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There are plenty of dramatic scenes in John Hughes’ *Pretty in Pink*, but my favourite ones are the quiet moments where a boy plucks up all his courage to speak to the girl. Who still remembers when your dreams were so much bigger than your self-confidence? Pretty in Pink is all about this dilemma of teenage life. It’s about those moments when you think, ‘That’s exactly how it was when I was 16.’ Molly Ringwald plays Andie Walsh, a poor girl from a humble background. She lives with her unemployed father (Harry Dean Stanton), whose first words in the morning are “Where am I?” Andie works in a record shop. Her high school is full of rich snobs, and Andie has fallen for one of the rich boys – Blane (Andrew McCarthy). His best friend is called Duckie (Jon Cryer). A prime example of the sort of lad who thinks he can win a girl’s heart by acting silly. Or Iona (Annie Potts), who sports one radical hairstyle after another. The plot is an old one: the poor girl falls in love with the rich boy. She doesn’t want him to find out what a shabby house she lives in. In the end, she’s supposed to find her true love... Who knows, perhaps John Hughes could have given this old story a bit of a modern twist? After all, it’s full of universal truths that apply to every teenager. James Spader is brilliant as the arrogant snob who claims money means nothing to him (would he otherwise treat his parents’ house like that?). Molly Ringwald is THE face of the 80s; she conveys vulnerability and depth. She never comes across as cheesy or affected. Her conversations with Duckie – played by Jon Cryer – reveal one profound truth after another. That is probably exactly why some stories never fade away. We’re all familiar with the clichés; we already know what’s going to happen, and yet we feel that immense satisfaction when the girl and the boy – who are meant for each other – finally end up together.

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Has the century of the selfish mind already begun? Man has always been a being who has tirelessly sought a reality beyond himself. We have sent people to the moon and flown all manner of objects to other planets. Our signals are reaching out into the universe (and will probably only be received once we have become extinct). And we store and transmit digital data. All of this reflects our urgent need to communicate beyond our own minds....

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Things must have been a right mess when they were writing the script. Swordfish is gripping and skilfully directed, but it’s such a convoluted maze that by the end you’re guaranteed not to know who’s actually with whom... As far as I can tell, there is actually just one hero in the film – but are the villains actually villains? Are they even themselves? Hugh Hackman plays Stanley the hacker, who has just spent two years in prison. Today he lives in a caravan. He longs for his daughter (whose mother is lost in a drunken stupor). Then Ginger (Halle Berry) appears, wearing a skimpy red dress. She is there to recruit Stanley for a secret project headed by Gabriel Shear (John Travolta). Stanley hesitates, as the court has banned him from touching computers. But Ginger won’t give in and forces him at gunpoint. And who is Gabriel? A patriot? A villain? A double agent? Ginger’s lover or her target? Stanley shows little interest in Ginger, who is supposedly Gabriel’s girlfriend. Nevertheless, she bares herself to Stanley. Incidentally, there’s also a bank robbery and a car chase, but that’s not really the point. It’s more about pulling the rug out from under our feet every five minutes. Perhaps white and black cowboy hats should be brought back in films like this, so we don’t lose our bearings?

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Umberto is an upright and correct man. The style of his clothes shows that he was once in better circles. Now he is a pensioner, but the state's income is not enough to live on. Not even for his sparsely furnished room and a decent meal. Umberto and his dog are threatened with dismissal by the greedy landlord if he does not pay the increased rent. It's a shame, because she rents his room in the afternoon to couples who use his bed. Vittorio de Sicas Umberto D. shows a man's fall from poverty to homelessness. Of all Italian neorealistic films, Umberto D. is certainly the best. Simply because he is himself. Umberto D. tells his story without digression or lying dramatic effects. Even Umbertos dog is introduced without sentimentality - and that is unusual enough for a film in which a dog is involved! Umberto loves his dog and the dog loves him because that's his nature. The film never runs the risk of turning Umberto into a typically lovable Hollywood grandpa. Umberto just wants to be left alone and we can only hope that in his situation we would react the same as he did: Courageous and imaginative. The movie follows him as he becomes aware of the possibility of actually having to leave his room. Umberto always paid his bills, but this month it won't be enough. During the opening sequence we experience Umberto protesting with other old people against the low pensions. We know this from the media. But then de Sica does something that only FILM can do: He tells Umbertos personal fate. He, one of the crowd of demonstrators. That's how we are introduced to his life. 

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A film dedicated to God. Like in religious education? But director Majid Majidi is sincere and doesn't mean by "God" the one above all others. The Color Of Paradise also has nothing to do with the usual "consumer" children's films we make in the West. The focus is on a blind boy, of quick comprehension, very friendly and eager to learn. Mohammad is always attentive and loves to go to school. His grandmother and the two sisters love him. But his father does not love him. His father is a bitter widower who hopes to marry again, into a wealthy family. Maybe she wouldn't agree with a blind son? At the beginning of the film we see all the children being picked up after school. Only Mohammad waits in vain for his father, who doesn't come. In a particularly beautiful scene, he hears a beep. A sparrow fell out of his nest. Mohammad picks up the bird, climbs onto the tree, puts it back into the nest. Finally the family comes, but Mohammad has no illusions about his father's lack of love. Although he is good at school, his father doesn't want Mohammad to visit her any further. He would probably like to have an invisible blind son. The Color Of Paradise is a melodrama, but one that doesn't manipulate us. It's too simple, even plain - and sensitive! Instead of a score we hear the chirping of birds, insects and voices. The world as a blind man perceives it. Once Mohammad cries with despair - and that doesn't seem like a spectacle at any moment, but like real grief. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Daisies + The Czech New Wave 

Like no other movement in European film, the Czech New Wave was an intellectual movement. Not least, it also resulted from literary renewal, such as Kundera's novels and a whole series of contemporary literature that was filmed. The attempt to find a new literary language was accompanied by cinematic forms such as flashbacks in the film. In Western Europe, the role models were pop culture, comics and American films; in Eastern Europe, on the other hand, national folklore was the focus of attention. In a completely different way to the Heimatfilm, the needs of mass culture were excluded - the Czech New Wave was an intellectual movement! The early films of Milos Forman, Vera Chytilova, Jiri Menzel, but also those of older directors such as Karel Kachyna and Vojtech Jasny are counted among the new wave. Jan Nemec combined avant-garde with literary film adaptations based on historical material in his very own mixture. The function of film, indeed of all the arts, changed, positioned itself in a publicly effective and political way. The change from a relatively moderate censorship to the occupation of the country was made possible. Milos Forman: "Usually only the film in which political content is presented is regarded as a political film. However, I am of the opinion that even films with completely apolitical content like Lasky jedne plavovlasky (Love of a blonde) are political. For the tenor of this film is the examination of one's own existence, the question of what happens to us and around us. The question of the future is no longer far away." 

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I wanted to watch John Frankenheimer's The Birdman Of Alcatraz with my girlfriend (she refused, no Prison Break please) - but in the end, we both loved this unusual intimate play! Because The Birdman Of Alcatraz is really no Prison Break in the traditional sense! The film simply reverses the usual formula, bringing depth and humanity to this film adaptation of the life of Robert Stroud. After a true story. For 53 years the over 70 year old "Birdman" was in prison. Burt Lancaster vividly shows how this time leaves deep scars, how one forces something like privacy in prison. Highlight of the film: Birdman's clash with the vindictive prison warden. Robert Stroud, convicted of murder, continues his education behind bars, dedicates himself to bird breeding. In fact he discovered cures for bird diseases, which he eventually published. Like in the biggest and most important movies of Frankenheimer during the 60's, The Birdman Of Alcatraz is about the dignity of man. The redemption of the dignity of the individual in an inhuman system. Because true freedom, it always comes from within! By the way, the hateful prison warden finds out the opposite. One day he must realize that he has grown old with Birdman. Just like his inmates, he has spent most of his life behind bars. Both men, the Birdman and the prison warden, have to realize that they spent their lives on Prison Island of Alcatraz...