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.