FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Francois Truffaut - Jules And Jim (engl. subt.)

Jules Et Jim opens with a furious carousel music sequence and a breathless introduction to two young men, Jules and Jim, who meet in Paris around 1912. One is French, the other Austrian. They teach each other their languages and translate poems. Jules is looking for a girlfriend, but it never really works out. The girls he "dates" are either too quiet or they talk too much or something else doesn't fit. So he tries with a professional, but of course that's not the wisdom of the end. Truffaut tells it all very exuberantly and always as if he already knew the end of the story... In 1962, in the middle of the creative explosion of the Nouvelle Vague, Truffaut's third film came into the cinemas. Probably the most influential and also the best film in this series, which so radically broke with the past! This thrust of the Nouvelle Vague seemed so tremendous that a few years later American cinema would also break with the stereotypes of the past. Legend has it that Truffaut found the original novel by Henri-Pierre Roche in an antiquarian bookshop. He, in turn, had designed the triangular relationship around Jules and Jim based on his own experiences. This means that the original Catherine was still alive while the film was running in the cinemas. The original story was probably that Catherine married Jules and shot Jim. But in Truffaut's realization Catherine does not become a murderer. Jim (Henri Serre) survives and only once Catherine (Jeanne Moreau) points a gun at him. Everything begins cheerfully and upbeat, but the First World War is approaching, which should not only break Europe, but also our trio. Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim were born to be friends. Both live in Paris and both choose a life of freedom. First, Jules thinks he has found his ideal wife in Therese (Marie Dubois), after she writes an anarchist slogan on the wall and is beaten by her boyfriend. Therese is one who puts cigarettes with the burning end in her mouth to blow the smoke out of the other end. In the end Jules finds out that Therese isn't the ideal woman for him after all and explains it to Jim that she is his mother as well as his daughter. In a sculpture the friends discover their ideal: a face, beautiful, but also inscrutable. They should find this expression in Catherine's face. Normally they share their friends, but not this time, as Jules points out. Nevertheless, the three go everywhere together. After a Strindberg play, Catherine tries to show her friends how impressive she found the heroine (very different from the boys). Catherine simply jumps into the Seine. That's enough to explain it! Of course both have fallen in love with her. But Jules takes Catherine to Austria to marry her. Finally the war separates them: Jules and Jim are now facing each other in hostile camps. Only after the war does Jim visit the couple again, who now have a daughter. But the marriage is (of course) unhappy. Although Catherine runs away and has affairs, Jules stays with her - simply because he understands her nature and loves her! Jules would do anything to make her happy! He would even share Catherine with Jim now! Maybe even a divorce would be the smartest way for Jim to marry Catherine? That, too, would survive the friendship! But Catherine seems wildly determined to always behave as nobody expects. She shocks the friends - probably also to test them. Truffaut films accordingly and we must understand his directing style in 1962 as a revelation! He jumps through the events with ease, never lingers. He tells the war through footage materials (just like Welles' "Citizen Kane"), while the camera keeps moving. Basically, Truffaut's handheld camera breaks every Hollywood rule. In the moment when there is no time to show us what is happening, the narrator has to serve. He almost pants afterwards. The narrator is later to become Truffaut's distinctive feature. He portrays the story so breathlessly that we think we already know the end before it has even begun. Sometimes I wonder how Jules Et Jim would have turned out if Truffaut had filmed him traditionally? Possibly with a psychoanalysis of Catherine? Better? Hardly. Basically, Jules Et Jim is about three people who don't want to accept that their brief moment of happiness passes. We are presented with this short moment at the same speed that we think we are seeing a comedy. Wrong! What remains is grief. Perhaps it is this sadness alone that reminds us of the happiness of the past.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Roy Anderson - A Swedish Love Story (engl. subt.)

 A story of first love and Sturm & Drang!  It's summer. Pär is fifteen, meets his friends, plays pinball, rides around on his moped. A normal teenager. Then Pär visits his grandfather in hospital and meets Annika. They don't speak to each other, but Annika notices Pär too. Definitely. It goes on for a while. They look at each other with eyes in love, but are still too shy to talk to each other. Finally they dance together - but even this first dance does not end like in the classic Hollywood movie. It needs the help of friends to bring Annika and Pär together. The family life of the young couple is problematic. Annika's father is a successful businessman, Pär's father a car painter. They do not take their children's love as seriously as Annika and Pär. For both of them this first time is the whole world! If you know the late Roy Anderson movies (because there are decades between his first and second movie!), you will be surprised about this realistic love drama. Young love is overlaid by family drama. And Anderson's film doesn't fantasize about this - in fact A Swedish Love Story is more realistic than any fantasy! Ann-Sofie Kylin and Rolf Sohlman play Annika and Pär, two typical teenagers who do exactly what teenagers do. They listen to music with the cassette recorder, eat sandwiches. Their first love scene is probably the most tasteful one I know! And the adults? That's another story. Of course they think that Annika and Pär are just summer flirting. Annika's father disapproves of Pär, because he isn't rich. And Pär's parents? Is their son even capable of more than a summer love affair (they doubt it)? A Swedish Love Story is a beautiful film! One that shows the limits of love, but above all how love can overcome limits!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Luchino Visconti - The Earth Trembles

 When can you actually call a film "neo-realistic"?  Do the artistically lit fishing boats in The Earth Trembles deserve this description? Or is the fishing village of Aci Trezza simply such a wonderful place, with changing light and the elemental forces of the sea, that every picture simply has to seem like a poem? In Aci Trezza, Sicily, Visconti staged a neo-realist classic in 1947 with local fishermen. The fishermen play themselves. Irony of fate, Visconti's film adapts a novel set in the 19th century. The fact that he shifted the events to the present should hardly be noticed by anyone, because time seems to pass much more slowly in Sicily. The Valasco family is at the centre of the story. A family of fishermen. The father lost his life and so the sons now fight against the forces of nature, going out to sea every day to sell their catch to the wholesalers. The prices for the catch are too low. A rebellion of the fishermen is put down. New exploitative contracts are proposed to the fishermen, which everyone accepts. Only Ntoni, the oldest son of Valasco, does not agree. Ntoni takes out a mortgage on his parents' house, becomes self-employed. The idea seems to work out... ...until a storm destroys his fishing boat. The Valasco family is now homeless, marginalized in the village. The reputation of his sisters is damaged and finally Ntoni gives up and submits to the dictates of the wholesalers. I had always believed that Visconto, coming from a noble family, must be Sicilian. Wrong! He was born in Milan and decided to make a film about social injustice in the South. A neo-realist film. This movement had no dogmas, it was held together only by the desire to represent reality. Visconti decided against professional actors, following the idea that everyone could play a role excellently: ...themselves. Visconti loves these people! Their life appears full of dignity, simplicity is presented in cinematic beauty. Poverty is opulently portrayed by Visconti. Financially, however, the film missed its audience. If Visconti had hoped for a social revolt beyond that, he had to be disappointed a second time. Today there are much less fishermen in Aci Trezza and the few are still exploited by wholesalers.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Departures

Times are hard for the young couple. He plays cello in a small provincial orchestra. The conductor explains to him that the orchestra must be closed. But there is more bad news. Some time ago he bought a new cello for money he didn't even have. He did not want to tell his wife. He knew she would think it was a bad idea. Now she knows. Can we suspect at this moment that this very cello is a kind of epiphany in the film? Yojiro Takita's film is about death. And in Japanese cinema, death always plays a prominent role! What's less interesting is the life after death than the grief of the bereaved. In the center of Departures is Daigo (Masahiro Motoki), an impulsive young man. His wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) loves him and believes in him. Even when he sells his expensive cello and returns to his mother's house. Daigo is now unemployed. He is back at the beginning again. He applies to Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki) in a kind of travel agency. With luck! There's even an advance. This travel agency organizes trips to the next world. What an idea! What ceremony is used to embalm a corpse? How do you grant the private sphere of the deceased? How do you comfort the bereaved? How do you make up the corpse? These are lessons of life. It's best if Daigo doesn't tell us about his work. His wife might be shocked. If Mika discovers the secret and tells Daigo that she must leave him. She doesn't want to live with a man who paints the dead. Departures is such an elegant film. Everything flows, nothing is forced! Daigo seems to have been born for this work. Yet the narrative is quite conservative. Departures does not want to be a stylistic breakthrough. Instead we get a gripping and above all emotionally touching story. I have the impression that this is exactly what is most important to you - the customers of our video store. Much more than laughing or being scared! Departures is not a manipulative melodrama. We know and understand the main characters. Although we have probably never been in a company like this before, we are deeply involved. Sometimes Departures even gives us a smile! How many times have I seen the film now? Three times already.

FREE ON CINEEG.DE Yasujiro Ozu - The Only Son

When I brought our pre-war Ozu films from the Chinese Boying Label to the video store, my colleague Sulgi cried. Well, that's an exaggeration. Anyway, he looked at them all! The great Ozu arranges his pictures. He selects few elements, which he presents all the more effectively. Yasujiro Ozu is the most relaxed filmmaker of all! He cultivates his favorite themes and compositions and arranges them again and again. Is it the same movie every time? A stupid statement. It's all about nuances! "The tragedy of life begins with the bond between parent and child" - that's how he introduces The Only Son. Ozu always focuses on parents and their children. And the grandchildren. Mostly, children sacrifice their happiness for their parents. Or vice versa. In the wrong belief in what the other person wants, they make sacrifices. It's always marriage, children, and independence. Care and success. I think I've seen about 20 ozu movies. Some three times. That doesn't make me an expert yet, but as a video store owner I'm familiar with his viewing habits. What I notice is that his very early silent films are already mature. Everything depends on how a recording is put together. Ozu shoots at eye level with his protagonists. Often they squat. Often the shots begin before the characters enter the picture. And then they leave the picture again (while the camera holds it for a moment). Then Ozu briefly uses some music that sounds quite western. But his pictures never attract attention. Everything happens very unobtrusively. When you watch the film a second time, you notice how much he likes to frame his pictures. Anyway, Ozu finds countless variations within his rules. And for us there is time to think (this is exciting; much more exciting than a modern film!). The Only Son is about the only son of a widow. She works in a silk factory. A hard work. This is how she feeds her child. The son finishes school, follows a beloved teacher. His future lies in Tokyo. Years go by. Then his mother comes for a surprise visit. They're happy, they love each other. But there's a surprise. The son now has a family of his own. How come he never invited the mother? Because he's poor, has a badly paid job? Why didn't he ever tell her? Because he lives in such a dreary neighborhood? One day they'll talk to each other. The mother encourages him to persevere. He who has lost his courage. Tokyo is no place for him. He says there's no place for him here. Do you recognize the teacher? He's played by Chishu Ryu, who worked with Ozu many, many times. Not only are the subjects the same, but so are the actors. That's why I feel so at home in an Ozu film. If you research on imdb, you will notice that the two of them even worked together 52 times! Ryu always seems reserved and polite. He doesn't seem to be acting at all. Just like Ozu doesn't seem to be acting. In fact, I think Ozu made his movies just for me. But everyone thinks that when they see an Ozu film. You watch it with a good friend. With Ozu. You look inside his characters because they're not acting. If a bad director directed it, The Only Son would be sentimental. Not with Ozu. It sounds serious here. And look, even my teapot appears! Ozu shows this teapot in many films. In the film, it appears here and there. It seems that it can move. In a very late Ozu film, you can see that it is red. Of course it is. It's the colour of artists. 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Mickey And Nicky


One of the great American indie films of the 70's - one of the forgotten masterpieces of its time! What is the best way to describe Elaine May's third film? It's a John Cassavetes movie, not by John Cassavetes. And a colossal flop, after which May should stop shooting for 11 years (to end up with an even bigger failure!). The cast alone: Cassavetes, probably the greatest American indie director and at his side, Peter Falk, without whom the Cassavetes films would be inconceivable! The highlight: May consumed more film material than any production ever before. She let the camera wander and circle, just like in a Cassavetes film. There is the joke that the camera was still moving when Cassavetes and Falk had long since left the set. May doesn't seem to have been an easy director, at least she forbids anyone but her "cut" to shout. In Mikey And Nicky everything seems improvised, no wonder that May supposedly wrote the dialogues overnight. The story doesn't stop there; on the contrary, the film lives exactly through it! Mikey And Nicky is a great comedy because of her characters! How they are written and embodied! Nick, a charmer, a No Good - always on the move. You think everyone's muscles are twitching all the time. Mick is exactly the opposite. His silent counterpart. The dialogues correspond to this, seem to constantly revolve around themselves and reflect this intimate relationship. Both talk like unemployed philosophers, like two pretty insane nerds. May has succeeded in making a unique film - especially because he treats the relationship between two ridiculous men so enjoyably. But also the female roles like Carol Grace's (the model Holly Golightlys!). And the camera keeps rushing through the action without us knowing exactly which "genre" Mikey And Nicky actually serves: A gangster comedy? But the gangster story stays in the background. A film noir? But only because most of the time it was shot at night. A character study? I don't think so. I really wanted to have the DVD for our film art bar Fitzcarraldo because of Cassavetes and Falk and Elaine May gives them both a lot to do!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Lukas Moodysson - Lilja 4ever (engl. subt.)

We know the story of Lilja from the newspaper. How a 16-year-old girl from Russia is abandoned by her mother and falls in love with a handsome stranger. Hoping for a better future, Lilja moves to Sweden, where she is imprisoned as a prostitute. Lilja is naive and innocent. We know that she is in danger. But Lilja thinks that this is necessary for her survival. The fact that the story of Lilja is not an isolated case breaks my heart all the more! Lukas Moodysson's Lilja 4ever is one of the saddest and most moving movies of all time! Lilya (Oksana Akinshina) grows up somewhere in the former Soviet Union. In a desolate prefabricated housing estate, as we do not know it as Berliners. Her best friend is called Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky) and has to play basketball with a can because he doesn't have a ball. Lilja's mother confesses to her daughter that she is engaged again. Her husband would take her to America, but Lilja couldn't be the same. The daughter is to follow. The mother is heartless. A woman born in a society as cold as it is desperate. The scene in which she leaves Lilja and the daughter runs behind the car, screaming, I could never forget again. I have to think about it and feel a dumpling in my throat. The moment Lilja lives alone at home, her aunt comes to see her. She throws the child out; from now on Lilja is "allowed" to live in her aunt's barrack. Is there a better environment somewhere? Anyway, Lilja won't find them. Instead she is having sniff parties with her friends. Volodya also lives on the street since his father threw him out. He talks about sex, as children do, and Lilja adopts the six-year-old like a big sister. Her way into prostitution doesn't surprise us. Without money for food... The girlfriend shows it off and can then buy things. Lilja hesitates, she disgusts herself. Finally she gives in. She must. Again and again the camera shows her child's face while she sleeps with shapeless men. Worst of all; a montage of her most disgusting sex scenes. But Lilja can now afford junk, alcohol and cigarettes. She even buys a basketball for her little "brother". But then she meets Andrei (Pavel Ponomaryov), who doesn't want sex. He drives Lilja home, she starts to trust him. He tells her about a better life in Sweden... We see through Andrei immediately and even Volodya does. But Lilja is blinded. Just like her mother did, she will leave Volodya behind to catch up with him... Lukas Moodysson filmed Lilja4ever as clearly and directly as a documentary. A work full of tenderness and sadness! We look at some scenes from Lilja's perspective; how she imagines heaven and her death. It is so incredibly sad that even after weeks of prostitution she still recites her prayer and believes in an escape. But every possibility remains only an illusion. By the way, Moodysson's film came to a good end in life: the Swedish Minister of the Interior passed a law that allowed prostitutes like Lilja to surrender to the police without being deported.