FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

You can recognise Tinder dates by the way they sit in secluded corners of pubs and have strangely detached conversations. The precursor to this, the personals, abbreviate complex human relationships with abbreviations like "SWM". This is exactly how Desperately Seeking Susan begins. Susan is desperately wanted by ad using this abbreviation. Roberta (Rosanna Arquette), a bored housewife, sees the ad and becomes curious: who is Susan and who is looking for her and why? So she simply turns up at the meeting place and meets Susan (Madonna), who draws her into her world. So begins an almost forgotten American indie film from 1984 that reminds us what a great filmmaker Susan Seidelman is and what Madonna looked like before her surgeries and how a whole generation was into Rosanna Arquette (that's actually the one from Toto's song of the same name). Anyway, Roberta gets so drawn into Susan's world that she even becomes Susan for a while. Complicated? Exactly! This comedy is extraordinarily complicated! Because Desperately Seeking Susan is a comedy of mistaken identity based on several instances of mistaken identity. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PORTAL 

*Bad Boys*, starring a very young Sean Penn, tells the story of a couple of street lads from Chicago who get into a lot of trouble, end up in a youth detention centre and get into even more trouble there. Unfortunately, cinema always demands that films like this reach a moral resolution at a certain point: when the bad boys become good boys. That’s a shame, but up until then, *Bad Boys* is a really good film with a great feel for its setting! Sean Penn plays Mick O’Brien, a teenager of Irish descent from the Bridgeport neighbourhood, and Esai Morales plays Paco from the Latino district of Pilsen. Both are tough, mean and anti-social. Their paths cross over a drug deal. A shootout ensues in which Paco’s younger brother is killed. Mick killed him. Paco takes his revenge, rapes Mick’s girlfriend (Ally Sheedy), is caught and sent to the same prison as Mick. Mick already knows his way around prison, and Paco’s a quick learner. Only the strongest survive, and everyone in prison knows that Mick and Paco will have to fight each other to the death for their honour... The first hour is so good it’s actually a bit scary! Incidentally, *Bad Boys* is the first film about street gangs in which they aren’t glorified (*The Warriors*) or romanticised (*The Wanderers*). That was back in 1983. Unfortunately, though, the film becomes a bit predictable in the second half, even though the day-to-day life in prison is portrayed in great detail and feels authentic. But the absolute best thing about *Bad Boys* is, of course, the young Sean Penn!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Herz aus Glas + die besten Filme des Neuen Deutschen Films 

It’s not so much about the content – quite the opposite, in fact. When directors like Wim Wenders make a thriller, they take great pleasure in cutting out the key elements of the crime story. In doing so, he challenges us, because we don’t watch thrillers just for the plot, but at least as much for the atmosphere. New German Cinema of the 1970s and late 1960s thrives precisely on this: an atmosphere in which we are immersed. New German Cinema always came across as affected and strange (in which respect it resembled German Expressionism of the 1920s). The directors relied on garish lighting and colour effects and pushed their characters to the very limits of human behaviour. There is always a deliberately artificial dimension to it. Realism was of no interest to New German Cinema. Was that the reason why the audience always reacted so reservedly? Directors such as Fassbinder or Herzog made films that forced you to form an opinion. You couldn’t just sit back in your cinema seat.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

Wim Wenders made two films in 2023 and here comes another beautiful feature film by the soon-to-be 85-year-old auteur filmmaker! Perfect Days was shot in Tokyo, using an almost SENSATIONALLY beautiful colour palette, almost entirely in Japanese. But not much is spoken. Koji Yakusho plays Hirayama, a toilet attendant who hardly ever speaks. Essentially, Wenders' film is about how we follow Hirayama through Tokyo, how he cleans toilets and plays tic-tac-toe with a mysterious guest who leaves leaves for him in the toilets. There's also a real Wim Wenders soundtrack: Lou Reed, who of course provides the title, Nina Simone or The Animals are playing and when Hirayama's niece (Arisa Nakano) turns up at his door, something like a plot develops. But: Perfect days is not a plot film, but a Wenders mood picture. Yes, a picture, because Wenders prefers to use paintings as models for his cinema pictures. This may sound a little weak to some, but Perfect Days is also a nice way to let your mind wander and immerse yourself in Wenders' transcendence. And if you liked Perfect Days, then try the complete catalogue of Yasurijo Ozu, the declared role model of this film!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PORTAL 

Summer Of Sam was the first "Spike Lee Joint" without African-American actors. But Lee works on a theme that is familiar to "blacks" and other minorities: the scapegoat. It's the summer of 1977 in New York. The serial killer SAM is up to no good. All of New York is seized by the paranoid fear of the serial killer. In the Bronx, where the Italo Americans live, everyone who is different from the others is suspicious of being SAM. Summer Of Sam vibrates with guilt and fear and lust. And also with comedy! For once it's not about the murderer, but about his victims. SAM kills young brunette women - and the neighbourhood has formed into a kind of mob, ready to lynch the beast. One of the ugliest sides of man: To find someone guilty and to accuse someone who is different. 

CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PORTAL 

What traps are there if you want to make a political film? First, the tendency to self-satisfaction. A very little liberal and therefore unsympathetic way of thinking. Secondly. The emphasis on the historical context, because that would quickly make your film forget. And who should remember the specific context in the future? Who knows, perhaps there are so few political films because of these two traps? Let's think back to the time of the Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha. To the time around 1968, when film scholars in particular demanded that FILM be the image of society. FILM should draw attention to social and political grievances. Particularly important at that time in Brazil (and in South America as a whole) was the rejection of American cinema! What alternative did you have to produce as your own films? That's how Cinema Nuvo was born. Representation of the social reality of Brazil. Filmed on the streets, in the slums with amateur actors. Cinema Nuvo sees itself as Anti Hollywood with its genre stencils. Cinema Nuvo is REVOLUTIONARY!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

What's it like in the afterlife? Probably you wait. And watch the relatives. Until those whom one still knew in this world die slowly. and then it gets really boring. In Almodovar's Volver, so often underestimated by our video store customers, the deceased matriarch is called Irene (Carmen Maura). She comes from a colourful Almodovar town in the Spanish hinterland. In this colourful city the men die early and the women happily take care of their graves. From here we travel with the camera into the past to understand it as part of the present. In the present we meet Irene's daughters Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) and Sole (Lola Duenas). There is also a beer drinking, staggering husband. But of course he doesn't play a role in Almodovar's world. He is only capable of disturbing peace through his presence as a stabbed corpse. Paco is the name of Raimunda's husband, who is now lying dead on the floor. And the spirit of Irene? He wanders where he is most needed: To Raimunda. This mix of black comedy and reincarnation drama works so elegantly. And actually, Raimunda's plan to found a restaurant is also in the centre of attention. Almodovar is, as we know, a women's director. He loves women, young and old! With Carmen Maura's performance, the woman who once discovered and promoted him returns to his work. In this paradise of women, there is a random solution to every problem. In addition, we get to know everyday life in the village. It certainly resembles the village where Almodovar was born! Volver means "to return" in many ways. Irene returns to Raimundas life, Carmen Maura to Almodovar's work and Almodovar to his village. Almodovar obviously loves the Hollywood melodramas of the 50s with their bright candy colors and naive optimism. In Volver everything is red. Blood red. For all those who expect something like a metaphysical film: Volver is not metaphysical at all. On the contrary, the protagonists approach all challenges with common sense. A dead woman appears as a ghost and is immediately involved in very practical family problems. Volver deals with daily life, even if murder is included. And who knows, perhaps Almodovar felt like a ghost himself as a young gay country man in the past Spain of the Franco regime?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

Haifaa Al-Mansour is the first director from Saudi Arabia, the first to break through the wall of silence. Her film, a darling of the audience! It is a work about freedom, but also about winning! But how will Wadjda arrive with all his insider jokes? The story is charming. A girl who wants to buy a bike. She has to submit to the law, hide more or less. Wajdja is not a pure comedy. The film is about how women live in Saudi Arabia. Depicted as drama, but also as satire. Again and again there are these moments, which are brutal on the one hand, but also heartwarming! At the end we see a fairy tale of hope: A little princess from the suburbs of Riyadh. Wadjda is so complex and profound that you can see him several times and yet discover something new. The great difference between private and public space, the clash of civil society with tribal rites, life in pre-modern times. Basically, the girl Wadjda is restricted from all directions. She is never free to do what she wants. Even her best friend, he blocks her path. When you read about Wajdja, you read above all about the conditions of production. Yes, there is no cinema in Saudi Arabia, Sharia instead. It is ruled by a conservative king who sees art only as a means to an end to honour the Prophet. But let's just look at the film: it doesn't bend over itself, it simply shows the lives of women. He doesn't seem indignant, although Wdjda provokes them with her colorful sneakers. She wants to buy her bike with the money she wins in a Koran competition. We are basically experiencing a rebel here! Who knows, maybe women in Saudi Arabia will even be allowed to ride their own bikes in the future?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

Luc Besson’s *The Big Blue* is, at its heart, the simple story of two men who dive for depth records, driven by their love of the sea. It was filmed in various locations – Corsica, Greece and even Peru – which lends this romantic tale an epic feel. Rosanna Arquette plays Joana, a quirky insurance saleswoman from Manhattan. Somehow she ends up in the north, where she is fascinated by a young man called Jacques (Jean-Marc Barr), who dives deep into the icy sea. We then meet Enzo (Jean Reno), Jacques’ lifelong friend and rival. Joana falls in love with Jacques, which isn’t easy because he’d rather swim with dolphins than kiss a woman. Now, some might claim that neither Joana nor the two divers are vivid, ‘real’ characters. But that’s not the point. It’s about the imagery, the music – in short, the surface. It’s about the style, not the content, and in that respect, *The Big Blue* is uncompromising.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM  

German cinema is booming, and rarely have themes such as identity and German history been explored so frequently! And it is above all female filmmakers such as Valeska Grisebach, Jenny Erpenbeck and Mascha Schilinski who have been instrumental in the success of recent years.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

There are backwoods sheriffs, mechanics, remote cabins and - most importantly! - cars. The characters, of course, serve neither purpose nor meaning in U-Turn. Take Sean Penn's Bobby, who is missing two fingers and is dogged by bad luck. When he leads his Mustang into town from Ariz, he meets the loathsome Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton). A mechanic from the backwoods. Full of inbreeding, of course. And while the vile Darrell is wrenching on the Mustang, Bobby goes to town, where everyone is evil and cruel. and narrow-minded and hateful and over-sexualized. In short, the city is hell. He quickly meets the feisty Grace (Jennifer Lopez), who invites him home (so he can fix her curtains). Already, husband Jake (Nick Nolte) storms in with bloodshot eyes. The obligatory argument ensues before Jake asks Bobby to do a contract killing on Grace.... U-Turn spins on and on, offering great actors and mannered images popular in the 90s. As befits a good B-movie, we quickly discover that the characters are not driven by their character, but serve the plot alone. U-Turn is a comic in this sense.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMIN PLATFOM 

British humour is baffling to us, yet it works with compelling logic: you put a few characters in a series of situations and ask yourself: how might they really have reacted? Take *Life of Brian*: what would have happened during a typical pre-Christian stoning? What if Pontius Pilate had had a lisp?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING portal 

Where are the limits of the good or on New-German of the do-gooder? That's the test arrangement of Anders Thomas Jensen's Adam's Apples (which, by the way, ranks third in our list of the most rented DVDs in our video store!!!). At least on the surface. Performance by the neo-Nazi Adam (Ulrich Thomsen), who just got out of prison and was assigned to the local priest for his rehabilitation. You can't expect much from Adam, who exchanges the crucifix in his sleeping chamber for a portrait of Adolf Hitler. In his file he is described as EVIL in capital letters. But I don't think that the priest Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen) even accepts this term EVIL. In Ivan's world there is only GOOD. A pathological optimist. For the priest it is clear that Adam needs a goal in life. That's why he gives him the first task: Adam is to bake an apple pie and pick the apples from the tree in front of the church. But this apple tree is first attacked by crows, then gnawed up by worms and finally struck by lightning. A sign from God? 

FREE ON CINEGEEK Spirit Of The Beehive + Best Of Spanish Cinema 

There was no Nouvelle Vague in Spain after the Second World War. On the contrary, Spanish cinema was virtually non-existent during the Franco dictatorship. After Franco’s death and the end of his regime, it was all about La movida madrilena – across every cultural sphere! Cinema flourished, discovering eccentrics and madmen. To this day, it seems that the Spanish have not forgotten what life is like under a fascist dictatorship. Unlike other European countries, Spain has no extreme right-wing parties vying for power, and has been producing excellent films for many decades.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.De our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

Takashi Mike's beautiful film is about real wonders and finding yourself in one of the strangest places in the world: where people can fly. Where life was spared from the intervention of modernity. The Japanese sales representative Wada (Masahiro Motoki) is to travel to China on behalf of a colleague. The destination of his journey are jade deposits in a small village - somewhere in the hinterland of China. The guide Shen (Mako) agrees to escort Wada there, but there is another companion; the violent Yakuza Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi). He pursues Wada because his company borrowed money from the Mafia and demands his share of the find. The three undertake a wondrous journey through the mountains of China. The best idea is to move around in a raft pulled by turtles. However, the original mission falls behind after legend has it that there is a village of flying people in the province. It was the grandfather of the beautiful Yan Si-chang (Li Li Wang), who once flew free like a bird to the sky. He was also the one who built a school of flying for the children. Although there is no proof that the people there are actually flying, Wada and Ujiie are less and less able to escape the fascination of this place. Especially Ujiie seems to fly over this view, to change more and more... To the geeks among you, the work of Takashi Miike impresses above all because of his taboo breaks. When we put The Bird People In China on our video shelves, however, completely different customers were suddenly interested in Miike: those who liked "Arthaus" above all! The work of the tireless Miikes, comprising more than 70 films, no longer comprised exclusively controversial shockers. Miikes Road Movie offers visually stunning nature shots, a few laughs and a lot of fantasy! And even an unobtrusive love story! Freedom and self-discovery are the themes of The Bird People In China. The conflict between tradition and modernity. Miike philosophizes about the effects of modern life and technology on us. The complex questions are much more interesting than possible simple answers! 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PORTAL 

Eraserhead plays in a grim, strange world. Probably in the post-apocalypse. At the center of the film is Henry Spencer (Jack Nance), who wears his hair as if he had just reached into the socket. One evening Henry returns to his shabby apartment to find out that he was invited to dinner by the parents of his girlfriend Mary X (Charlotte Stewart). The worst possible family scene! Mary's mother even lets Henry answer particularly unpleasant questions twice and licks his face after a certain point in time. The grandmother is sitting in the corner. Maybe she is already dead. The father boasts in a good mood that his left arm is deaf. The dinner consists of chickens, which secrete disgusting mass, one cuts into it. And Mary gave birth to a child! A premature birth. But nobody is sure if it is a baby at all? Anyway, the parents insist on a marriage. And what does the baby look like? Like a tormented exorcist worm that permanently segregates innards. A tortured creature that whines and moans. Mary flees and Henry remains alone with the worm. Driven by hallucinations, a prostitute appears to the young father. His baby screams and pukes purulent phlegm. In order to save himself, he is forced to do something terrible... Eraserhead - as we can read - was shot by David Lynch in stages over years. Nevertheless, the film is harmonious and in an uncanny way even beautiful. Eraserhead stubbornly resists any explanation. There is something like a narrative structure, but in the course of the events it is lost in avant-garde experiments. For me it was always important: I had something to hold on to. And that is increasingly losing itself. It's precisely this residual logic that I miss in so many experimental films.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PLATFORM 

How on earth did it come to this? In 1979, the long-divided left in Iran rallied behind the ‘revolutionary’ Khomeini, who was able to establish a theocracy right before their eyes. It is hardly surprising that the left, the so-called ‘79ers’, do not command much respect in Iran. Instead, there is a movement that longs for the days before 1979. A movement outside Iran, led by the Shah’s son. Within the country itself, a heavily armed minority has the population under its thumb, slaughtering and robbing them. The people are so desperate that they pin their hopes on a war to bring them relief. Asghar Farhadi has made his films within this system. He has won numerous film awards. His debut, Dancing In The Dust, was acclaimed by critics worldwide. Farhadi’s films are not explicitly political. They are moral. Dancing In The Dust is about marriage and money. Nazar (Yousef Khodaparast) loves his wife Reyhane (Baran Kosari), but there are salacious rumours about Reyhane’s mother, which is why Nazar is preparing for a divorce. Nobody wants this divorce. Reyhane’s life will be ruined. But Nazar has no money and is in arrears on a loan. He flees, hiding in the car of a grumpy snake charmer. Two men with very different temperaments: Nazar, who talks non-stop, and the snake charmer, who never speaks, in a hostile environment. If one interprets the artwork from a very broad perspective, might one still draw conclusions about life in Iran? In Iran, where tens of thousands of people are simply being slaughtered in a matter of days?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING PORTAL 

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.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own FREE STREAMING 

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....

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE our own STREAMING 

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?