr.) aus New York erscheint, fragt sich, wo Gradys Skript bleibt. Zwei von Gradys Studenten beschäftigen ihn besonders: James Leer (Tobey Maguire), der einen Roman verfasst hat. Dann noch seine Untermieterin Hannah Green (Katie Holmes), die auch gern das Bett mit ihm teilen würde. Doch Grady ist müde und immer bekifft. Keine dieser Figuren ist ihm wirklich wichtig. So funktioniert diese Screwball Comedy, die aber im Tempo so verlangsamt wurde, dass sie dem normalen Leben angeglichen ist. Natürlich gibts jede Menge Verwirrungen und Missgeschicke, doch das nervt nie, da The Wonder Boys wie beschrieben immer einen ruhigen Beat hält. Offensichtliche Höhepunkte werden nur kurz gestreift und Sex ist in The Wonder Boys eh nur Zeitvertreib. Curtis Hanson, nachdem er in L.A. Confidential den Spuren des Film Noir folgt, wiederholt dieses Experiment mit seiner Screwball Komödie, die genauso witzig wie berührend ist - und ein paar schöne Monroe links bereit hält. In erster Linie aber geht es hier um die Menschen. Könnte ein Wochenende auf einem echten Campus ähnlich verlaufen? Na klar, wenn du bedenkst, wie theatralisch Autoren ihr Leben angehen!

Brigitte Bardot 

At some point, Brigitte Bardot decided to give up her prestigious career as an actress and singer to devote herself exclusively to animal welfare. In fact, her last entry as an actress on IMDb is from 1973. She rose to fame in 1956 with the film And God Created Woman, directed by her husband Roger Vadim. Thanks to this production, she played the nymph for two decades. But then BB began to get involved in politics. She supported animal rights and provoked controversy with statements about minorities. And then Bardot also became involved with the Front National, which led to a series of convictions. Racial hatred and animal welfare. She was born in 1934 into a wealthy Catholic family. She was a dancer and appeared on the cover of Elle at the age of 15. She met Roger Vadim at an audition and married him. She was 18 at the time. Bardot played a number of supporting roles throughout the 1950s until she became world famous as an uninhibited teenager in Saint Tropez. She became an icon overnight, inspiring John Lennon and even Simone de Beauvoir, who wrote her famous essay on the Lolita syndrome: Bardot as France's first emancipated woman. This was followed by films such as La Verite by Henri George Clouzot, Le Mepris by Godard and Viva Maria by Louis Malle. And Bardot began to sing: ‘Je T'Aime ... Moi Non Plus’ by Serge Gainsbourg – with whom she had begun an extramarital affair. Then fame began to get on her nerves and she broke off what she had never been prepared for. Her life as a star. 

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You can understand what ‘capraesque’ means very well in this optimistic comedy by Frank Capra from 1936, when a small-town citizen (Gary Cooper) inherits 40 million dollars and has to stand up to capitalists and city dwellers. Charming contemporaries who try to deceive and rob him and have him committed to an institution. Frank Capra tells this story seriously and sincerely. There is no need for artificial laughter; instead, we empathise with the hero. That's what ‘capraesque’ means. It all starts with a car accident. Deeds, who has always wanted to rescue a woman in distress, saves HER and falls in love at first sight. Unfortunately, he has no idea that his beloved is actually the reporter Louise ‘Babe’ Bennett (Jean Arthur)... She writes an article about Deeds that makes his life difficult and makes him look ridiculous. Deeds has a big, far too big heart. He wants to help people. He is constantly thinking about using his money for this purpose. He changes other people's lives (because we are in the middle of the Great Depression), but his own life also changes. He does what makes him happy. And Deeds changes our lives too! Ultimately, he convinces us that we are quite similar to him. He wants us to lead colourful, creative lives full of surprises – just like him – and the best way to do that is to think of other people.