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With anger and a lot of energy City Of God dives into the world of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The world of children gangs. Fernando Meirelles' gangster epic has been compared to Scorsese's "Goodfellas" - every customer who borrows the DVD from us quotes the comparison (well, let's say almost everyone). And everyone is right! City Of God deserves this honor! Scorsese's epic begins with the first-person narrator introducing us and explaining that even as a child he wanted to become a gangster. The children in City Of God on the other hand - it seems - never had a choice. Why is there a world of favelas at all? To isolate the poor from the rest of the city. But then the favelas grew into areas full of life, color, music. And full of dangers. At least that's what I think from the distance of Berlin Kreuzberg. City Of God opens furios. A gang holds a picnic. Then a chicken escapes them. Among those who want to catch the chicken is the first-person narrator, Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues). And Rocket is already in the line of fire between two gangs! The camera whirls and we see Rocket playing football. In former times, in the suburbs. It has to be, says Rocket, because to understand his story, we have to start all over again. Looking back. Rocket and his friends form their first gang. To commit crimes, some would claim - to survive others. Through these first virtuoso scenes we know; here comes an inventive film! Meirelles loves racing cuts and the use of a handheld camera. That was all new and exciting back then. This also fits to City Of God, because that's how we think we are everywhere at the same time. And everywhere danger can threaten! Gangs always have money and weapons. They commit robberies and deal with cheap drugs. Nevertheless, they are not rich, because in their milieu there is hardly any money. All structures of Rockets Viertel, including family structures, are ultimately subject to the omnipresent poverty. He tells. Only the gangs can give you a certain status, even recognition. But the mortality rate is high and the leaders of the gangs are always young. Life has no value. And then it is taken from you. Once we experience how a victorious leader is killed. Completely senseless. It is clear that he was killed by the STRUCTURE of the crime. It could have been anyone else. Fortunately, City Of God is not only dark, but also very poetic! For example, when Rocket photographs his streets with a (stolen) camera. He asks a photographer to develop his pictures - and is shocked to see how his pictures of an armed robbery end up in the newspaper. Is this really his death sentence? No, he didn't. The gangs are thrilled, feel like little stars! Now they pose for him with guns and girls. In any case there are two cities in City Of God. One for those who work and the other for the stranded. Normally the poorest don't like to tell their stories. But City Of God dares a try. Not that something should be stylized artificially into a myth. The film simply tells what it knows.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Possession 

I still haven't gotten used to seeing Zulawski's former "Video Nasty" in full length and to being able to give out Bildstörung in the film art bar Fitzcarraldo as a decorative edition of the great label (the youtube link serves the onlookers to get an impression). You can SEE the film on DVD in full beauty!). I am honestly thrilled! I used to go to the Videodrom because of the movie, but the answer was negative every time. Possession didn't exist on VHS. The reason: Isabelle Adjani's art. The bravest performance ever on celluloid: Adjani at Tempelhof subway station, possessive, hysterical, grandiose! Possession dares to bring us, the audience, into a state of trance. Everything begins with the end of a marriage. Anna (Isabelle Adjani) opens Mark (Sam Neill) that she will leave him. She has to, but doesn't understand exactly why. Anna is disturbed, meets with a secret lover and expresses her newly won freedom through acts of violence. Mark stumbles through the phone and bends himself alone in bed like a fetus. Soon the fight begins. They fight in a street cafe, Anna mutilates herself with an electric kitchen knife. The second surreal act begins with the true nature of Anna's secret rendezvous. In a degenerate apartment in Kreuzberg (by the way in the Sebastianstrasse corner Luckauer in 36. Here the link, as it looks like there today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnleWl52m5s). It is inhabited by a slimy monster hungry for blood and sex, in which Anna finds her new partner, whom she approaches. Mark experiences his most terrible trauma when he has to watch his wife have sex with the worm (Carlo Rambaldi created the creature.) Possession doesn't seem to be a movie where you expect real events as inspiration - and yet that's exactly the case: Zulawski wrote the script after the separation from his first wife (who played the leading role in his early Polish movies). Possession, a film about raging male jealousy, but also about the risk of personal freedom. Zulawski staged his film in 1980 in divided Berlin and makes conspicuous use of wide angles and depth of field. The first shot shows the Berlin Wall, in the background the guards from East Berlin. A memorial of reality full of violence and tensions between East and West (which Zulawski knows only too well since he himself had to leave his homeland Poland). The separation of Anna and Mark is mirrored in the film. Possession is a work of fear and deep sadness. Something thoroughly evil seizes Anna's body (is it diabolical?). This culminates in the scene in the subway station, since Anna gives birth to something that Zulawski doesn't dare to define either. A misunderstanding to misunderstand Zulawski's cinema as mere pyrotechnics. A deep preoccupation with the secrets of the human soul, torn apart by its brutal contradictions - that is his intention. Zulaswki is an extremely romantic director, a passionate explorer of what is torn within us. Possession is supposed to help us overcome this state despite our dark desires. Deep down, Zulawski's work is a film about the search for grace.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE La Bella Noiseuse 

Frenhofer, the great artist, hasn't painted anything for ten years. He threw everything away while working on his masterpiece, which he wanted to call La Belle Noiseuse. His model: his own wife Elizabeth, the inspiration for the most successful part of Frenhofer's career. At first, according to Elizabeth, Frenhofer painted her because she loved him. Finally, she explains, because he loved her. Then he stopped, fearing that the work would destroy that love. Frenhofer does not see the outside, he depicts the inside of his models. Bones, sinews, the soul. One day three visitors knock on the door of the chateaus where Frenhofer still lives with Elizabeth in seclusion. A collector, a young painter and his friend Marianne. Marianne is distant, unapproachable and of strong will. During dinner together, Frenhofer looks at Marianne - and this look describes their entire relationship. Marianne senses this, she wants to get away from him, because she is aware of the feelings behind Frenhofer's gaze: he will start painting again. Jacques Rivette's film La Belle Noiseuse is the best film I have ever seen about the creation of art! It is also the greatest film about the painful relationship between an artist and his muse. Rivette's film has a running time of over four hours. He also edited a shortened divertimento version - but what for? The great thing about La Belle Noiseuse is that it spends time creating art - and the sprouting, and eventual destruction, of passion. Frenhofer is played by Michel Piccoli, whose eyes can penetrate other actors. With his high forehead he seems intelligent, but we sense; it is a terrible intelligence. Emmanuelle Béart is a perfect beauty with deep eyes, full lips - and impressive willpower. We can understand what Frenhofer sees in Marianne. His wife Elizabeth (Jane Birkin) understands it too. She warns Marianne not to let Frenhofer paint her eyes. The painting could deprive the model of her vitality (We notice a touch of Oscar Wilde in this idea). So much for the plot, but it doesn't bother us as such. The strongest scenes of the film, they concentrate entirely on creating a work of art. In his brick hall, his studio, Frenhofer begins to sketch Marianne. We look over his shoulder (which Rivette allows us to do in very long takes). A physical process, how he obsessively sorts his pencils, brushes and paints. The first strokes, then oil. Frenhofer assigns Marianne a wardrobe; she understands, takes off her coat and will be naked for the next four hours. First we consider Emmanuelle Béart as a woman, then as a model. Slowly we see what Frenhofer means: her innermost being, her essence, her being. He moves her arms and legs like those of a doll. She complains about her legs falling asleep and asks for a cigarette. Frenhofer takes it away from her and bends it back into position. Does it sound boring just to watch a man painting? Not at all! Tension is slowly built up. A fight for the stronger will develops. Marianne is an imposition, a nuisance. Elizabeth translates "noiseuse" as "nutty". Marianne is crazy. This is what Frenhofer wants! She begins to understand and agrees to her determination. Now it is Marianne who drives the work. The day La Belle Noiseuse is finished, we don't get to see it. Marianne describes how she saw something in it, cold and dry - herself. That must be enough for us. At night Elizabeth sneaks into the studio and realizes: she marks the painting with a cross. It marks Frenhofer's death. Now imagine this atmosphere with the sounds Rivette uses in the old castle. We hear the wind in the woods outside and in the old walls, kicks, the slamming of an old door. It's no coincidence that La Belle Noiseuse seems like a haunted movie. Elizabeth mentioned that the old walls are haunted. We hear the scratching of the pencils on the paper (and increasingly loudly). During one scene we see Marianne bent under a cross. At first she cries softly, then she starts to laugh - more and more. The scratching of the pencils, we think we can still hear it, although Frenhofer has put it aside. It is said that the nouvelle vage took place only because of him: Jacques Rivette. He himself was never as famous as his companions. Rivette's films turned out to be too long and complicated for that. But in La Belle Noiseuse I don't see the slightest difficulty! I wish the film to be as long as it is - not a minute less! I sympathized with the struggle in the studio, with the bond that was created. Piccoli embodies exactly Frenhofer's Vorst Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE La Boum 2 

Willkommen in einer vergangenen Ära und zwar der als die 70er auf die 80er trafen. Wer nicht mehr so jung ist blickt voller Nostalgie auf diese Zeit zurück und erinnert sich daran, La Boum im Französisch Unterricht in der Schule gesehen zu haben. Das war natürlich dementsprechend zeitverschoben. Doch im Grunde sind zwei Generationen mit La Boum aufgewachsen. Diejenigen, die den Kinostart miterlebten und dann noch wir, die wir La Boum im Fernsehen sahen. Das war am nächsten Tag dann ein wichtiges Thema auf dem Schulhof, denn immerhin darf La Boum als erste europäische Teenager Komödie gelten, die uns wirklich bewegt hat. Und die Fortsetzung? La Boum 2 verdient den Titel Komödie im Grunde nicht, sondern stellt vielmehr ein Teenager Drama da. Entfaltet wird die Geschichte von Vic Beretton alias Sophie Marceau, dieser jahrelang unterschätzten französischen Schauspielerin. Denn Marceau ist die einzige ihrer Generation, die nicht nur Akademiker, sondern uns alle begeistert hat. Ein echter Filmstar, den jeder kennt und liebt! Umgeben ist Vico diesmal von zwei potentiellen Liebhabern, gespielt von Pierre Cosso und Lambert Wilson. Philippe und der nicht mehr ganz junge Felix der sich womöglich sogar strafbar gemacht hätte mit Vic. Im Grunde sind es sogar drei Liebhaber, denn Mathieu (Alexandre Sterling) aus Teil 1 taucht auch wieder auf und ihm zu Ehren wird diese zweite titelgebende Party auch geschmissen. Im Hintergrund für die Vorbereitungen der zweiten "Boum" müssen zudem Vics Eltern (Claude Brasseur und Brigitte Fossey) ihre Ehe retten, denn das moderne Berufsleben fordert vom Mann, dass er umzieht. Und die Frau? Das ist der Konflikt zweier berufstätiger Eltern. Und während Vics Freundin Penelope (Sheila O'Connor) Woche für Woche mit anderen Jungs geht und bereits die Pille nimmt, ist Vic noch Jungfrau. Ein Teenager, der noch Urlaub bei der Grossmutter in Salzburg macht. Und auf dem Rückweg trifft sie im Zug Philippe. Sie vertauschen ihre Pässe usw. Anders als primitive Teenager Filme der 80er plädiert La Boum 2 dabei ganz unaufdringlich für die Selbstverwirklichung beider Eltern und betrachtet auch Vics Probleme nicht lüstern und albern, sondern ehrlich und einfühlsam. Alles wirkt realistisch; Vic und ihre Freundinnen sprechen und denken so wie echte Teenage. Ein zeitloser Publikumsfilm.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Dardenne - Lorna's Silence 

The Dardenne brothers always focus on individual characters in their films. The camera hardly lets them out of the picture. In Lorna's Silence, however, Lorna is partially absent. A plot begins to unfold of which she is oblivious. Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) comes from Albania, is around 30, and now lives in Belgium due to a marriage swindle. Lorna herself is a beneficiary as well as a victim of the fraud. A miserable junkie married her for money. The deal was set up by Fabio, who in turn plans to murder the junkie. After that, in turn, Lorna has to marry a Russian. Lorna believes that after this plan she could be free to marry the man she loves: Sokol. Together they plan to open a small cafe. Everything is sad and shabby. The junkie's name is Claudy (Jeremie Renier); he's cold turkey. A pathetic guy. Lorna treats him coldly. But she is not angry. Slowly she wonders if she couldn't just divorce him without murdering Claudy with an overdose.... The Dardenne brothers' special talent is to never present characters like Lorna as part of a plot - but always in their own special human situation. That's why it would be too easy to evaluate Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione) as a villain. He is simply driven by money and heartless. He pursues his goals with brutality. A bully like so many of the characters in this cold Dardennes world. Lorna, on the other hand, is a pleasant woman with a warm smile. Even more than a prostitute, she is robbed of her personal integrity. Simply because of her sex! Claudy married Lorna for money, the Russian doesn't care if he sleeps with her. And Sokol? He is a sneaky man who is out of the country most of the time. Lorna dreams with him exist only in her head. In some respects, the Dardennes are breaking new ground. For the first time, we experience a time jump in one of their films. Meanwhile, Lorna is transforming. Like the previous Dardenne films, however, Lorna's Silence lives from this impetuous force that doesn't let us look away for a moment. You can't escape it. Everything you need to know, you see on the screen. There is nothing to interpret. In this Dardenne world, compassion exists, but mercy cannot be granted to anyone.

Film List New Wave 

The 80s began cool, distant and introverted. The New Wave aesthetic lets a cool wind of modernity blow. In a Mercedes convertible with an Armani suit and the soundtrack by Blondie Call me, Richard Gere as American Gigolo merges with his luxury outfit. Let the neon 80s begin! 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Ingmar Bergman - The Seventh Seal 

A knight returns from the Crusades. He finds a church that is still open, even though the plague is raging all around him. He confesses. He speaks to a man with a frock about his indifference, which excludes him everywhere. He lives in a world full of spirits as a prisoner. He wants God to stretch out his hand and speak to him. He screams into the darkness, but there is no one there. The man in the frock turns around. It is death. Can anyone tell me a modern film that presents such pictures? Nobody. Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal has much more in common with a silent film than with modern cinema. A rugged, uncompromising film (some of you may find it ridiculous or outdated). Hardly anyone asks about the DVD in our video store. Bergman has gone out of fashion. The subject, the absence of God, interests no one. But I am addicted to Bergman. I watched all his films one after the other. And The Seventh Seal is not primarily about the absence of God. It's about our gossip. Our restlessness. Bergman, on the other hand, poses existential questions. In contrast to his films from the 60s he still asks these questions directly in the 50s and therefore I prefer The Seventh Seal. A straightforward Bergman movie like he wasn't supposed to do later. In most of his movies Bergman settles accounts with God. Who doesn't know the famous picture of the knight playing chess with death? The work ends with an equally famous picture: The macabre dance of death before the horizon. Once the knight (embodied by Max von Sydow) asks a girl about the devil, who must know whether God exists. "Look me in the eye"; the girl answers. She refers to the priest who could see him. She tells of it almost proudly. But the knight's squire discovers nothing but emptiness in the girl's eyes. There is nothing. So is there only death and God doesn't matter? Bergman's films deal with this spiritual search. They desperately seek answers to the big questions of life. With regrettable answers. But there is one thing in Bergman's work: love. It exists. Like a consolation.