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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...

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 There is this one scene that encapsulates the whole gentle worldview of Hal Ashby’s classic: there are just 90 minutes to go before they arrive at Portsmouth Naval Prison. Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Richard ‘Mule’ Mulhall (Otis Young) are accompanied by their 18-year-old protégé, Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid). Buddusky and Mule have been assigned, as soldiers, to escort Larry there. He is due to serve an eight-year sentence for stealing money. So what does he want to do with these last 90 minutes? Let’s recap: over the past five days of their crossing, they’ve plied Larry with alcohol, got him high and treated him to a trip to a brothel. They’ve had a fight with some marines and bought Larry the best sandwiches in the world (with Italian sausage). What else is there to do? The three of them walk along a snow-covered street in Boston. Buddusky thinks the weather is rubbish. If it were summer, they could have a picnic right now. So he tries to light a fire, whilst Mule crouches beside him, shivering. That’s how brilliant *The Last Detail* is! We witness these three men, frustrated as they try to comply with the unyielding military bureaucracy (while being forced to fight an immoral war). It is precisely people like Buddusky and Mule who, despite everything, manage to show HUMANITY towards their fellow men within such a system. 

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?