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.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Pedro Almodovar - Matador 

When the German Almodovar box set came on the market, Matador from 1986 was surprisingly missing alongside Pepi, Luci, Bom (...). After all, this is my old partner Skulli's favourite Almodovar film and he immediately complained in horror. In 1986, Almodovar was Spain's most disreputable (and at the same time most respected) filmmaker and he faced that with Matador. In great seriousness, because Matador is nothing other than an attack on all that is considered common conventions. The matador's name is Diego (Nacho Martinez). He limps, his eyes are tired - and yet he is still extremely charismatic. He had to retire from the ring after a bull took him on its horns. Now he runs a school for bullfighters. Maria (Assumpta Serna), on the other hand, is a successful lawyer. We get to know Diego as he watches videos at home in which young beautiful women are beheaded. Scenes that remind Diego of the happiness of the past. Meanwhile, somewhere in Madrid, Maria experiences hot sex with a stranger. At the climax, she pulls out a hatpin and stabs her lover clean in the neck. Like a bullfighter. One may assume that both their lives would have been unfulfilling - if it weren't for Angel (Antonio Banderas) and Eva (Eva Cobo). Angel lives with his mother (who bullies him), is still a virgin at 20. He has second sight. Eva is Diego's young & pretty lover. Once Angel tries to rape Eva. But he does not even succeed in pulling out his pocket knife. A performance so ridiculous that Eva does not press charges. Hurt in his manhood, Angel even confesses to murders he never committed. Murders that apparently Diego and Maria committed - which is why Maria decides to defend Angel for the sake of justice. True love - a cynical game in the world of Pedro Almodovar! In the 80s, the defiant treatment of taboo subjects became Almodovar's trademark. At the same time, he always left a lot of room for interpretation, which - I imagine - must have given Almodovar the greatest pleasure. On the surface, Matador is about the impossible love between male and female bullfighters. Who stabs whom first? But if you look at Spain's past, at Franco's dictatorship, you will draw some parallels. In an interview, Almodovar even once denied that Franco ever existed. Matador is performed with absolute conviction and so we are even inclined to believe that General Franco never existed.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Pier Paolo Pasolini - Edipo Re 

It's never easy to describe Pasolini films, let alone evaluate them. It works like a holding pattern. Maybe next week I'll think Edipo Re is bad. Or maybe I'll decide it's one of the best films by this mysterious director? That's the way it is with this kind of auteur film of the 60s. You leave the cinema and at first you can't think of anything you've just seen. Would the elements of the film then flow together into an overall statement? Summarising the plot is never helpful. There are always political and social questions hidden behind the surface. Pasolini tells his stories in a spare, passive camera style. The music is thin, often eerie. His figures act as if in a trance. And then his films end, well, how? In fear and horror? Or joy? In any case, little Edipo is left to die in the desert (by his own father!) - found and raised like a king. The prophecy that he is chosen to kill his father and marry his mother terrifies him. He flees, colliding with an elderly stranger on the run, whom he kills in a duel.... Pasolini's Edipo is born in 1940s Italy and dies in the present - in 1960s Italy. This is exquisitely illustrated visually, abandoning the classic style of tragedy and telling the story in a more human way. And of course, Pasolini's Epido is a very pretty boy! Pasolini tells the story sparsely and coldly and his characters remain just as rigid. They never really catch fire in the Moroccan desert. And now?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Gianni Amelio - The Stolen Children 

If we translate the Italian title exactly, Gianni Amelio's winner of the 1992 Cannes Film Festival should be called The Child Thief. The Child Thief kidnaps children out of great desperation, but only for the reason of showing them for a few days that life can also be full of joy. This is the heart-touching story of a man who acts as a friend to children - almost like a better parent. The story begins in Milan. There, eleven-year-old Rosetta lives with her little brother Luciano and their mother, who forces Rosetta to work as a prostitute. However, this repugnant element of the film is not explored further. Both children are taken away from their mother. They are placed in the care of the young policeman Antonio (Enrico Lo Verso), who is supposed to take them to a children's home. Antonio is not enthusiastic about the task and the children are suspicious and withdrawn after years of abuse. This is to change. At the church children's home, the children are turned away. Their terrible past could be passed on to the other children. Without further ado, Antonio takes them to Sicily and slowly a bond develops between the three. The Stolen Children is a road movie. The people and experiences along the roads bring about a development in the strange trio: Antonio learns to love the children and they learn to trust an adult for the first time. It is small events that change everything, right up to that magical day on the beach when the children from the oppressive Milanese slum neighbourhood run across the white sand. But what they all don't know yet; a scandal is brewing around the disappearance of the children.... If you want a list of the most beautiful films of the 90s: The Stolen Children is definitely one of them!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE You, Me & Marley 

If you drop by our Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo on a Tuesday, you'll get to know (and understand, which takes a while) Aoife. She comes from Belfast. And if you read up a bit on Belfast and the Northern Ireland conflict, you'll come across two newspaper stories: 1. in the early 90s, a couple of teenagers were shot dead by a policeman who was later released. 2. the trend of "twocking" and "hotting" = stealing cars and organising illegal races. This is what You, Me & Marley is about. Basically about antisocial youths, but presented with understanding and complexity. They live in a society that has nothing for them: Catholic Irish in Northern Ireland. What could be more natural than making fun of the establishment? And what can guys as different as the oddball Marley (Michael Liebmann), the intelligent Frances (Bronagh Gallagher) or the retarded Sean (Marc O'Shea) believe in? Northern Ireland is corrupt and deeply brutalised. That's exactly how we learn about it in the film. The RUC has lost all moral compass, ready to beat up teenagers. But Richard Spence's TV film finds the IRA and any paramilitaries even worse. Hypocritical, according to the IRA's actions, profiting from stolen cars. And the common people? In another worse film, they would be innocent. But not here. Effective measures are demanded, but supposedly no one knows anything about vigilante justice. At one point Mary is tied to a lamppost and women douse her with paint: "I am a hood". The great thing about You, Me & Marley is these believable and morally complex characters in the bleak landscape of Northern Ireland. Who is to blame? But that would be the wrong question. Instead of simple solutions, we are offered a humanistic lament for wasted lives and the culture of blame.