Kino's Journey

Kino no Tabi; animated fantasy series, Japan, 2003; D: Ryutaro Nakamura, S: Ai Maeda, Ryuji Aigase, Kazuhiko Inoue, Takashi Ine

Kino is a girl traveling on her talking motorcycle, Hermes, across the countryside. She has no goal, and instead just wants to fleetingly visit various city-countries, refusing to stay longer than three days in any of them from fear of "taking roots". Along the way she encounters several flawed societies, but only seldomly intervenes to help them improve.

A deeply philosophical and unusual road movie fantasy anime series, "Kino's Journey" is not for everyone's taste, but those who will "get it" will love it more than those who will hate it because they didn't "get it". By taking on an episodic format, where the title girl and her talking motorcycle Hermes are the only two constant characters, while each episode is a stand alone story with different supporting characters, the director Ryutaro Nakamura leaned almost towards the experimental, in order to narrow the storyline towards some archetypal contemplations about humanity as a whole—mostly about dogma, fundamentalism, narrow-minded thinking and atavism of traditions. Episode 2 is a good example: Kino meets three hungry drivers whose truck got stuck in the snow, so she grudgingly kills three rabbits in the wild to save them from starvation. Three rabbit furs hang on a branch, in a symbolic image. She even helps the drivers pull the truck back on the road. They call her, she goes behind the truck—and realizes that they are slave transporters, and that they want to take her as a slave, as well, because it is their job. Naturally, she shoots all three of them, and returns the ring one of them gave her. The theme is not only thanklessness of the brutes, but also a wider meditation that, in a way, each creature lives by feeding off another one. 

Episode 3 shows kino arriving to a land where nobody wants to take money from her, and give her everything for free, because a priest deciphered a vague prophecy from their holly book that indicates that the world will end tomorrow. Naturally, the Sun rises again the next morning, the public is confused, but a new priest informs them that the end of the world will, by his calculation, occur only in a couple of years. When Kino later on finds out the prophecy is just a collection of poems by a sad poet written a long time ago, the story gives a critique of various religious movements and their prophecies so vague that they are useless. Episode 4 gives a gentle spotlight on Kino herself, by showing the flashback when she was 11, lived in a land where children went to a surgery at 12 to become obedient adults, but started questioning this tradition when she met a tourist from another country who found this nonsensical, causing her to run away from this city. Kino is thus a product of an outsider peeking through the propaganda of her own society, simply because he was not indoctrinated by it from the start, and is thus more objective. Kino's journey through all these lands is two-fold: not only is she running away from her original land, but by exploring as many societies as possible she also tries to reach a sort of scientific objectivity on humanity, eliminating bias by seeing these flaws from an outsider's perspective. A neat two-part episode in a Colosseum has her fight with other fighters, using even interesting moves (she uses the handle of her pistol to kick the handle of a sword from her opponent's hand), and in the end even uses her gun to shoot the King who watched all of this from his window. However, the last 5 episodes are weaker, lacking more finesse or ingenuity, while the final episode is especially a letdown, since it left a feeling as if Kino didn't reach any sort of destination or a final conclusion. Due to such an incomplete ending, the anime itself feels a little bit deficient. It is thus very good, but there is still something missing to be considered a true classic of its genre.

Grade:+++

The Batman

The Batman; crime thriller, USA, 2022; D: Matt Reeves, S: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano

Gotham City. Millionaire Bruce Wayne spends the nights disguised as Batman to fight crime. Currently he is investigating a serial killer, the Ridler, murdering corrupt city officials and leaving strange riddles behind. Batman teams up with lieutenant Gordon for the case, and thus goes to a secret club led by Penguin, an assisstant to mafia boss Carmine Falcone. Batman meets Selina Kyle, a waitress at the club, and finds out she disguises herself as the Catwoman, since she is searching for her missing friend, Annika. Batman and Gordon uncover a giant corruption ring among the police department, since the police busted drug dealer Salvatore Maroni, but the drug business just continued unabated, having the city officials taking bribes from Falcone, the new drug dealer. Falcone is killed by the Riddler, who on the other hand is arrested by Gordon's men. When one of the Riddler's henchmen admits that he was inspired by Batman's message of vengeance, Batman realizes that revenge is wrong, and thus decides to instead save people from a flooding of a building caused by Riddler's explosions of Gotham dam.

The fourth generation of "Batman" films, "The Batman" is a surprisingly coherent and competently made film despite all the bad rumors surrounding its difficult production, confirming once again that quality is not related to the making-of process. The director Matt Reeves created a detective investigation crime film, a blend of "Serpico" and "Se7en" with Batman inserted inside, crafting a meditation on two kinds of pursuits of justice: violence vs. rule of law. The main villain, Riddler, whose face is not seen until the last 30 minutes of the film (!), has a good motive for killing the city officials—they are all corrupt—but Batman's approach is to respect the rule of law and bring these corrupt people to trial, to jail, refusing to kill. It is about the malformation of a good intention into a bad method tantamount to a crime, reminiscent of "Death Note". The way Batman, who initially called himself "Vengeance" when fighting crime, is shocked near the end when one of Riddler's henchmen admits that he was inspired by Batman and quotes vengeance as his motive, is a moment of enlightenment and "upgrade" for the superhero, who then decides to change and instead become a symbol of hope and kindness, saving people from flood, thereby achieving a unique anti-Tarantino anti-revenge message. Some of Reeves' directorial interventions and little details are great (the question mark on the cream of Riddler's cappuccino; the drawing of a point of explosion of breakwaters on a map cuts to the real-world birdseye view of that area); the movie has only two action sequences, yet it does not matter since the thriller mood is so exquisite it can hold the viewers' attention; while Robert Pattinson is kind of a strange choice to play Bruce Wayne, but luckily he is in Batman costume for 90% of the movie, so it works. The overlong running time of three hours; the rather conventional dialogue; a few obvious compromises to avoid the R rating (when the story leaned towards even darker territory) and a few illogical moments come off as flaws, yet overall the movie is well made and engaging, proving once again that the Batman world is a very thankful material for American filmmakers.

Grade:++

3 Women

3 Women; art-film, USA, 1977; D: Robert Altman, S: Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Robert Fortier, Janice Rule, Ruth Nelson

Midlred "Millie" works as a physical therapist at a health spa for the elderly. She gets a new co-worker, the shy, timid Pinky, whose real name is coincidentally also Mildred. Pinky is fascinated by and adores Millie. Upon finding out that Millie is looking for a roommate, she applies. The two women thus live in an apartment complex near a pool with painting by pregnant artist Willie, whose husband is ex-stuntman Edgar. Pinky tries to imitate Millie. When a friend cancels a dinner and Millie wants to have an affair with Edgar, she starts an argument with Pinky, who is so devastated she tries to commit suicide by jumping in the pool. Upon waking up from a coma, Pinky becomes more assertive in the apartment, while Millie becomes timid. Willie gives stillbirth. Edgar dies in a gun accident, while Pinky and Millie work at a tavern.

The peculiar art-film "3 Women" was included in Roger Ebert's Great Movies List, but today one is more inclined to side with Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel who criticized said movie for being too vague and obscure to truly edge itself into a greater impression. The director and writer Robert Altman seems to have started the film as a forerunner to "Single White Female", but then abruptly cancelled the thriller potentials to switch to Bergman's surreal classic "Persona", where scenes get increasingly confusing and disorienting as the movie progresses. The title is also wrong—there are actually only two fully explored women protagonists, Millie and Pinky, while the third one, pool painter Willie, is so underused and sparse that even the supporting character Edgar has more screen time than her. The abstract storyline shows a switch between Pinky and Millie after the shy, introverted Pinky tries to commit suicide in the pool, and is "reborn" as a new, assertive and extroverted character who takes control, and even summons the courage to try to seduce Edgar (in a deliciously funny sequence where she takes a sip from beer, but then just spits it out at Edgar's face and bursts into laughter, a rare moment when the movie comes alive), while Millie seems to take her personality, when she suddenly switches from being the "center" of the world to being a confused, insecure person nobody pays attention to anymore. Some set-ups are there (Pinky training shooting with Edgar), yet too much of these random events do not seem to go anywhere in the end, leaving only Altman's intention of making a dream. Symbolism alone does not make a great movie.

Grade:++

Asobi Asobase

Asobi Asobase; animated comedy series, Japan, 2018, D: Seiji Kishi, S: Hina Kino, Rika Nagae, Konomi Kohara, Ryoko Maekawa, Ryotaro Okiayu, Honoka Inoue  

Three bored teenage girls—Hanako, Kasumi, Olivia—decide to form a high school club, the “Party People Club”, where they can spend their time playing board games or pranks in a classroom.  

“Asobi Asobase” is the darnedest thing—it doesn’t have a real plot, nor a 3-act structure, nor some character development for that matter—as it only intends to be a “stress free” wacky comedy describing the buffoonery of high school days, and yet it is able to actually pull it off and get away with it. The three main characters, the teenage girls Kasumi, Hanako and Olivia, are just so wacky and demented that it is worth watching this anime just for their interaction. Each episode is basically just a set of four short sketches, revolving around them playing games in their school club, and thus the only thing the authors were aiming at is pure, sheer humor. The mood can already be described in the 1st episode, when the three girls are in a bikini, sitting around a small inflatable swimming pool in the classroom. As the camera shows the busty cleavage of Kasumi, it cuts to a black-and-white caricature “Psycho” Zombie face of someone, who turns out to be the flat-chested Hanako, jealous of her. As Hanako asks what can be done to make her own breasts grow, Kasumi says that “gaining weight helps”, as Hanako imagines a “Jabba the Hutt”-style version of Olivia with 500 pounds, but her chest size is only two sizes larger.   

Games are mostly at the center of these episodes, and one features a dare bet: for Hanako to sniff the girls’ armpit. While Kasumi’s armpit smells actually pleasant, after smelling Olivia’s, Hanako goes into a comic seizure on the floor, scratching her own nose, while Kasumi says it reminds her of the behavior of a cat trying to get stench out of her brain when her dad farts. A similar joke arrives when the three girls are hiding under a desk, yet Olivia’s face is right next to Hanako’s butt, who just happens to have bowel movements at the time, thinking: “Dear Fart-god, let me squeeze a little one without a sound!” The best episode is arguably #8, since it has the highest ratio of successful punchlines among them all. In the first sketch, Olivia is playing a new game app on her mobile phone, "Find bacteria around you", and as a joke tries it on Hanako, only to find out that Hanako's notebook pad has escherichia coli bacteria. Both Olivia and Kasumi wonder how that could have happened, until there's a flashback of a cat "scratching" its butt on the notebook, while Hanako giggles and thinks that's cute. A very sympathetic joke later on involves a dare of the girls to pose in front of a teacher on the hallway and do a pose and a speech from "Sailor Moon" and "Dragonball", but both of them blush while doing it. Not every joke works, though, since a lot of the story feels like a hit-or-miss affair, "Family Guy"-style, and some supporting characters are unnecessary (the bizarre "witch" girl in three episodes), whereas its frenetic pace is a matter of taste, having even characters talk 50% faster than usual to try to stuff as many jokes as possible. "Asobi Asobase" is a random collection of disparate jokes, yet since anime rarely takes on a satisfaying comedy path, it is a welcome experience.

Grade:+++

Swing Time

Swing Time; romantic musical comedy, USA, 1936; D: George Stevens, S: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick

Dancer Lucky Garnett plans to get married to Margaret, but the members of his dance troupe stall him for hours, until he misses his wedding. In order to apologize to Margaret's father who demands a 25,000$ dowry, Lucky and his friend Pop travel to New York to try to earn that sum on gambling. Lucky meets Penny, a dance instructor, and falls in love with her, complicating matters. Penny plans to get married to Ricardo. During a walk on the snow, Pop accidentally spills the secret to Penny that Lucky is engaged. After a dance show, Margaret tells Lucky that she wants to break up the engagement. Lucky then stops Penny's wedding with Ricardo. As Lucky and Penny kiss, Lucky throws away his lucky quarter.

Included in Roger Ebert's Great Movies List, the sixth cooperation of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, "Swing Time" is arguably the best movie of the famed dancing duo, a one whose irresistibly charming dialogues and rom-com situations actually even surpass their usual main attraction, the virtuoso dance sequences. The story is again chaotic and meandering, kitschy and naively carefree, yet its main core of a man and a woman meeting and falling in love even though they are both engaged to someone else is easy to understand, whereas it has a plethora of wonderful jokes, ideas and sweet solutions. The opening is already amusing, when the protagonist Lucky Garnett plans to get married and quit his job in a dance troupe, so his fellow dance companions complain: "How do you like that, letting his marriage interfere with our career?" They thus try to stall Lucky for hours so that he can miss his wedding with Margaret, and thus send his pants to a tailor to put cuffs on them, yet the latter protests: "As long as I'm living—and longer—I've never seen cuffs on pants like these!" 

At the same time, the guests are arguing about the wedding: "As I always say, marry in haste, repent at leisure." - "The young man is now 1 hour and 25 minutes late, that isn't exactly marrying in haste." The director George Stevens seems to be more focused and professional than your 'run-of-the-mill' Astaire-Rogers directors in other films, and it shows in the overall cumulative effect. The dance sequences are once again great—including a one where Lucky and Penny dance in the building, and at one point jump over a short fence, or when Lucky is mimicking the dance of a rear projection of three of his giant silhouettes on the big screen behind him—yet one romantic moment is so magical by itself it sends shivers down the spine, and would have formed sufficient reason to see the entire film just for that little slice of perfection, even if all other scenes had failed. It's the one 70 minutes into the film, when Mabel is so fed up with both Lucky and Penny going back and forth, being too shy to finally admit that they love each other, that she dares Penny to go to Lucky's dressing room and give him a big kiss already, if "she has the nerve". Penny responds that she is not afraid and truly goes, knocks on the door, and leans towards Lucky, twice, but he takes a step back, twice. Finally, he realizes what she feels for him, leans closer towards her, as a man opens the door and blocks the view of them—as he looks behind the door, he spots the couple smiling, with Lucky having lipstick on his lips. "Swing Time" plays out like a cozy dream: one gets the impression that the writers and the director danced as elegantly and happily on their field behind the camera as did the two stars in front of it.

Grade:+++

The Bank Dick

The Bank Dick; comedy, USA, 1940; D: Edward F. Cline, S: W.C. Fields, Grady Sutton, Franklin Pangborn, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Evelyn Del Rio

Lompoc, California. Egbert Sousé is an alcoholic slob who sepnds his days drinking at a bar, much the annoyance of his wife, mother-in-law and two daughters. One day, two bank robbers argue over their spoils, one gets knocked off by the other, and Sousé falls from a bench on the former, and thus the police mistakenly think he caught the criminal. Sousé is given the job of a bank guard. He persuades his daughter's boyfriend, Og, a bank clerk, to take 500$ away from the bank and invest into stocks of a minning company, but its representative escapes with the money. Sousé tries to stop an auditor from checking the bank deposits by getting him drugged, while Og tries to get his own money to return the lost cash to the bank. Luckily, the minning company strikes a fortune, and Og is saved. The second bank robber shows up, steals the money and orders Sousé to drive the car to safety, but gets caught. Sousé is thus a double hero, and gets rich when a producer buys off the rights to make a movie out of his story.

Included in Roger Ebert's Great Movies List, "The Bank Dick" is a comedy that is today more respected than enjoyed, yet still shows signs of comic brilliance from the 'golden age' of Hollywood even among outsiders like these. Its star W.C. Fields is an 'apocryphal comedian'—at his worst, he is a slob, an alcoholic who sometimes mumbles so much that half of his sentences are intelligible, and several of his heavy handed mannerisms are strange; yet at his best, he manages to be wonderfully cynical and sarcastic, and exaggerates his grouchy persona to such an extent that it becomes charming. The viewers will either like him or not in the sequence where his character Sousé enters a bar and asks the bartender if he was there yesterday and spent 20$ for drinks, and as the bartender confirms it, Sousé says: "Oh boy, what a load that is off my mind! I thought I'd lost it!" "The Bank Dick" is a surprisingly simple and direct comedy, without any more complicated or intricate planning, yet it works anyway, whereas it abounds with plenty of unexpected physical comedy and slapstick. In one sequence, a driver is trying to fix a broken car on the street, and so Sousé takes the monkey wrench to help him, rotates a nut loose, but the engine just unexpectedly falls down from the car on the ground. In another, Sousé is talking on the telephone, and reaches for some grapes on the table behind, but just accidentally grabs one of the plastic marbles from a woman's hat situated nearby, as the sound of his broken tooth can be heard as he bites it. The car chase in the finale is also creative at times, such as when a car drives over a trench just as the workers lowered their mattocks at the ground, in a domino effect, but the last worker swings his mattock up again, it gets stuck on the car and catapults him inside the vehicle. The film is basically just a collection of sketches without a real narrative, yet its punchlines and jokes still work on their own, even if they were presented just isolated.

Grade:+++

Body Heat

Body Heat; erotic thriller, USA, 1981, D: Lawrence Kasdan, S: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J. A. Preston, Mickey Rourke  

Florida. Ned is a sloppy lawyer who loves sex. One night, he meets a woman outside, Matty. He meets her again in a bar, after which the two spend a passionate night in her mansion. She reveals to him she is married and persuades Ned to kill her rich husband. Ned kills him inside the mansion, and drags to an abandoned house just to set it on fire, to make it look like an accident. Matty changed the will so that she can inherit her late husband’s entire fortune. Ned is sent to jail, while Matty seemingly dies in an explosion at a boat house. Ned however obtains an old high school yearbook, where he finds out Matty actually had a different name, Mary Ann, and that she took the money and fled to an island.  

The film debut of director Lawrence Kasdan, “Body Heat” is arguably his finest film, a modern distillation of the classic film noirs of the 40s and 50s. It has all the elements needed, except that they are more untrammeled in this edition: a man longs for sex; a seductive woman lassoes him in her spell; but then just uses him when she ever so mentions how her husband is “in the way”; until the man does the crime for her, even though she has ulterior motives. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner finely play these new incarnations through characters Ned and Matty, more or less: she is not that attractive, but he seems to be so desperate for sex he tricks himself into believing she is. When they meet in a bar, Ned’s passionate arousal is palpable in their dialogue: “Maybe you shouldn’t dress like that.” - “This is a blouse and a skirt. Don’t know what you’re talking about.” - “...I meant you shouldn’t wear that *body*.” In probably the movie's most famous sequence, after Matty escorts him out, Ned goes back to the front door, looks at her inside the mansion, takes a chair and throws it through the window (!) so that he can enter the mansion and passionately embrace Matty. The three erotic moments are rather timid, though, since not much is shown. In the above mentioned sequence, for instance, the couple has sex—in clothes. Likewise, in another, they are shown topless as they lay down in bed, just for the movie to cut to another sequence. This is PG erotic stuff. Kasdan has troubles with standard, conventional dialogue, a lukewarm execution at times, as well as a lack of a mood—"Blood Simple", for example, has a much more compelling atmosphere. He also needed more stand-out moments, since several of them are not memorable. However, Kasdan succeeds in creating a crime film reminiscent of Chabrol, whereas his plot twist at the end is remarkable, evident in the fact that it has been copied and imitated in hundreds of similar movies.

Grade:+++

King Richard

King Richard; drama, USA, 2021; D: Reinaldo Marcus Green, S: Will Smith, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal  

California, the 90s. Richard Williams is desperately trying to make his two teenage daughters Serena and Venus Williams into professional tennis players, but nobody wants to give them a chance. He finally pushes them into the guidance of coach Paul Cohen. The Williams family moves to Florida. Richard doesn’t want them to be too stressed out and thus gets them out of junior circuit, which causes an argument with his wife Brandy. At a match against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Venus loses, but gains fame. Venus would later go on to win Wimbledon. 

A biopic about another “rags to riches” true story, “King Richard” surprisingly doesn’t focus on two of its most obvious celebrity characters, Serena and Venus Williams, but instead on their ‘larger-than-life’ father, Richard, a really thankful role that gave actor Will Smith one of his best performances. Richard Williams truly is a fascinating, excellent character—at least presented in this movie world— since he already in advance decided that his two daughters will succeed as tennis players (“I wrote me a 78-page plan for their whole career before they were even born!”) and is ultra-ambitious, idealistic and devoted, but also very noble and kind. In one sequence, after Serena and Venus were bragging because they won an award, he plays “Cinderella” on TV for his girls, and later quizzes them as to what lessons they learned from the story, namely that they should be humble. Even after she was facing an adversary and lost a game, Richard comforts Venus and tells her how proud he is of her, nonetheless: “If you don’t have no self-respect for yourself right now, you will never have none. At all.” However, he does go overboard with excessive poetic homily and lectures towards everyone, even in undue moments (the bizarre interruption of an interview sequence), and sadly becomes a “one-man show” in which some other aspects of the film are neglected. Serena and Venus are kind of pushed in the background, whereas the tennis sequences do not have pathos, save for the finale, leaving the movie lacking in those areas, yet its honesty and emotional sincerity are hard to resist.

Grade:++

Top Hat

Top Hat; romantic musical comedy, USA, 1935; D: Mark Sandrich, S: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Helen Broderick

Tap dancer Jerry arrives to London upon the invitation of his friend Horace Hardwick, who wants him to star in a dance show. While dancing in his room, Jerry accidentally wakes up a woman sleeping in a flat below, Dale, and falls in love with her. However, due to a misunderstandment, Dale thinks Jerry is the husband of Madge Hardwick—when Madge is actually married to Horace. Dale thus avoids Jerry, who is confused by her behavior. Out of spite, Dale marries her friend Alberto. Ultimately, she realizes that Jerry is a bachelor. Luckily, Dale and Alberto were married by Horace's butler, and thus their marriage is not valid. Jerry and Dale thus end up together.

Considered together with "Swing Time" among the best films of the dancing maestro duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, "Top Hat" is still a fresh film equipped with six musical numbers where said actors bring their talent to full expression. "Top Hat" is a naive, innocent, cozy and well meant comedy of mistaken identity, where the simplistic story is just an excuse to have Astaire and Rogers dance, yet it is surprising how funny they are even in numerous dialogue-driven moments. In one irresistebly sympathetic sequence, Dale (Rogers) enters a carriage, but unbeknownst to her, the driver is actually Jerry (Astaire). As the horse is slowly pulling the carriage, Dale and Jerry have this exchange: "Driver, can't you go any faster than this?" - "*I can*, Miss, but I'm not allowed to leave the horse!" Afterwards, they go to a gazebo just as a storm starts outside, and Jerry comforts her by explaining what is happening: "When a clumsy cloud from here meets a fluffy little cloud from there, he billows towards her. She scurries away and he scuds right up to her. She cries a little and there you have you showers. He comforts her. They spark. That's the lightning. They kiss. Thunder." Their tap dance truly is stunning, since they move so elegantly that it sometimes looks as if they are about to float above ground. It cannot be described, it can only be experienced on the screen. A few corny moments, a sometimes kitschy solution, an ocassional empty scene and the far fetched misunderstanding plot that could simply be resolved by Dale just asking Jerry if he is married or not indeed corrode the movie. It is not flawless, but its virtues are so appealing they overshadow everything, since they create their very own world, outside of the darkness and depression of our world. 

Grade:+++

Look Who's Back

Er ist wieder da; black comedy / satire, Germany, 2015, D: David Wnendt, S: Oliver Masucci, Fabian Busch, Katja Riemann, Christoph Maria Herbst, Franziska Wulf, Michael Kessler

Adolf Hitler suddenly wakes up lying on the ground of a park in Berlin in 2014. Initially confused that World War II is over and that Poland still exists, he sends his dirty uniform for dry cleaning. An unemployed reporter, Sawatzki, thinks he is only an abstract artist playing Hitler, so he drives him across Germany to film his interaction with modern Germans. When the video hits more than a million views on YouTube, TV CEO Sensenbrink hires Sawatzki and has Hitler appear on his program. Gaining fame by promising to save Germany from the "abyss", Hitler writes a hit book, "Look Who's Back" and quits the TV station. Sawatzki realizes this is the real Hitler, protests, but is sent to a mental asylum. A movie is made based on Hitler's book. As Hitler drives in a car, planning to rise to power again, mass protests inspired by his ethno-nationalism spread across Europe.

Several years before "JoJo Rabbit", Germans themselves proved that they can laugh at their own expense and their dark dictatorship past when the director David Wnendt made this questionable black comedy of what would happen if Hitler would appear in Germany of the 21st century. There is one unwritten rule regarding highly controversial topics: the more controversial and risky they are, the more the movie itself needs to be goddam brilliant and inspired to justify going to such areas. "Look Who's Back" is a mixed bag, mostly because in the first hour it doesn't know what to do with this premise. In this first half, the camera just randomly follows Hitler and reporter Sawatzki as they travel across Germany and talk to real life people about the situation of the country, but this documentary format feels lazy and as a cop-out of the filmmakers to themselves lead the story. One crazy sequence has Hitler walking in front of the Brandenburg Gate, as dozens of tourists surround him and want to make selfies with him, which looks like a surreal parody of celebrity tourism. 

One good joke has Hitler narrating how through the last decades numerous dilettante actors tried to impersonate him and transfer his message to the world, as the movie shows clips of "The Great Dictator", "Downfall" and Jörg Haider. But this first half feels aimless and arbitrary, all until the story aligns into a more proper narrative when Hitler slowly listens to the frustrations of the people (who are mostly angry at immigrants and foreigners), takes notes, and then makes his move at a speech in a TV program: "In what kind of a country are we living in? Poverty among children, elderly, and unemployment. No wonder the birth rates are so low, who would want to bring kids into this country?... We are heading towards the abyss. But we cannot see the abyss on TV, only a cooking show!" The message is that these kind of politicians only use the dissatisfaction of the masses to falsely present themselves as their savior, but are in reality just seizing power. It is actual that the move was made in the era of QAnon, Vladimir Putin and Marine Le Pen, an era when the far-right was starting to present itself more and more as something "normal" and reasonable, pointing out that such rationalizing and passivity just turns extremism into mainstream. Sadly, the movie did not manage to shape a better narrative around this, since it is confused as to what it wants to be. One stand out joke is a parody of the viral video from "Downfall", as TV CEO Sensenbrink has an anger attack, removes his glasses with a shaking hand, and shouts at his associates because a celebrity left for another TV channel. But the movie needed more of that. In one moment, Hitler is confronted by an old woman who accuses him of gasing people in the Holocaust, and this is surprisingly one of the few more challenging takes on the Hitler persona: the movie presents this war criminal more as a benign meme, when it should have been far more critical of him in many instances.

Grade:+

Hard to Be a God

Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein; science-fiction, Germany / France / Switzerland / Ukraine / Tajikistan, 1989, D: Peter Fleischmann, S: Edward Żentara, Alexander Philippenko, Hugues Quester, Anne Gautier, Christine Kaufmann, Andrei Boltnev, Pierre Clementi, Mikhail Gluszky, Birgit Doll, Werner Herzog

In the future, Earth found a planet with a civilization that is still stuck in the primitive middle ages. Supported by a space station in orbit, scientist Anton, with a camera in his eye, is among the people who disguised themselves as these humanoid aliens to research their behavior, but is told he must not intervene in their development. Anton wears a long wig and goes under the name of Rumata of Estoria. He is disgusted by a barbaric king of Arkanar Kingdom who bans all kind of science and progress. When the king is poisoned, his right hand Don Reba takes over and imposes a reign of religious fundamentalism. Anton falls in love with a local, Kyra. Anton helps start a rebellion against Don Reba. In the end, he even uses his laser gun to fire and shoot at the opponents. The Earth scientists tranquillize everyone around the castle, and pick up Anton back to their spaceship.

The first movie adaptation of the famous science-fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, "Hard to Be a God" is a clumsily directed cult extravaganza, but some of its philosophical themes really are delicious and fascinating. Its story can be described as some sort of a blend between the ancient aliens hypothesis and "Star Trek: Next Generation" episode "Who Watches the Watchers", including the meditation and requestioning of its 'Prime Directive'—namely how passive can someone be when faced with injustice and detrimental oppression, or how ethical it is to practice non-interventionism at any cost? The main protagonist, Earth scientist Anton, finds himself in this quandary, since he is obliged to stay objective while watching this primitive "Luddite" alien planet (an innovator creates a telescope to observe stars, but his invention is destroyed and he is attacked for "blasphemy"; books are burned because they speculated that diseases are caused by microorganisms instead of God's will), yet in the end starts a quest for enlightenment of this society, and even supports a rebellion. The king is presented as a delluded dictator (he even whines upon hearing of the rebellion: "Didn't I wear the burden of the crown for all of you?") who blocks any kind of progress or reforms, and thus the story seems to be a metaphor of humanity contemplating about its barbaric past based on primitivism, or it may have just been a sly allegory on Strugatsky's own country, the isolated Soviet Union stuck in the dark ages. While the movie keeps creating plot twist after plot twist, it is interesting, yet its second half runs out of steam, and thus feels overlong and tiresome. Still, some moments are astounding—one of them is when Anton breaks his cover and admits to Kyra that he is from a different planet where the last battle was fought a long time ago and nobody cries anymore, while the camera in his eye is broadcasting all of this on the big screen, watched by scientist Anka on the space station, who herself starts to cry, since people forgot their emotions a long time ago. As Anton is about to make love with Kyra, he closes his eyes to have privacy, and the screen goes blank. For such idealism, the movie should be complimented.

Grade:++

Orpheus

Orphée; fantasy drama / art-film, France, 1950, D: Jean Cocteau, S: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares, Marie Déa, Henri Crémieux

Orpheus is a poet who hangs around at a café. He spots a woman and drunk man arriving there. When the police wants to apprehend him, the drunk man runs into the street and is hit by two motorcycle riders. Orpheus is summoned by the woman to accompany her and the dead man in the car, as a witness. The driver, Heurtebise, drives them to a castle, where Orpheus realizes the woman is Death, who takes the dead man and makes him walk away into the mirror. Orpheus' wife Eurydice dies while on a bycicle on the street, and Heurtebise and Orpheus go through the mirror into the underworld, where a tribunal allows Eurydice to return back to life under the condition that Orpheus must never see her directly. He accidentally sees her in the back mirror of the car, and she disappears. Orpheus is killed by a mob that attacks him, and he meets Death again, in whom he is in love, too. The tribunal sends Orpheus and Eurydice back to life, but with no memory.

Included in Roger Ebert's Great Movies list, this unusual modern retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is a dreamlike, at times surreal and abstract fairytale that contemplates about life and death, reality and illusion, priorities and missed chances. Since the title protagonist admits he loves both Eurydice and the woman who is Death, the story even inserts a theme of polyamory. The director Jean Cocteau crafts the film in somewhat routine manner during "normal" sequences, yet he rises to the occasion in those fantasy sequences where several neat tricks are used, reminiscent of the days of Melies. One interesting scene has Death walk through the broken mirror, and then the broken pieces of glass are re-assembled in reverse, and the mirror is whole again, as Orpheus walks by to look at it. The underworld is surreal as well, depicted as ruines of a town, and as Orpheus and Heurtebise slowly crouch and walk along a wall they reach the corner, and both somehow "glide-fall" to the left side of the wall. The effect is also heightened when a person stands still is in the foreground, while the rear projection screens Orpheus walking behind him on the street. Sadly, there is never true chemistry between Orpheus and Eurydice, and thus the viewers never get the impression he really loves her. An interesting subplot has the story prolong the problem of Orpheus trying not to look at Eurydice, as to not make her disappear, and this sequence works well, including Orpheus trying to look down while she in the kitchen, or when he is affraid to even see her face on a photo. On one level, the movie works, but on the other, it never truly engages the viewers to the fullest. A problem might be that this is a short story, and thus prolonging it to a feature length movie makes it feel overstretched. 

Grade:++

Old School

Old School; comedy, USA, 2003; D: Todd Phillips, S: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Allen Haff, Perrey Reeves, Craig Kilborn, Patrick Fischler, Seann William Scott, Sara Tanaka

When Mitch arrives from work and catches his wife preparing to have a gang bang with others, they break up and he moves to a house on the territory of a University campus. Mitch's friends Frank and Bernard decide to create a fraternity and party in the house with students. However, the Dean wants them banned and tricks student council president Megan into revoking their license. When Megan plays the tape of this conversation, which is practically a bribe, the Dean is replaced, while Mitch, Frank, Bernard and the others are allowed to keep their fraternity.

Another example of a populist comedy for low entertainment, "Old School" is a flat film with only a couple of really funny jokes, yet collapses along the way due to a mess of a story which looks more like a set of random episodes. The whole movie is a dumb comedy that works only and exclusively if there are good jokes at hand, yet not that many are that outstanding either, since just being zany or wacky or shouting isn't funny all by itself. In one of the best jokes, Frank and his team lined up a dozen candidates for their fraternity, placed them on a tall balcony, and tied all their penises to ropes attached to blocks of rock in order to test their trust. The test proceeds, all of the dozen heavy blocks are thrown down, and the ropes are all long enough to stop just on time—except that one block accidentally falls into a deep sewer, and thus the rope pulls one guy down, who falls on the floor. Another good one has the wives driving in a car, talking about a blow job seminar ("I am orally challenged"), until one of them spots her drunk husband Frank running naked on the street, and orders him to get inside the car to stop embarassing himself. The rest is weaker, since the chaos of these parties and insane characters becomes too much to be properly packaged into a movie. A small bright spot: the charming Sara Tanaka ("Rushmore") appears in three sequences as student council president Megan, and even though she was not given much to do in the movie, she enters her first scene like a boss, climbing up stairs in an empty stadium to meet the Dean and his assistant for a secret plan.

Grade:+

Burning

Beoning; art-film / drama / crime, South Korea, 2018, D: Lee Chang-dong, S: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Soo-Kyung

Lee Jong-su spots a woman promoting a lottery in front of a store, Hae-mi, and she says she is his child friend he forgot. They have sex in her apartment, and she asks him to take care of her cat in the apartment while she is away for a trip in Africa. Hae-mi returns with a man, Ben, whom she met on the trip. Hae-mi, Ben and Jong-su hang out together. Jong-su admits he enjoys burning abandoned greenhouses in a farm he grew up. One day, Hae-mi mysteriously disappears without a trace. Jong-su suspects Ben and follows him. Ben invites him to a party at his place, where Jong-su finds Hae-mi's pink watch in a drawer. Jong-su invites Ben in the middle of nowhere. There, Jong-su stabs and kills him, burning his body.

Despite high critical recognition, Lee Chang dong's "Burning" is a hermetic and frustrating experience, a peculiar amalgamation of art-film, drama and in the end (semi)-crime mystery. The problem is that nothing is going on in the first hour, and only after the main heroine Hae-mi disappears does the story become more interesting and multilayered. But even in that edition, when the protagonist Jong-su is searching for the missing Hae-mi, it never truly captivates to the fullest, it has too much empty walk and an unnecessary running time of 148 minutes, whereas Chang dong seems either unwilling or unable to engage the viewers more and create some higher suspense. In this edition, it seems as if Jarmusch had directed a Hitchcock movie. The minimalist story just lingers on the relationship between three people, but creates a specific mood, character development, visuals (the silhouette of Hae-mi as she takes her shirt off and slowly starts "dancing" during the sunset) and music (in those rare instances when it shows up). "Burning" was subjected to several interpretations and analysis, but there is simply not enough info in the sole movie as for any viewer to know anything with certainty. Was a certain character a villain or not? Did he abduct her or did she just disappear all by herself? "Burning" is elegant and ambitious, conjuring up a mystery that can captivate a certain part of the audience, yet it is still a weaker edition of Sluizer's "The Vanishing".

Grade:++