FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Jean Eustache - Mes Petites Amoureuses (engl. subt.) 

In the summer of 1973, audiences around the world wanted to embrace the hero from Eustache's famous debut The Mother And The Whore! His endless conversations with the two women he loved became a model of how to live together in a "modern" relationship! Jean Eustache's debut in the Parisian student scene was spectacular and aggressive! His second work is quite different, a simple children's film. He remembers his (his?) childhood in a very sober way, almost conspicuously inconspicuous and very laconic. Daniel is twelve years old and lives with his grandmother in the country. With his friends he plays tricks on the seniors in the village, experiences the visit of the circus as a real sensation and slowly begins to take an interest in the girls... But then the shock: His mother comes from the south and brings Daniel to Narbonne. There she lives with a taciturn Spanish farmhand. The mother works as a seamstress, the flat has come down. Since the money is tight, Daniel is no longer allowed to go to high school, but has to work as a temp in a bicycle shop. He is no longer the leader of his playmates, but only "the little one". No longer privileged, but exploited by adults. Daniel has to put up with all this and suffers quietly. But despite his social decline, he experiences the first erotic feelings: Daniel observes other lovers, imitates the elders and practices with little girls. In the French "Midi", however, there is sex only after marriage and Daniel is still too young for that. Let me be clear: Daniel's life is already set to end like his mother. And yet: Eustache evokes the paradise of childhood with melancholic poetry. We can already see Daniel's future at the edge, where the young machos are roaring around with mopeds, hanging out in bars and looking like shabby suburbs of Casanova. A Mediterranean male society as seen in many French or Italian films. There is no rebellion, only lethargy and quiet grief. Above all this lies the veil of Daniel's lost childhood in the country. Daniel's mother, by the way, is not without love for her son. Ingrid Craven plays it as a petit bourgeois workhorse: pepped up, innocent, a bit stupid. Eustaches cameraman Nestor Almendros films this in long shots and brittle images. The film takes Daniel's perspective, remains emotionless and without romance. Eustaches Mes Petites Amoureuses follows the great French tradition of works that have puberty as their subject. Eustache is the rigorous observer of French cinema. He committed suicide in 1981 at the age of 43. Until then he had made a dozen films, but basically everyone was always talking about his debut The Mother and The Whore. This is certainly due to the fact that no other film observes daily life in Paris in such detail! Mes Petites Amoureuses chooses a different tone, because here the focus is on a little boy. The film doesn't show chic Parisian cafes, but life on the social fringes. We don't see any beautiful people here discussing, flirting and smoking. Not people we want to identify with. Instead: A family who at the very most treats themselves to dinner on a Sunday as a common time.

Seaspiracy 

1. the industrial fishing industry will have fished the oceans dry by the year 2048. 2. fish and marine life will continue to be taken in an uncontrolled manner. Neither states nor "sustainability" labels control this. 3. The oceans absorb most of the CO2. Without the oceans, we die too. Simple answers to simple questions, but no one wants to answer them. Here comes a devastating and illuminating documentary that lifts the veil that clings to our oceans: Seaspiracy exposes the rotten and corrupt core. For behind the sustainable promises of major corporations and plastic straw campaigns around the world remains hidden the shocking truth: an industry that is literally killing our oceans. Seaspiracy now reveals a relentless look at the damage being done to our blue planet. It all starts with an investigation into whaling - but spirals into something much worse. And the longer Seaspiracy goes on, the more startling the truths become. We finally understand the connection between big industry and supposed non-profit organizations that serve as wolves in sheep's clothing. No one seems to be able to answer very simple questions. As the film progresses, however, the answers become clearer. Seaspiracy explores all forms of corruption in the sea. From shark fin markets in China to salmon farms in Scotland. Many of the scenes are shot with shaky spy cameras, highlighting the threat the creators faced while filming. At one point, the camera crew is even forced to step out of a building during filming because someone tipped off the police. It's a "fly on the wall" approach that is backed up with a variety of facts and comparisons. Many times before I had heard about the overfishing of the oceans. However, I had never imagined that exactly this overfishing is the biggest driving force of the climate catastrophe. A realization that no one wants to talk about. There is no other way to explain why none of the major organizations wants to talk to Ali Tabrizi and his team. What is happening to our oceans? The last 15 minutes seem like a swan song. A requiem. We witness a method of whaling called grind. The ocean water is blood red. If the whales die, the oceans die. According to one study, fish/seafood will be gone by 2048 - resulting in an ecological disaster like we've never experienced. A catastrophe like no other. The credits roll and I know I will never eat fish again.

Film List Independent Movies Pt. I incl. FREE STREAMS 

The good independent films from the USA meet the key of melancholic country songs. Basically they are created for the country and not the city. Indie is more than just financing a film. Indie is also the way it is told. How much reality can a film stand? Do you see true poverty and hardships? Are there morally questionable understatements? Does what is shown irritate or the way it is shown? The term Indie has been around since the 80s, it is closely connected to the Sundance Film Festival and the first successes of Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers and Spike Lee. Steven Soderbergh's Sex, read and videotapes marks the breakthrough of how an independent film can be big marketed. Since the 90's the Hollywood Studos are also looking for their own "indie departments". Meanwhile the building blocks (Coming of age, drugs, suburbs etc.) are more important than the independent Produkton. Directors like Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson or Alexander Payne create movies that somehow still seem indie, but aren't anymore. Stars show up, the movies shine expensive and yet they are somehow still cranky. For those who want to get close to really independent films amidst the thicket, we recommend Winter´s bone, George Washington, Keane or Old joy - films as far away from Hollywood as they can possibly be.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Kevin Smith - Dogma 

Where does the fate of mankind decide? Kevin Smith from New Jersey doesn't have to think long in his fourth film: In New Jersey, where his other films also play. In Dogma there are angels in the flesh with wings, a demon with devil horns and a metatron (Alan Rickman) - the voice of God. Of course, God himself may also appear, as well as a mortal, destined to save humanity (she is the Great Grand-Niece of Jesus). Although Smith likes to push the boundaries of foolishness, he takes his quest for meaning seriously. Cardinal Glick (George Carlin) even tries to reform the Catholic Church because Jesus Crucified is too depressing. A good buddy would be better! In this cathedral all sins shall be forgiven from now on. The cast out angels Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck) take advantage of this. But if the church now breaks God's commandment and rehabilitates the two outcasts, God's law is no longer worth anything. The end of the world. Since God has disappeared, the Metatron is trying to save people. Helpful here are such bizarre guys as our old acquaintances Silent Bob and Jay as well as Serendipity (Salma Hayek), a heavenly muse with writer's block. But who is God? A woman who looks like Alanis Morisette? God, a Canadian? Incredibly Smith takes his subject seriously, deals with eternal questions, but occupies his comedy with broken types of today. Almost a little stroke of genius!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Francois Trauffaut - The Story Of Adele H 

Adele was the daughter of Victor Hugo. In the diaries she left behind, she described the story of her love. A damned love. In exile, where she lived with her father, she was seduced by the British Lieutenant Pinson. Adele fell in love with Pinson, and Pinson loved to be a little in love. Until he would conquer the next one. Pinson asked Adele to marry him, but of course he didn't mean it more serious than his personality would allow. But Adele reacts with such fierce love that it will destroy her whole life. Pinson is transferred to Harifax. Adele follows him. She spies on him, sends him a whore. Adele calls herself Mme. Pinson from now on and writes letters to her family that she is well. She lies about being pregnant. But at night in her dreams, she's drowning. Even before that, Francois Truffaut had devoted himself to dark women like Adele. They form a counterweight to his light heroes like "Antoine Doinel". Often these women of Truffaut's go mad, have a sick idea of sexuality and their relationships end deadly. Their men try to manipulate and destroy them. You can now think for yourself about Truffaut's attitude towards women. Are there any normally developed women at all with him? At least that's something you won't find in many Truffaut films. Isabelle Adjani plays Adele. Adjani is dark-haired and pale and very beautiful. She slowly loses all sense of reality. At the end she walks around in rags with an empty gaze. She no longer even recognizes the love of her life. The merit of Adjani is to give this figure something like nobility nevertheless. She would cross the sea for her love, writes this so determined woman. But Adele loves far too much to a far too daring degree. In a way, Adele is not of this world. P.S. Later, Adjani declared she would never again shoot with Truffaut. You can read how she rejected the director as a lover. Then Truffaut wrote: "It would be too easy to say she is difficult, she is not. She is different from all the women in this profession and since she isn't even 20, add to all this (to her genius, let's not be afraid of words), an unawareness of others and their vulnerability, which creates an unbelievable tension." I think Adjani was angry that Truffaut patronized her as a genius.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Wish You Were Here 

Her mother is dead, her father is a drunk, but deep down inside she has a feeling that is sincere and full of freedom! But we are in 1951, somewhere in a small English town, surrounded by a neighborhood called "working class". A girl like Lynda is expected to know her place there. But Lynda does not correspond to this picture at all. In the cinema, the boys hang on Betty_Grable's thighs when she crosses her legs. Lynda tries the same thing on the beach. What is there to lose? Wish You Were Here is a Coming Of Age story and Lynda is perceived as a "Bad Girl". Nobody in town understands that she's a wonderful person who just wants to live differently. Except for a little elderly lady who plays the piano in a tea room. A comedy with angry undertones! It shows how a free girl can be broken by the same mix of sexism and conventions. Should we laugh or cry - the film itself doesn't know the answer and slowly develops into a tragedy. David Leland wrote and directed Wish You Were Here based on the memories of Cynthia Payne. In Cynthia's childhood, sex was something you didn't talk about. Her attitude, on the other hand, had to be understood as immoral: But if all men want sex and she has a lot to give, what's the problem? The answer: There is not only one problem! What happens to a girl who is as innocent as Lynda in the film? She becomes the victim of her boss or a self-proclaimed Don-Juan. How much is the human worth? Under these circumstances, Lynda finds it hard to keep smiling, pretending to. Maybe she considers herself worthless? Or do they still exist; the real romantics? It seemed to me as if the film had an idea of it towards the end and spread a little optimism. The key to the film is the 16 year old Emily Lloyd as Lynda. She radiates so much joie de vivre and seems so wild that her personality alone is enough to bring us closer to this difficult role. Her future as an actress back in the UK: Rosy! Quite different from Lynda's.

Filmliste Deutschland 1919-29 incl. FREE STREAMS 

After the First World War, German films experienced a boom. The devaluation of the mark made it possible for German films to be offered unrivaled cheaply abroad; conversely, foreign producers were given an incentive to export to Germany. The period was characterized by the coexistence of large corporations and small distributors. The strongest distributor was UFA, founded in 1917. In 1922, 74 feature-length films were produced in Germany; a number that was otherwise matched only by Hollywood. In the following years, the value of the Deutschmark normalized and the film companies suffered, especially UFA. The Hugenburg Group eventually took a stake in UFA and led it straight into National Socialism. It was confirmed that times of crisis offer more opportunities for artistic development than times of consolidation. Until about 1923, favorable production conditions and the open-mindedness of producers like Erich Pommer allowed artistic experimentation without great risk. After the stabilization of the Mark, more and more representative films that were worth watching prevailed. The artistically ambitious works were produced by small distributors in the second half of the 1920s. During the heyday, it was common to look to Germany to understand the true use of the cinematic medium (Paul Rotha). Even early films show a tendency to depict "inner-soul" predecessors, such as Der Golem. The actor Paul Wegener, a member of the Reinhard Ensemble like Lubitsch or Murnau, transferred fairy-tale motifs of Romanticism to the screen (Der Student von Prag, 1913). In many films, identity splitting became a theme that was treated almost obsessively. The "classic" period, however, began with the appearance of an author: Carl Mayer. He wrote the screenplays for Das Cabinett des Doktor Caligari (1920), Genuine (1920), Hintertreppe (1921) as well as the drafts for Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Der letzte Mann (1924), Tartuffe (1925) or Sunrise (1927). Mayer's expressionist screenplays were already written as precise directorial drafts. He thought in terms of film language and had never written anything but screenplays. Most of the achievements of the camera were due to Mayer. After seeing Battleship Potiemkin, Mayer saw the future in Russian montage techniques, so the idea of Berlin Symphony of a Big City also went back to him. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari was to become a model never achieved. Wegener's Waxworks Cabinet (1924) and Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler are the best-known attempts, but the expressionist forms degenerated into ornamentation, and the naturalistic actors stamped the décor into scenery. The German film's fascination with the superman, however, continued even after Caligari. The most successful films of the time created nightmares of tyranny and terror. None of the films, however, focused on social and political realities; the horror always remained internal. Mayer himself finally initiated the departure from the Caligari style. Films like Hintertreppe, Scherben, Sylvester or Der letzte Mann have the character of chamber plays and are petit-bourgeois dramas. No hope points beyond the narrowly drawn boundaries of place, time and plot. The successor to the Kammerspiele were the "street films" such as Karl Grune's Die Strasse (1923). The street with its neon sign became a negative utopia. The stylistic code of Expressionism allowed even less talented directors to make films. Auteurs in the full sense of the word were only Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Ernst Lubitsch. Murnau's The Last Man is considered the consummation of German film classicism, and his Nosferatu was far more influential than Caligari. Fritz Lang took film beyond its models in painting and literature. Tired Death differs from Caligari in that architectural rather than graphic structures dominate. Dr. Mabuse, the gambler also still belongs in the Caligari environment; in Metropolis, after all, the world congealed into ornamentation. Lang was fascinated by chaos, to which he saw no alternative but dictatorship. Murnau, Lang, and most of the directors of the 1920s devoted themselves to the commercialism of "big-budget" films as the decade progressed. Ernst Lubitsch occupied a special position at Babelsberg. He created films with extras, comedy films, and fantastic films. His mockery always hit the rulers, the tyrant as petty bourgeois cuckold. After he left Germany in 1922, Lubitsch found no imitators, and even in Hollywood he remained unique. Georg Wilhelm Pabst became representative for the second half of the 20s. His departure from Expressionism began with Die freudlose Gasse (1925), although his last silent films, such as Die Büchse der Pandora (1929), still featured dark alleys and sloping house walls. On the threshold of talkies, Pabst specialized in mountain films such as The White Hell of Piz Palü (1929). The "Neue Sachlichkeit" expressed itself primarily in "cross-section films" without emotional partisanship. Ruttmann's Berlin, Symphony of a Big City (1927) is the prototype. A thematic counterpart was People on Sunday, a "professional amateur film" by Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmark, Fred Zinnemann and Edgar Ulmer. The few attempts at social criticism were found in films such as Mother Krausen's Ride to Happiness or Kuhle Wampe, but gradually any sense of artistic responsibility dwindled, especially in the productions of UFA...