FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Vittorio de Sica - Miracle In Milan 

Vittorio De Sica firmly believed that everyone could play a role: Himself. He worked closely with screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, a member of the Italian Communist Party. Both found inspiration in post-war Italy, a time of poverty and deprivation. The stories were within their grasp, virtually on the street. De Sica, born in 1902, was a good-looking man, a sought-after beau on the big screen. His first directorial works were light comedies, similar to the comedies in which he himself appeared as an actor. Perhaps it was the harsh reality of the Second World War that shattered the optimism necessary for such stories? And so in 1942 he directed The Children Are Watching (DVD5617), which followed shortly after Visconti's Ossessione (DVD7176), which many consider to be the first neo-realist feature film. At least that's what this type of film was called, although there were already films in the silent film era that took a bold and unvarnished look at everyday life. In any case, De Sica shot the film with real people and not actors. An astonishing effect for audiences who were used to Hollywood glamour! I remember a video evening at our local video shop. We were watching Umberto D. (DVD1316) and my friend Anisa had tears in her eyes. She was still crying long after the film had finished. People who don't cry and empathise with Umberto D. - I doubt whether they can empathise at all! Neorealism was a term that could mean many things. It refers to films that are set in the working class and show the poverty of the people. Implicit in them is the message that a better life is possible! They are works of art, not cold and smooth like those from Hollywood. They are works of art that recognise the feeling of confusion. The coincidence that is inherent in everything we experience. Miracle In Milan is in this tradition and yet seems much more cheerful. Who knows, maybe some early American films with their sly, compassionate humour were the inspiration? Whereas de Sica's previous neo-realist works were as hopeless as they were heartbreaking, here we find ourselves almost in a comedy with fantasy elements! Until then, de Sica used human humiliation for tragic material, this time to show the irony of life. In the form of a fairy tale. It is about how we humans live in dreams full of self-deception. A fairy tale that teaches us to be cheerful, to improve our sense of community - and to trust the owners of the land on which we live only until they strike oil...

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Alain Resnais - Last Year In Marienbad 

I can still see it right in front of my eyes as I stood in line at the Schlüter cinema in Schlüter Strasse to watch Alain Resnais' classic. We had to wait in line, in the evening just before ten and it drizzled a bit. Or did I see the same movie last year? It's easy to blaspheme about Last Year At Marienbad. Nevertheless; you watch the film again - it has you back! Does it still exist at all? Students (dressed in black) queuing in the rain in front of the cinema to see Alain Resnais and then discussing the meaning of Last Year At Marienbad for hours? Hoping to find something like truth in art? Alain Resnais has denied his film a higher meaning, but that didn't stop any of his disciples. So when I watch him on DVD today, what awaits me? The higher consecrations of art or something stupid? Is it even more fun to talk about Resnais than to look at him again? Then the first scenes, full of immense beauty. A hypnotic pull, a mysterious puzzle! The plot resembles a secret and the characters don't reveal themselves either. But that's of secondary importance and I never felt the need to guess these puzzles. Who needs a happy ending? Marienbad plays in a chateau with enormous mirrors and paintings. There are endless corridors and magnificent rooms. The guests are elegantly and dearly dressed. "A" (Delphine Seyrig), a beautiful woman. "X" (Giorgio Albertazzi) with the appearance of a movie star who insists that they saw each other last year and agreed to meet again this year in Marienbad. Finally "M" (Sascha Pitoeff) appears. Lover or husband, at least he has power over "A". "M" looks creepy with his deep gaze. He has something of a vampire. "X" tells us the story, while the other protagonists only recite a line of dialogue here and there. In addition, there is the disturbing organ music by Francis Seyrig, which sounds like a requiem. The plan of "A" and "X" was to meet in the sleeping chamber while "M" was playing. But "A" does not remember. She asks "X" to leave her alone. But "X" continues with his memories (or inventions?). He constructs a story for "A" that she doesn't remember. Was there a shooting? A dead man? Was there? No, he corrects himself. It was different after all. We see them in black and white. Dead. Alive. The camera glides, the figures move slowly and solemnly. Last Year At Marienbad claims they met last year (or not), they had an affair (or not), he killed them (or not). Any questions open? I think that's what the '60s were like: the desire to ask questions, while answers to them amount to defeats. Everything about this film is artificial and offers the possibility to observe human behavior with regenerated attention. Could it be that "X" is the "Auteur"? After all, he speaks to us in the second person, as if he speaks to his creatures and shapes their history. Does he create these characters and then let them rule? Anyway, he is extremely involved in the action and desperately tries to convince "A" of his memories. That's why he designs his characters: he can control them. Make them love him. Unfortunately, characters lead a life of their own. And this is exactly the problem. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Virgin Mountain 

The Icelandic Dagur Kari has it with adult men still living with their mother. Fusi (Gunnar Jónsson) is again so one, 43 years old and obese. Fusi only talks about the essentials. He's never had a girlfriend. Fusi's hobby are toy soldiers with whom he recreates historical battles. Basically, he has the soul of a child: Innocent, helpful and nice. Still, he's lonely. Fusi has always been the outsider, the "fat one". In another movie such a character with a preference for heavy metal and war games could also be a dangerous guy. But we must not hesitate to take this human mountain to our hearts. Kari now confronts his hero with a love story. Sjöfn is her name, Fusi puts the hurdles to adulthood in the way. She asks him upstairs for tea, but Fusi replies that he would rather drink milk. It's this unaffectedness that makes Virgin Mountain so humorous. Kagur trusts in his calm comedy tone, in his slightly bizarre characters, who receive our affection with ease. Will Fusi are the sad life that is presented to us in so many different shades of grey and brown? Can he have the love he naturally carries in himself? Will he move out?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Brian de Palma - Blow Out 

Blow Out by Brian De Palma seems strangely familiar and also quite strange. The paranoia thriller was constructed from some events of recent American history, thickened with references from other films and by other filmmakers. Nevertheless: Blow Out is an independent, phanatastic achievement! The title is reminiscent of one of the greatest 60s classics. The story in which a photographer takes a picture of a corpse and finally analyzes his photos for the find. Was there even a dead body on the negative? In Blow Out John Travolta plays the character who is confronted with the same questions. He works for a greasy B-movie production company in Philadelphia. He makes cheap cynical exploitation films - according to De Palma's taste! One night he stands at a bridge in the park. The cry of an owl and similar noises fill the night he records. Suddenly he witnesses a car accident! The car crashes off the bridge, a blowout. Travolta jumps behind, saves a girl (Nancy Allen) and later finds out that the driver of the car was a presidential candidate. Listening to his tape, he thinks he heard a shot just before the accident. Is it a murder? He follows the trail of Nancy Allen, finds out that she was a helper in a blackmail. It's wonderful how the plot now condenses! Apparently De Palma doesn't just have a handful of ideas, he floats in abundance! We meet a series of violent characters like Burke (John Lithgow) as Travolta's character gets deeper and deeper into the swamp of a conspiracy. Something personal is at stake for him: his ability as a sound engineer and his personal pride! "I'm a sound man!" In the best Blow Out scene, he recreates all the events of the night. He follows the tracks of his own recording. De Palma's technique follows that of the greatest thriller specialist of all time. It hitchcocks really powerful! Numerous references like the shower scene are dedicated to the "Master of the Macabre" (De Palma). He gives a whole series of ugly murders in unusual surroundings and a hunt through Philadelphia while Liberty Bell strikes for the big jubilee. Two strategies of "Hitch" are used here: First his patriotically charged images, then the desperate hunt within a human mass that cares for the individual but not further. However, De Palma's film takes all this away and so Blow Out stands alone. The desire for exaggerated violence and nihilism, the sexual insinuations, quite naturally alongside the postmodern quote cinema - all this is Brian De Palma! But you hate or love him. So he unites the cinephiles with the onlookers! Note: As in his best films, De Palma fills the action with three-dimensional plausible, even interesting characters. We like to believe that characters like John Travolta, Nancy Allen or John Lithgow are real. They all have these little quirks, the quirks of life. For me, that's the difference between a good De Palma movie and a big one: The characters! De Palma often uses stencils to throw himself at his beloved surface stimuli. In Blow Out he goes to as much trouble as he does in his greatest works! The protagonists really behave like people in similar situations. They don't just follow the requirements of a plot! But the most beautiful thing: Blow Out is held together by real cinematic intelligence. In scenes like this, where Travolta is following the accident, we are taken on a journey of discovery. We are allowed to find out what he is reconstructing! At last we are more than just passive witnesses of the events - and that really doesn't happen so often in the cinema.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Yasujiro Ozu - Tokyo Twilight 

 The hat on the wall hook, the whiskey bottle, the steam from Ozu's teapot - all of these symbolise loneliness in Ozu's cinema. Abandonment, transience. And if you look carefully at Tokyo Twilight, the story of a father (Chishū Ryū) and his two grown-up daughters Takako (Setsuko Hara) and Akiko (Ineko Arima) and their long-lost mother, you will realise how courageously such themes as suicide, alcoholism, abortion and abuse resonate here. Ozu's latest black and white film treads dark territory. Who knows, maybe that's why Tokyo Twilight never appears in Ozu's retrospectives? Ozu remains true to his style. His low shots at eye level and the absence of panning shots. He also remains true to his theme, the family. But everything here is much darker. Anyone who reads contemporary reviews will learn of Ozu's greatest failure. Tokyo Twilight is set in winter, whereas Ozu normally favours the other seasons. The film plunges into the shabby milieu of Tokyo. Then Tokyo Twilight crosses a line: one of the two adult daughters becomes pregnant - out of wedlock. Why did she go astray, asks the other sister? We learn that her mother left her when she was young. That's why she became so "wild". The film itself never judges. It always remains reserved, never savours the daughters' grief, but observes calmly. It is empathetic and accepts its characters.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Kenji Mizoguchi - Ugetsu 

Two brothers, one greedy, the other envious. During a time when the land was devastated by vagabond soldiers, they risk the welfare of their families, risking their lives by pursuing their interests. Kenji Mizoguchi tells her story in this great film - one of the best ever! Although his heroes are rough and uncouth, Ugetsu is a work of elegance and mystery. Even before it becomes clear, we feel that Ugetsu is a work of elegance and mystery: Ugetsu is also a ghost story. Ugetsu is opened by the landscape passing us by, even being rolled up - like a Japanese drawing or a scroll. We see a village. Heavy branches lie on the roofs of the houses so that the wind does not carry the roofs away. We get to know Genjuro (Masayuki Mori), a potter and Tobei (Eitaro Ozawa), a farmer. Shots fired from afar, the army approaches. Genjuro's wife begs him not to ride into town. Not in these times! She asks him to protect her and her son. But with the excitement of a fool, Genjuro insists on the ride. Tobei, just as crazy, insists on accompanying him. Genjuro returns with gold coins. He has captured a factory in the city. His wife, on the other hand, tries to make it clear to him that new clothes could never outweigh her love for him. But Genjuro has only one thing in mind: money, money and even more money. Almost furiously he gets back to work. Tobei meets a great samurai. He would like to ride along, but is chased away as a stupid farmer without armour. Soon the two men decide to go into town again - out of fear for their possessions. This time they want to cross the lake in a boat because it seems safer to them. The scene at the lake, it's the most wonderful one in the whole movie! In front of us a world full of haze and fog. The lonely boatman gives a warning of pirates. Genjuro leaves his wife and child behind at the coast, Tobei accompanies him. In the city Genjuro's work quickly pays off and so he is invited to the castle of the beautiful Lady Wakasa. She is impersonated by Machiko Kyo, one of the greatest Japanese stars ever! Meanwhile Tobei also leaves his family alone. Stupid and clumsy as he is, he kills a samurai and steals a skull. Thanks to this trophy he is honored by the top samurai with a following. The troop's way leads to the house of the Geishas, where Tobei finds out that his wife was raped and abducted by soldiers. She now works as a geisha. Meanwhile Genjuro is spellbound by Lady Wakasa's appearance. Her beauty, which, he says, is unparalleled in the world! Lady Wakasa praises the simplicity and perhaps he should have felt warned because he hears the voice of her dead father. He is whispered to leave his village and marry the beautiful one... Mizoguchi held the theory that a scene should be filmed in a shot. We know this view from great Japanese films of the time with the difference that Mizoguchi's camera never stays. It seems to float, moving through space, which is as beguiling as it is poetic. Morbidly the scenes in Lady Wakasa's castle as a priest sees Genjuro's face. Frightened, he stammers, one would see death in it! Something is there on his skin! They are symbols of an exorcism! Of course Lady Wakasa is a ghost, which we never doubted. Finally we also realize that her castle is in truth a ruin. In Ugetsu, however, there is a second spirit that appears quite unexpectedly. Just at the moment when both men return to their village and hope for forgiveness from their wives for their male blindness... The characters in Ugetsu are down-to-earth. But I would understand it as a comic character. However, the story itself seems to be taken from the old days of Japanese ghost theatre. Unlike western horror movies, Mizoguchi never tries to scare us. It's something else that drives him. Something very kind! At the end we saw a fable, but we also witnessed the ordinary life.

CINEGEEK.DE Best Indie Movies 10s 

German Films 10s - Film List on CINEGEEK.DE 

The great phases of German film during the Expressionism of the 1920s and the New German Cinema of the 1970s seemed strangely mannered and artificial. German films loved unusual colours and lighting ratios, willing to follow their characters to the limits of human behaviour. This deliberately artificial dimension can still be found in the productions of the 10s, albeit only sporadically.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Alain Resnais - Night And Fog 

Never again! (Please do not misuse this post for anti-Semitic posts and nonsense). On 9.11.38 Nazi gangs rampaged through the streets of Berlin. The so-called Reich Pogrom Night. Over 90 years old he became. His career lasted over six decades and he always had his finger on the pulse of his time: Alain Resnais. He became famous in 1955 with this documentary about the German concentration camps. Even today my father tells me how they showed Night And Fog at the film club. Some long-time members resigned as a result. They felt attacked by the young "Beatnicks" and their disrespectful films. Especially in Germany of the 50s Night And Fog must have been a brutal experience. And it still works today! Resnais was one of the very first to take up the subject of Nazi concentration camps. He invented a new technique to combine black and white images from the archives with color images of the abandoned camps. Right at the beginning we lose the ground under our feet. A supposedly safe room turns into a dangerous one. Crash. Below an idyllic landscape a barbed wire comes to light. Finally this barbed wire is the foreground. If we previously felt a feeling of satisfaction, this is now lost. The narrator comments: "A concentration camp is built like any stadium or a hotel". Even a church can lead to a concentration camp. We understand: Any place can be charged with hate and anger and xenophobia. In the following there will be nothing else but the Holocaust. No way to distract our gaze. The catastrophe becomes tangible and accompanies us through the montage of the film until the present day: "Are their faces really so different than ours?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE David Lean - Lawrence Of Arabia 

What kind of daring genius did it take to produce this film? An epic four hours long without stars, without a love story and without much action. The hero is the eccentric, even suicidal T.E. Lawrence, who survives an almost impossible journey through the desert. Already safe, he returns to find his friend, who stayed behind. We know the scene. A spot appears far back on the horizon. A spot that becomes a man. Or don't we know this moment at all? If you rent the DVD from us or stream the film you will hardly identify the spot on the TV monitor. I'm sorry, but this is a movie! A 70mm movie! Only in the 70mm format we can get an impression of the vastness of the desert. Lawrence Of Arabia is not a simple historical film. It is a work about the extravagance of the desert. It is proven: Lawrence won the Arabs to fight for the British and against the Turks. Did he do it out of patriotism? The film corrects that. No, rather out of pragmatism. Basically, he rejected the British side and identified with the Arabs. Or is it true that Lawrence was homosexual? Of course, this aspect had to be treated carefully in such an expensive epic in 1962. Peter O'Toole plays Lawrence. A frail beautiful actor. Not an ordinary action hero, but one who still wanted to be recognized. What secret did this Lawrence hide? He speaks in a strange manner, seems as charismatic as he is crazy. How could he get the Arabs to follow him through the desert? O'Toole plays at least one socially and sexually unconventional man. Could such a man win the war against the Turks? He could. Without realizing their rivalries, he allied himself with the desert lords Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) and Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn). Strangely enough, the following epic is based less on "plot" than on "feeling". The story is not told in dialogues, but in the recordings of the desert. Epos refers not so much to the elaborate production, but to the unique artistic vision! Unfortunately, we can't offer this vision in our video store. You must try to see it somewhere on 70mm. A task almost as difficult as the production of Lawrence Of Arabia!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Larry Clark - Bully 

Isn't it a contradiction that films about murder are produced for entertainment purposes? Many films are morally indignant about murder - but nevertheless they try to entertain us. Larry Clark's Bully is different. It takes place in a sad and shabby world. A world of boundless stupidity and cruelty. Based on a true story, Bully is about a high school sadist who bullies the other kids - and a group of teenagers who kill him for it. But it's not about the evil sadist or the subsequent revenge campaign. It's about how the kids as a group do something that none of them are capable of doing individually. It's about the moral vacuum in which they live. Bully plays in the suburbs full of prefabricated houses, shopping malls and boredom. There are amusement arcades, fast food chains and cars that are the only things that promise freedom. One might object that most of us come from the suburbs and grow up happy. But not here. Larry Clark shows a suburban hell with drugs, sex and booze. The kids in it are stupid and violent. Their parents aren't portrayed as evil, by the way. They simply don't exist in the world of these kids. Their names are Marty Puccio (Brad Renfro) and Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl). Since Marty can think, he was tormented by Bobby. Bobby is bad through and through. He rapes two girls in the back seat of his car and we quickly realize that something in his life must have gone very wrong. Marty and Bobby are part of a larger clique that drifts aimlessly through shopping malls or coffee shops. In endless loop. At some point they get the idea that Bobby deserves to die. Just like that. The murder is ruthlessly planned. They hire a contract killer who is a child himself (we know them from Clark's debut Kids). Killing somebody is a hard job, which is done in an extremely chaotic way here. The body has to be disposed of and then the blame begins to be assigned. Remorse, even grief comes into play. And the urge to tell outsiders grows stronger and stronger. In the end Bobby doesn't die for his sins, but because his killers are so bored with life. Clark has been immersed in this world as an artist. Some of his sex scenes may seem too voyeuristic, but at least Clark is believed to know his way around this strange world at every moment. I think that Bully is an important film about children that no one cares about. These teenagers lack the courage and imagination to break out of suburban hell. They're stuck there. Marty and Bobby deserve each other.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Syrian Bride 

It is a deeply human conflict between two peoples who live in the same area and have suffered more than any other people in the world. In order to resolve it, it would require the ability to put oneself humanly into the suffering of the other. Here in Berlin Kreuzberg, however, people like to politicise and talk about Israel as an "apartheid state" etc. etc. This is ugly. That is ugly. We therefore recommend The Syrian Bride. We know Clara Khoury from "Rana's Wedding" (DVD1003) and in it she had a lot of trouble crossing the border from Ramallah to Jerusalem. In The Syrian Bride she is supposed to marry a Syrian soap opera star whom she never met. A romantic comedy without romance. The opening scene is correspondingly gloomy. Mona (Khoury) has defected to Syria and can never return to Israel. She will never see her family again. Mona gets her passport stamped in Israel and then goes over to the Syrian checkpoint. They in turn refuse to accept her passport. At least it has an Israeli stamp! Does the stamp have to be? It has to be. Without it, she cannot emigrate from Israel. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Status Yo 

 This is not a film about Hip Hop, it is a Hip Hop film! Status Yo IS hip hop! Here comes a cinematic session full of beats and loops and breaks and, above all, lots of slogans. Filmed in the streets of Neukölln with amateur actors, those who just walk around on the streets of Neukölln. Recruitment took place around Hermannplatz (and Heinrichplatz in Kreuzberg) and everything was financed out of their own pockets. The story is well known and is told quite immodestly: From nobody to star. But it's not about winning, it's about moving on. Hip hop, that means 1. rapping 2. DJing, 3. breakdancing and 4. graffiti. And if everything around you collapses, then you still have that. What can go so wrong? 

CINEGEEK.DE Film List Berlin Neukölln 

A few years ago it would have been unthinkable for a "hippie", unshaven with used clothes, to walk across Herrmannplatz. Just as well one could meet this person in 2014 in the Residenzstrasse! In 1997 the Spiegel published the famous article Endstation Neukölln - High Noon in Rixdorf where shots were fired across the streets and executed ice-cold (http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-8805068.html). 2014 there are cute chocolate shops, vintage clothes and organic ice cream (ball in the Schillerpromenade 1.40 euros). Even a Neukölln film is slowly emerging! The dffb thesis "Dr. Ketel - The Shadow of Neukölln" by Linus de Paoli proudly bears this title!

Film List Kreuzberg 80's 

While Kreuzbergers remember with fondness the time before the fall of the Wall, back when there was still a Berlin allowance and no Bundeswehr - Kreuzberg was above all a sad sight. A grey district by the Wall where the aesthetics of New Wave could flourish. Here's a look back at the 80s. You can find most of these films for free on youtube. It's also worth taking a look at Videodrom, THE Kreuzberg video store of the time. In minute 16 of Jörg Buttgereit's Der Todesking you can even see the Videodrom and the owner, Graf v. Haufen. And if you've seen the great documentary B-MOVIE: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 (DVD8318), you'll recognise a few scenes from the collected footage. For example, Nick Cave as the Gunslinger from Dandy by Peter Sempel (minute 28) or Tilda Swinton riding her bike along the Wall in Cycling The Frame from minute 23. And what would the 80s be without Revolutionary May Day in Decoder from minute 109? Or the wonderfully unrenovated old buildings in Richy Guitar minute 40? Last but not least, Kreuzberg offered a perfect surface for graffiti with the wall that framed the district, as can be marvelled at in Wolfgang Büld's Berlin Now from minute 11. Have fun!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Jean-Luc Godard - Slow Motion 

This is a commercial cinema film, at least if you interpret "commercial" from the work of Jean-Luc Godard. Godard previously directed Marxist films and video productions. They were films about ideas, not about people. The German title is exceptionally a correct translation of the original title. The English, international title refers to Godard's technique of using slow motion for moments of happiness, fear or pain. So we look Godard's characters in the face and read their feelings. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Jean-Luc Godard - La Chinoise 

Not Andy_Warhol, but Jean-Luc Godard created the first masterpiece of pop art and it's called La Chinoise! Godard seemed obsessed by the student movement of Paris May '68 and by Mao - hence this is about a group of Maoists around that time. A film that wants to be understood, rather, to stimulate the mind. Head cinema. Most of those who worship Godard's early work had to come across it. Godard never did anything like this again before or after. And the press? "Feels like a trial run for the May 1968 revolution. See it by any means necessary!" - Time Out New York "Amazing! Like a speed freak's anticipatory vision of the political horrors to come!" - Pauline Kael. La Chinoise is an abstract documentary about would-be revolutionaries. I've often talked to my father and his brothers about this time and believe I'll actually find them in La Chinoise. The Nouvelle Vague became a new realism. Godard apparently also interspersed autobiographical elements - not least his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, plays the leading role alongside Jean-Pierre Léaud. Why can you still see La Chinoise today? Because the film is also quite funny, but above all STYLISH! And last but not least a Dostojewski adaptation, as I found out through wikipedia.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Darren Aronofsky - The Wrestler 

The Wrestler is about a man who keeps doing the ONE thing he knows how to do, out of laziness and false pride, on and on and on. He is a wrestler. That's how he makes a living. Many claim wrestling is not a sport, just fake. Maybe so, but how do you explain the booming of a wrestler when he goes down. Also just fake? Mickey Rourke plays the lonely, battered hero who has long since run out of money. His name is Randy. Who still remembers? Rourke himself worked as a professional boxer in the 80s, when he was still a young Hollywood star. Just for fun. At that time he gave interviews in which he announced that he wanted to hang up his acting career (while in indie productions he even appeared as Monk or Bukowski). At the time, Rourke considered himself an anti-actor. As one who despised his own guild. Read Hollywood by Bukowski once, as he describes Rourke and his rocker friends. Like young innocent hipsters with leather jackets. In any case, Rourke fell out of favor. Hollywood didn't offer him any more big roles in the '90s, and his boxing career didn't pan out either. So he did the only thing he was good at: Acting. On and on and on. We notice that there is a grain of truth in The Wrestler. But above all, this role served as a great comeback! Rourke, acting so amazingly physically in the role of his life! His face is hardly recognizable. He has the statue of a wrestler. And you believe everything he's doing is real. His wrestling performances seem like punishments. These punishments form the foundation for the story. Randy has split from his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood). And he hopes to be with stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). Otherwise, he's burned all bridges to life. When he shows up at Stephanie's door, she turns out to be anything but happy. And when Cassidy tells him that she is not available, he doesn't believe it. And yet it would fit! He earns his money as a wrestler, she as a sex worker. Both put on a show for their audience. Over the years, however, Randy is no longer blinded by false fame. He has learned to admit his need. His emotional distress, that is. Randy has kept a remnant of charm and that's why we believe in a good ending. Most fascinating are the behind-the-scenes wrestling details. There in the snowy slush of New Jersey, where Randy and his wrestling buddies hold their seedy matches. They bandage themselves up, using every crummy room as a locker room stall. Never before has director Darren Aronofsky made such a realistic film! Anyway, Randy and his colleagues literally plan their injuries. In the end, you realize how much Randy has grown on you. And Mickey Rourke. I don't begrudge Rourke this comeback! I'm rooting for Randy!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Richard Linklater - Suburbia 

"Don't tell us about private property--this is America!''; one of them yells at the couple from Pakistan who run the shop. Maybe they find it business damaging when the same "slackers" hang out with them every day and drink half a dozen beers? Because the life of the "slackers" stands still. There is no idea for the future. That's why they sit in the Mini Mart. Waiting becomes the principle of life. Richard Linklater gave this generation a name with his debut "Slacker". He hit the right note in "Dazed And Confused" (although it plays in the 70s). In Surburbia he now expresses the desperation of this waiting for Godot. Suburbia is a dark and disturbing movie (that's why it's so hard to get, I think). Everything takes place during one night in the parking lot. One of the group of losers made it. That night he will "return". His name is Pony (Jayce Bartok). The last time they saw each other he was still the geek who played folk songs. Now suddenly he is surprisingly a rock star and has promised to stop by after the concert with his old friends. Friends? The leader of the "Slackers" is Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi). A sardonic, intelligent guy. He lives in his parents' garage. Jeff left with Sooze (Amie Carey), but that should be over soon. Sooze will move to New York and attend an art school. The fact that she has plans is considered a crime in Jeff's world. Sooze's friends will stay in the parking lot. Tim (Nicky Katt), an alcoholic. Bee-Bee (Dana Spybey), who just got out of rehab. And Buff (Steve tooth), the loser. They sit on a bar and sometimes have word fights with the Pakistani, who in turn represent classic American values. In the parking lot there is nothing to do. Except speeches. With a dramatic flair. Their suburb is called Burnfield, which fits quite well. Then comes Pony. Contrary to our assumption he is a nice guy who is now successful. A decent guy who just wants to hang out with his old friends. But his chances to be one of them are immediately spoiled by Pony's limousine. This challenges Jeff with his inferiority complex. "It's just airport, hotel, show, airport, hotel..." The poor rock stars. Whether he still lives with his parents, asks Jeff of all people. Like Linklater's first three films, the plot takes place over a period of about 24 hours. The plot? The non-action, because the characters are in a kind of waiting loop. Linklater examines the waiting. Life without a goal. And waiting can make you pretty mean. P.S. a nice 90s soundtrack underlines the sense of time: Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus & Elastica, Girls Against Boys, Beck, U.N.K.L.E., Boss Hog, Skinny Puppy, Superchunk...

FREE ON CINEGEEK Luchino Visconti - Rocco And His Brothers 

Whoever deals with Visconti is allowed to work through all these contradictions: He was an aristocrat and a Marxist, and a gay artist. He began his career in Neorealism, but I think that Visconti's imagination was too big to remain true to this style. If we were typical Visconti geeks from our video store, we would argue about how neo-realistic Rocco And His Brothers is? Anyway, Rocco And His Brothers is also a sophisticated style exercise! Rocco (Alain Delon) himself is deeply idealistic. This sets in motion a chain of events that one knows only from Italian opera. Or from American Mafia gangster movies. But iin Rocco And His Brothers all this seems very realistic. The epic is about recent Italian history. It could also play today and reflect recent European history, but that's another subject. On a cold winter night Rosaria (Katina Paxinou) arrives at the train station in Milan with her five sons, including Simone (Renato Salvatori) and Rocco. Everyone notices immediately; this family comes from the poor south of Italy. Reason for the journey: The oldest son Vincenzo (Spiros Focas) has already settled in Milan. He will marry the beautiful Ginetta (Claudia Cardinale). But the time has been chosen unfavourably. Rosaria assumes that they will be welcome in Vincenco's new house. Ginetta's mother and Rosario, however, feel nothing but dislike for each other. The result is a catastrophe and Vincenco's engagement is even broken off. Enraged, Rosario leaves the inhospitable house and orders her sons to do the same. Not here - with Vincenco's new family - they will live, but in a shabby cellar apartment. Then it snows and Rosario throws her sons out of their beds. Finally earn money! Shoveling snow. They are advised to rent some apartment just to be fired from it. Then they'd accept them in one of the cheap council flats. They are not available to the homeless. A social scam that sounds pretty neo-realistic, right? But the sons find their way. Then Nadia, played by Annie Girardot, enters their lives. She's young and sexy and very honest. Nadia appeals to both Simone, the boxer, and Rocco. But Rocco hides his feelings. Nadia loves Rocco and despises the brutal Simone. She, the spoiled one (so Rosario) would like to be good like Rocco, not bad like Simone. Simone, unhappy with Nadia, drinks and smokes and finally loses Nadia as well as his career as a boxer. And Nadia begins a secret relationship with Rocco. But Rocco demands the impossible from Nadia. She has to go back to his broken brother because he has nothing else in life. But the romance between Nadia and Rocco is to resume. Discovered by Simone, who is beside himself with rage at Nadia. It is one of the most horrible scenes in film history. It made me cry. It becomes clear what has become of Simone: a beast. Cowardly, shameless and ruthless. Nadia, on the other hand, seems like a heroine. The comparison may have been overstretched, but it fits: like an opera heroine. Despite the shameful events, Rosario still dreams of living with all her sons under one roof. Even though everything escapes her. Vincenzo does marry Ginetta (it can only be an accident, Rosario says) and Rocco now lives with the young couple. While Simone moves in with Nadia. Rosario is now supposed to accommodate Nadia, while Simone moves around outside and gets drunk. And Rocco? Of all people, he makes a career in boxing, a sport he despises, to feed his family. But Nadia suffers the most painful case. Once an expensive prostitute, she humiliates herself and her husband Simone in revenge. Probably also out of grief at being rejected by Rocco. Is there any hope? There is! The youngest son Luca dreams of returning to the land of olives and sunshine. This land has become a romantic memory in the harsh and bleak north. Only in the south can the family reunite happily. In the land of lemons.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Pedro Almodovar - Matador 

When the German Almodovar box set came on the market, Matador from 1986 was surprisingly missing alongside Pepi, Luci, Bom (...). After all, this is my old partner Skulli's favourite Almodovar film and he immediately complained in horror. In 1986, Almodovar was Spain's most disreputable (and at the same time most respected) filmmaker and he faced that with Matador. In great seriousness, because Matador is nothing other than an attack on all that is considered common conventions. The matador's name is Diego (Nacho Martinez). He limps, his eyes are tired - and yet he is still extremely charismatic. He had to retire from the ring after a bull took him on its horns. Now he runs a school for bullfighters. Maria (Assumpta Serna), on the other hand, is a successful lawyer. We get to know Diego as he watches videos at home in which young beautiful women are beheaded. Scenes that remind Diego of the happiness of the past. Meanwhile, somewhere in Madrid, Maria experiences hot sex with a stranger. At the climax, she pulls out a hatpin and stabs her lover clean in the neck. Like a bullfighter. One may assume that both their lives would have been unfulfilling - if it weren't for Angel (Antonio Banderas) and Eva (Eva Cobo). Angel lives with his mother (who bullies him), is still a virgin at 20. He has second sight. Eva is Diego's young & pretty lover. Once Angel tries to rape Eva. But he does not even succeed in pulling out his pocket knife. A performance so ridiculous that Eva does not press charges. Hurt in his manhood, Angel even confesses to murders he never committed. Murders that apparently Diego and Maria committed - which is why Maria decides to defend Angel for the sake of justice. True love - a cynical game in the world of Pedro Almodovar! In the 80s, the defiant treatment of taboo subjects became Almodovar's trademark. At the same time, he always left a lot of room for interpretation, which - I imagine - must have given Almodovar the greatest pleasure. On the surface, Matador is about the impossible love between male and female bullfighters. Who stabs whom first? But if you look at Spain's past, at Franco's dictatorship, you will draw some parallels. In an interview, Almodovar even once denied that Franco ever existed. Matador is performed with absolute conviction and so we are even inclined to believe that General Franco never existed.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Pier Paolo Pasolini - Edipo Re 

It's never easy to describe Pasolini films, let alone evaluate them. It works like a holding pattern. Maybe next week I'll think Edipo Re is bad. Or maybe I'll decide it's one of the best films by this mysterious director? That's the way it is with this kind of auteur film of the 60s. You leave the cinema and at first you can't think of anything you've just seen. Would the elements of the film then flow together into an overall statement? Summarising the plot is never helpful. There are always political and social questions hidden behind the surface. Pasolini tells his stories in a spare, passive camera style. The music is thin, often eerie. His figures act as if in a trance. And then his films end, well, how? In fear and horror? Or joy? In any case, little Edipo is left to die in the desert (by his own father!) - found and raised like a king. The prophecy that he is chosen to kill his father and marry his mother terrifies him. He flees, colliding with an elderly stranger on the run, whom he kills in a duel.... Pasolini's Edipo is born in 1940s Italy and dies in the present - in 1960s Italy. This is exquisitely illustrated visually, abandoning the classic style of tragedy and telling the story in a more human way. And of course, Pasolini's Epido is a very pretty boy! Pasolini tells the story sparsely and coldly and his characters remain just as rigid. They never really catch fire in the Moroccan desert. And now?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Gianni Amelio - The Stolen Children 

If we translate the Italian title exactly, Gianni Amelio's winner of the 1992 Cannes Film Festival should be called The Child Thief. The Child Thief kidnaps children out of great desperation, but only for the reason of showing them for a few days that life can also be full of joy. This is the heart-touching story of a man who acts as a friend to children - almost like a better parent. The story begins in Milan. There, eleven-year-old Rosetta lives with her little brother Luciano and their mother, who forces Rosetta to work as a prostitute. However, this repugnant element of the film is not explored further. Both children are taken away from their mother. They are placed in the care of the young policeman Antonio (Enrico Lo Verso), who is supposed to take them to a children's home. Antonio is not enthusiastic about the task and the children are suspicious and withdrawn after years of abuse. This is to change. At the church children's home, the children are turned away. Their terrible past could be passed on to the other children. Without further ado, Antonio takes them to Sicily and slowly a bond develops between the three. The Stolen Children is a road movie. The people and experiences along the roads bring about a development in the strange trio: Antonio learns to love the children and they learn to trust an adult for the first time. It is small events that change everything, right up to that magical day on the beach when the children from the oppressive Milanese slum neighbourhood run across the white sand. But what they all don't know yet; a scandal is brewing around the disappearance of the children.... If you want a list of the most beautiful films of the 90s: The Stolen Children is definitely one of them!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE You, Me & Marley 

If you drop by our Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo on a Tuesday, you'll get to know (and understand, which takes a while) Aoife. She comes from Belfast. And if you read up a bit on Belfast and the Northern Ireland conflict, you'll come across two newspaper stories: 1. in the early 90s, a couple of teenagers were shot dead by a policeman who was later released. 2. the trend of "twocking" and "hotting" = stealing cars and organising illegal races. This is what You, Me & Marley is about. Basically about antisocial youths, but presented with understanding and complexity. They live in a society that has nothing for them: Catholic Irish in Northern Ireland. What could be more natural than making fun of the establishment? And what can guys as different as the oddball Marley (Michael Liebmann), the intelligent Frances (Bronagh Gallagher) or the retarded Sean (Marc O'Shea) believe in? Northern Ireland is corrupt and deeply brutalised. That's exactly how we learn about it in the film. The RUC has lost all moral compass, ready to beat up teenagers. But Richard Spence's TV film finds the IRA and any paramilitaries even worse. Hypocritical, according to the IRA's actions, profiting from stolen cars. And the common people? In another worse film, they would be innocent. But not here. Effective measures are demanded, but supposedly no one knows anything about vigilante justice. At one point Mary is tied to a lamppost and women douse her with paint: "I am a hood". The great thing about You, Me & Marley is these believable and morally complex characters in the bleak landscape of Northern Ireland. Who is to blame? But that would be the wrong question. Instead of simple solutions, we are offered a humanistic lament for wasted lives and the culture of blame.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Yasujiro Ozu - I Was Born, But 

Here comes a silent film by Ozu and like all Ozu films, must-see for all of us who LOVE films! It is the story of Kennosuke (Tatsuo Saito), a businessman who moves to the suburbs of Tokyo with his wife and rather naughty sons. The boys are disappointed in their father, who (in their opinion) is too subordinate at work. Their experiences contrast with those of the father. The father is an adult, whatever that means. But what does it mean to be an adult? Ozu doesn't believe that growing up has identifiable starting points or even a conclusion. It simply means struggling, being seduced (and resisting). It is an experience. Ozu never falls into kitschy platitudes; instead, he has made a tender and gentle coming-of-age film. The camera is always at eye level. Sometimes in the perspective of the children, sometimes at the height of the adult. When the children ask the father why he makes a fool of himself in front of his boss, they realise for the first time that adults are not necessarily role models. Basically, they act just as childishly and chaotically! We have goals, but ultimately little control over our future. We are born, grow older and then at some point we become adults - whatever that means.

90's Comedies on CINEGEEK.DE 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Darren Aronofsky - The Fountain 

Assuming The Fountain is ambitious nonsense - then form and subject would fit together wonderfully in this case, because The Fountain is about eternal life. Darren Aronofsky has decided to put his film on three different narrative levels at the same time. He chooses three completely different directions, which, unlike previous experiments of this kind, cannot necessarily be traced back to the same core. Aronofsky's work was ridiculed and described as stupid at film festivals. That's easy, because The Fountain has a very rare quality: it's a work of the utmost seriousness! The reason: The Fountain is more about the possibility of escaping death than about eternal life. The conflict of a man (or the man himself) with death. At the beginning we experience Tomas (Hugh Jackman) during the Spanish conquest campaigns. In the land of the Maya they search for the biblical tree of life at the behest of Queen Isabella (Rachel Weisz). In the 21st century, Tommy (Jackman) is a surgeon who treats a tumor in the brain of his wife Izzi (Weisz). She is currently writing the fairy tale book The Fountain, which in turn contains passages from the 16th century. In the 26th century Tom (Jackman) is a kind of astronaut who acts according to the principles of Zen philosophy. He moves in space with a dying tree and the spirit of Iz (Weisz). A mysterious fog lies before them... Does that sound weird? But the actors take their roles just as seriously as Arronofsky takes his film. It's almost like they're grounding the whole project. The Fountin exaggerates in every respect: The subject, the effects, the ambitions - that's exactly why I like the film! Haven't there always been young filmmakers who tried to put everything they wanted to express about life into a single film? Crazy, sometimes successful, sometimes not. Not a movie you can watch just like that. But that's a good thing!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Harry Belafonte - Island In The Sun 

Harry Belafonte is certainly one of the most played artists in our bar, especially "Jump In The Line" and "Matilda". He passed away today, having been one of the icons of the Black Power movement since the 50s. We were last privileged to hear the 90 year old speak on the occasion of the civil rights movement "Democracy now!" - just one month after Donald Trump's election victory. Belafonte called for more rebellion, more adventure! He stood alongside Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, called himself an actor who sings, but above all an activist. For Belafonte grew up in a time when racial segregation and the Ku Klux Klan were simply everyday occurrences. At the age of 90, at the very end of his life, he said he had never experienced America as racist. Barely 50 years after the time of Martin Luther King! And so he announced a 4th Reich, a never-ending nightmare. His musical career and his film career mostly showcased a very different Belafonte. Island In The Sun takes us to Georgetown harbour and the magnificent view of the sea. An eternal summer, filmed in CinemaScope. Behind it, the human drama, the racial conflict develops. The film, however, leaves it at allusions, for example in the depiction of the love affair of an English officer with a black woman. A blunt indictment on the subject of racism admittedly looks different from what Zanuck's 20th Century Fox dared to do back in 1957. The film even shies away from a kiss, probably for fear of appearing hurtful. Island In The Sun is good as a document of a time when such things were simply not allowed on the screen. Belafonte, who was the Godfather of Hip Hop and producer of Beat Street during the early 80s, is much more visible. In our bar, we love to play The Rock Steady Crew from it. If you fancy a walk, Beat Street is available from us as dVD8542 - sadly no longer free on youtube at the moment. In memory of Harry Belafonte!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Wedding 

Back when Wedding was still rancid! With guys like S-Bahn driver Klaus (Heino Ferch), who thinks his wife is cheating on him. So he simply gets off the S-Bahn and walks over to Pankstrasse, where his wife works in the furniture shop (the S-Bahn just stops). While his wife Susanne (Angela Schmid-Burgk) is in customer service, he hits her, goes home and threatens his child - while the police arrive. Klaus flees, but he doesn't get far. Only as far as where Wedding ends - to the Berlin Wall... The year is 1989. Behind the Bauer lie the Jahn Stadium and the dilapidated grounds of the Eberswalde railway station, where the Mauerpark is today. "Why are you torturing me like this?" asks Susanne Klaus. "Because I love you," says the toxic husband. And here at the end of the world, at the Berlin Wall, his showdown ends. A shot from the policeman Markus (Roger Hübner) goes off. Klaus falls down dead, Markus walks away from the scene. Wedding, however, is neither thriller nor drama. Markus, who wants to get married in a week, meets his school friend Susanne, of all people, at the Eberswalde train station years later. She, in turn, is dating the good-for-nothing Sulle (Harald Kempe). Fortunately, director Heiko Schier doesn't make anything out of this constellation.... nothing. At some point Susanne and Markus have sex in an old shed and Sulle tries to drive his Ascona into the wall (but it doesn't work because the petrol runs out). Nice 80s funk comes out of the synthesiser and the focus is always on the scene: Wedding. Sulle claims to have gone to sea, Susanne would like to be on TV and Markus would like to be a commissioner. If only there hadn't been that fatal shot! These guys are never shown off, let alone betrayed. The film likes them just as much as Wedding. It's not about grand gestures! A few months later the Wall falls and the world of Susanne, Markus and Sulle will be a different one. 

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.

CINEGEEK.DE Dance Movies 70s 

Most beautiful is the scene where Tony Manero (John Travolta) and Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) sit at the Brooklyn Bridge. Tony knows everything about this bridge; how high it is and how much concrete has been used. We experience the eternal motive of a man who wants to escape. Tony dreams of the other side of the bridge, where life must be much more pleasant! Stephanie has characterized his: Tony lives with his parents, hangs out with his buddies, dances Saturday night in 2001 - a walking cliché. Tony knows she's right. His life can probably be described as unfinished and Saturday Night Fever is above all a sad movie. But we remember Tony's moving walk on the New York sidewalk and his dance, all alone, in the middle of the dance floor. Travolta's play, simply wonderful and very endearing! The very first sequences round off his person. Outside, he makes sure to be seen with shiny new shoes; at home, however, he is still treated like a child. Tony gets a four dollar raise. For him, this is the only recognition in his life outside the dance floor - a bad joke for his (unemployed) father. But in his room Tony looks at himself in the mirror, straightens his hair, even strips for himself. The posters of his heroes are stuck to the wall. During dinner, his father beats him and ruins Tony's hairstyle: "I work a long time on my hair, and you hit it!". At home, Tony is trapped there and his parents only admire his brother Father Frank Jr., who has become a priest (after all, we are with Italo-Americans!). The plot is determined by Tony's choice of Annette (Donna Pescow), the girl who loves him, or Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney), who represents Manhattan for him. Stephanie has her own apartment and meets really famous people (Paul Anka!) for her work. But in reality she only learned to work as a secretary. Basically Stephanie is a thunderous version of Annette. I thought Annette was the better choice, but Tony wasn't. He is blinded by Stephanie's glamour and basically has no experience with women anyway. We even see him trying awkwardly to overpower Stephanie in the car. Later, in the most horrible scene, we witness Annette being raped by his friends. Saturday Night Fever is far from being a perfect movie (sometimes I even found it quite embarrassing!). Especially the story about the brother Father Frank Jr. is quite poor: The brother returns home, has an almost theological conversation with Tony, tells the family that he doesn't want to be a priest anymore, goes to the disco once and then disappears. From the disco and from the film. Amazing how little space the big dance competition takes! The happy ending in turn gives us hope for a better future for Tony and Stephanie, but without considering the problems of the past. Nevertheless: As Tony Stephanie explains, he would like to try to be a good friend of hers - that's heart-rending! Saturday Night Fever is a big love story! Anyway, Tony's dreams! On the dance floor all his problems are forgotten and everything that devalues his life. Here Tony is larger than life! A nice boy who is allowed to live his dream for a moment! Tony makes mistakes, he feels his way, he always says the wrong thing. Only in the moment that he does what he really loves (dancing!) he grows beyond himself. By the way, Tony also chooses his partner according to whether she can dance well. He even renounces his victory in the competition in favor of a couple from Puerto Rico. In Tony's self-image, this couple was simply better. He explains his own victory with the fact that everything foreign is rejected in this quarter! To sacrifice one's life to what one really loves! This is what Saturday Night Fever is about. Which film has a better message?

CINEGEEK.DE Dance Movies of the 80s 

Sure, we all love Flashdance and yet the movie could be much better! It's almost as if real life has overtaken Hollywood here! Who has seen the biography of Jeniifer Beals? A model from Chicago, discovered by a famous photographer, who finally fights her way up, goes to Yale and studies acting in New York? Beals plays Alex and she also has to fight her way to the top. Right at the beginning, when Irene Cara's theme song begins (and Irene Cara also comes from the street and walked a rocky road!), Alex is given certain attributes. She rides her bike to work early in the morning, stroking a cat that crosses her path. On a kind of disco construction site we experience Alex in a male profession: she is a welder. In the evening Alex is in the club, where she causes a furore as a dancer. Beals is really a fresh and talented actress, but the team around director Adrian Lyne doesn't make it easy for her. The script, written by some authors like the infamous Joe Eszterhas, looks like the sellout at Hollywood's supermarket. You just steal something from a whole bunch of movie classics. It's too bad that nobody has worked out Alex's character. Character? As described, one should rather speak of certain attributes. She, the Go Go dancer falls in love with her Porsche driving boss, then she visits her mentor, trains in a factory loft in Pittsburgh and is watched by her drooling dog. Alex has a variety of skills, for example she can fish her bra out from under her sweatshirt without taking it off. Again and again there are interruptions by the great dance scenes. Meanwhile Alex dreams of ballet, even though she works in the most typical working class bar in film history. What the script can't do, the soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder does. And the naturally appearing Jennifer Beals! You are missing Flashdance emotions! But for me this is also a film that I remember from my childhood. A film like a time machine. Flashdance is deeply and intimately connected to the 80s and that's why we love it so much!