FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Kundun 

In the middle of Kundun, the 13th Dalai Lama warns the 14th Dalai Lama in a letter: The culture of Tibet will soon be destroyed by China. What can we do about it, asks the 14th Dalai Lama. An advisor tells him that he knows this. After all, he wrote the letter himself. This is literally how the belief in reincarnation, in rebirth, works. Kundun recounts the life of the 14th Dalai Lama - but that in turn encompasses a larger life spanning centuries. And this is precisely the strength and weakness of the film, as its main character Kundun is not shown as a human being, but as an icon. It is a sacred life that stands above time. It is about perfection in the form of a human being. Before you look at Kundun, you should be aware of this: No human character is shown here. A sacred story is told in anecdotes, almost like in church. Scorsese's films always have a spiritual component. They are about characters who live in sin and are aware of it. So Kundun begins in 1937, at the time of the 13th Dalai Lama in Tibet. The monks find a little boy who they believe to be their reincarnated leader. They place a series of objects in front of the child so that he chooses the right one. As a result, the 13th Dalai Lama will even meet Mao, who proclaims that all religion has died (so that the Dalai Lama can no longer look this man in the eye and instead has to look him in the eye).

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Crow 

The Crow became famous, of course, because Brandon Lee was accidentally shot during filming. And indeed, the film is also about someone who comes back from the dead - just as, in a way, Brandon Lee did with the film. A black irony of fate! The story begins with a resurrection from the dead. Rock star Eric Draven (Lee) is murdered the night before his wedding. A crow - so the story goes - transports his soul into the afterlife. But because of the unexplained incident of his murder, Eric's soul finds no peace and returns to earth a year later on Halloween. Eric swears revenge. Nothing more needs to be written about the story. In flashbacks, the murder is reconstructed and then Eric, led by the crow, wanders the streets at night. His make-up resembles a skull. No bullet can harm him, because he is already dead. The story serves as an excuse for the STYLE of the film, because here a very unique world is created that resembles that of Blade Runner. An abandoned urban wasteland where it is always night. Who remembers the gothic extravaganzas in Tim Burton's Batman? This is all so much darker! Obviously The Crow shows inspiration from a number of graphic novels of its time and their over-the-top architecture, and the underlying graphic novels in turn love 40s film noir. The editing and soundtrack of The Crow, however, are reminiscent of music videos, in which the villains like Myca (Bai Ling) again almost look like someone drew them. Those who love 90s grunge will find Stone Temple Pilots, Pantera or Nine Inch Nails here. Probably some even know the soundtrack better than the film! What is said about death and resurrection between the music video numbers is given a melancholic subtext by Brandon Lee's misfortune. Just like his famous father's career, Brandon's ends far too soon - only that Bruce Lee was never allowed to be part of such a great film as The Crow.

Nouvelle Vague Exzess 

The One Man Nouvelle Vague was the title of a retro at Berlin's Arsenal, which looked at Gerard Depardieu's early career. After four films by Maguerite Duras, he made his breakthrough in Bertrand Blier's Les valseuses. A rebellious road movie that takes everything that is understood by sexual revolution ad absurdum and, in its drastic nature, ushers in the French cinema of the 70s.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Julio Medem - The Red Squirrel 

Most of the time I watch a movie and can finish it from the first scene. This film by Julio Medem is different. I never know what might come next. But La ardilla roja is much more than just a vetrickstes mindgame movie. It is a big love movie! The musician Jota (Nancho Novo) stands on a bridge to take his own life because his girlfriend left him. Suddenly a young motorcyclist (Emma Suárez) breaks through the railing and lands in the sand. He rushes to help her, but she can't remember anything. In the hospital he pretends to be a friend of the blonde and explains that her name is Lisa. They had been living together for four years. To remember, he suggests a camping holiday. La ardilla roja is the name of the campsite and from now on the squirrels will determine the fate of the couple. Julio Medem has succeeded in creating a highly unlikely, but very captivating romance. He has us until the last moment and surprises us again and again. Nothing is as it seems, except the fact that the two of them have a passionate love affair. The lies Jota Lisa tells about her "past" aren't just passively accepted by her. Finally Lisa's ex-husband Felix (Carmelo Gomez) comes into play, who identifies her as Sofia Fuentes... Maybe it's all filmed a bit awkward and even ridiculous towards the end? But that doesn't matter at all because of the great love couple. In the face of death, they try to find out the basics: Who am I? What does love mean at all? Within their web of lies they get to the bottom of life.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Claude Sautet - Un Coeur En Hiver 

There are people who can't love. Why is unclear. Something is missing. They were simply born without this gift. In other areas they may be complete. But the gift to love is missing. Irreparable. Claude Sautet's "Un Coeur En Hiver" is the story of such a man. His name is Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) and he is a talented violin maker. Stephane admires Maxime (Andre Dussollier), for whom he also works. They are friends. Or is it not? In any case, Maxime's social skills serve Stephane as a shield against the world. In return, Maxime benefits from Stephen's extraordinary skill. A symbiosis. One day the beautiful violinist Camille (porcelain face Emmanuelle Beart) enters the shop. She needs help with her instrument. Soon she has an appointment with Maxime. Stephane observes this from a distance. Then Camille talks to Stephane about her instrument, but also about her life. Stephane is a good listener. And Camille has fallen in love with him. She is together with Maxime. She has to leave him and make an appointment with his partner. Stephane feels flattered. Yes, he desires Camille. That would be a nice ending for a French triangle story. Only Stephane doesn't stand up for Camille. He is not impotent in the physical sense. He lacks the gift to love. Claude Sautet shows this short story with great intensity. We become aware of how simple love is portrayed in the vast majority of films. And how annoying! Man meets woman. They fall in love. There is a conflict, then they reconcile. Rolltitel. But Stephane has needs that go beyond love. Needs like the convenience of staying alone. His daily routine. That counts more for him than the risk of an intimate relationship.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Easy A 

What is the morale of Easy A? Don't sleep with anyone, but tell everyone you're doing it with everyone? We have to get involved in a very American film that comes up with virginal Jesus fanatics - but above all with a tremendously likeable Emma Stone. Olive Penderghast (Stone) is an inconspicuous girl in high school. Although we are in East Ojai, California, the biggest surprise of the movie is that virginity has the highest priority at this school! Olive is ashamed to have spent the whole weekend alone at home and improvises for her best friend the tale of a date with an older student. To increase her own popularity, she crowns this story with the loss of her virginity. A seemingly sure thing, because nobody knows her one-night stand at the university. But Olive is overheard by Marianne, an honest religious classmate. She tells Olive's story all around as a warning: "Not to end like the spoiled Olive! Easy A now plays through this basic idea in different variations. Olive's parents Dill and Rosemary (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson), who are as quirky as they are open, also find out about the news. Throughout the film they seem like Olive's strongest support, but also a bit like a parallel world from the time of the'68 revolution. There's been a lot of changes at school for Olive: She is no longer the girl that nobody notices (quite unimaginable with a beauty like Emma Stone!), but the one who has experience with sex! Olive is starting to take advantage of her popularity. Her best friend Brandon is gay. Everyone knows this and yet Brandon tries to hide it to live "normally". During a party she arranges a fake sex date for her boyfriend, so that he will also find recognition as an experienced young man in the future. It's hard to believe a gay man in California couldn't do that today! But let's just imagine this East Ojai as a place that serves primarily to make this high school comedy possible. Olive starts to lend her fictional sexuality to others: To the fat, the outsiders, those who perceive their school days as a nightmare. Thanks to Olive, they rise to men with sex experience. (Why is nobody really surprised that she only sleeps with gays and nerds?). Easy A works in itself, because we are well introduced into this East Ojai world. Overnight, Olive gains the power to improve the reputation of others and help those in need. Even the trust teacher (and wife of Olive's favorite teacher) is among her clients because she slept with a student and now suffers from chlamydia. From now on Olive borrows the "A" from Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter. Similar to the novel character, Olive will get to know the dark side of people... In the course of the plot, Olive suffers from the increasing gossip and the fact that her life is unfortunately not staged like an 80s teen comedy. Easy A, this is the first role that really suits Emma Stone! Until then they had been underestimated - wrongly so, because you can only do justice to an actor when you get the right role.

Reality Stays Outside - Realität Bleibt Draussen 

SOOOON!!!! OUR OWN MOVIE ABOUT OUR BAR: REALITÄT BLEIBT DRAUSSEN! - REALITY STAYS OUTSIDE! Ich liebe Kreuzberg und mein Leben in Kreuzberg! Das war aber nicht immer so: Früher, als ich noch klein war und wir in einer eingemauerten Stadt lebten, da hatte ich Angst vor Kreuzberg. Dort war alles grau und die Häuser ganz verwahrlost. Und wenn du in die Hinterhöfe geguckt hast, dann hast du immer noch die Einschusslöcher aus dem 2. Weltkrieg gesehen. Eigentlich sah Kreuzberg genauso aus wie Ost Berlin. So dachte ich. Ich meine, das war 1985. Ich hatte immer diese Vorstellung, dass hinter solchen grauen Fassaden auch böse Menschen leben mussten. In Wahrheit lebten dahinter aber keine bösen Menschen, sondern Menschen, die einfach nicht so viel verdienten. Mein Vater hat mir das mal erklärt. In Kreuzberg war man immer umgeben von der Mauer. Ganz im Osten von West-Berlin. Und niemand wollte so nahe bei den Russen leben. So zogen alle weg, rückten nach Westen – zumindest innerhalb der West-Berliner Insel. Dann kamen die sogenannten Gastarbeiter. Die konnten ja dort leben. Jedenfalls endete Kreuzberg irgendwie immer an der Mauer. Sogar 20 Jahre später sah Kreuzberg noch so aus als ob die 80er nie aufgehört hätten. Eine Gegend, in der die berüchtigten SO36 Boys herrschten. Hauptberuf der 36 Boys: Rauben, prügeln, kaputt machen. Das war also Kreuzberg. Heute höre ich oft diese mittelalten Männer, die behaupten, früher und damals da gabs noch das richtige Kreuzberg. Und dieselben mittelalten Männer haben das damals auch schon erzählt. Mir war das eh egal. Ich lebte in meiner eigenen Welt und die bestand sowieso nur daraus, Filme zu glotzen. Meine eigene kleine Nerd Welt inmitten von Filmen! Und ich wusste, irgendwann würde diese Welt nicht mehr nur in meiner Fantasie existieren! - I love Kreuzberg and my life in Kreuzberg! But it wasn't always like that: In the past, when I was little and we lived in a walled-in city, I was afraid of Kreuzberg. Everything there was gray and the houses were run-down. And when you looked into the backyards you could still see the bullet holes from the Second World War. Kreuzberg actually looked just like East Berlin. That's what I thought. I mean, that was 1985. I always had this idea that bad people had to live behind such gray facades. had to live behind such gray facades. In reality, however, there weren't bad people living behind them, but people who simply didn't earn that much. earned that much. My father once explained this to me. In Kreuzberg, you were always surrounded by the wall. Right in the East of West Berlin. And nobody wanted to live so close to the Russians. So everyone moved away, moved west - at least within the West Berlin island. Then came the so-called guest workers. They could live there. In any case, Kreuzberg somehow always ended at the Wall. Even 20 years later, Kreuzberg still looked as if the 80s had never ended. A neighborhood, where the infamous SO36 Boys ruled. The 36 Boys' main occupation: robbing, beating, destroying destroy. So that was Kreuzberg. Today, I often hear these middle-aged men claiming that back in the day and back then there was still the real Kreuzberg. And these same middle-aged men said that back then told that back then too. I didn't care anyway. I lived in my own world and that only consisted of watching movies anyway. My own little nerd world surrounded by movies! And I knew that at some point this world would no longer only exist in my imagination!