Seinfeld (Season 4)

Seinfeld; comedy series, USA, 1993, D: Tom Cherones, S: Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Wayne Knight, Bob Balaban, Heidi Swedberg

Kramer is mistaken for a murderer in Hollywood, so George and Jerry contact the police about the misunderstanding... After being approached by NBC producers who want to create a comedy TV show about Seinfeld, Jerry and George pitch their concept as a “show about nothing” to NBC CEO Russell. At the same time, George begins dating an NBC producer, Susan, but he gets tired of her fast, and is happy when she breaks up with him... George starts nostalgically missing Susan, but when she agrees to renew their relationship, he gets bored by her instantly, so he picks his nose in order for her to break up with him again... George starts dating a lawyer, Cheryl, who thinks he is funny, so he forbids Jerry to be comical in front of her, fearing Cheryl will leave him if she finds Jerry even funnier.. The NBC TV pilot "Jerry" is filmed, but dropped by a new producer, after Russell quit his job after Elaine dumped him.

Season 4 of "Seinfeld" is among the best ones, forming an era of 'peak Seinfeld', and was unnecessarily diluted only by a couple of lesser episodes which hold it down. The first six episodes and the last three episodes are brilliant, as they form the backbone of this season and contain the highest number of inspired moments. Other episodes in the middle fare less, since the jokes are again meandering between great and subpar, yet they also have some gems hidden in them. Episode 4.2, for instance, has writers Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David in top-notch shape, from sight gags to wacky dialogues (Kramer sneezes and his shaving cream flies from his face into the mirror; while driving inside the police car, George listens to the police siren and goes: “When I was a kid, the police sirens sounded different, they went vioo-vioo-vioo..."). Seinfeld is the master of witty observations about everyday little things in life people don't pay attention to, until he changes the context to make them sound funny. One is found in episode 4.22: Jerry and his friends buy an expensive, giant TV as an engagement present for a couple, but when said couple breaks up, Jerry and George suddenly start wondering if it would be the best to demand the TV back, since the engagement is off, and it looks as if it was just used as a scheme to get them gifts. In the same episode, Jerry is again inspired while doing his iconic stand-up comedy routine which frames every beginning and ending of episode: "The handicapped parking spot is the mirage of the parking desert. Do you know that feeling? You see it, there in the distance. It's almost... And you can't believe your eyes. It's too good to be true. It's a big, wide spot, it's right by the entrance. Somehow, everybody missed it. What is the handicapped parking situation at the Special Olympics? They must have to just stack, like, 100 cars into those two spots!"

Episodes 4.9, 4.12 and 4.14, which play out in an opera, an airplane and a cinema, are simply too close and similar to the already seen "minimalist" episodes in the parking garage and Chinese restaurant from the previous seasons, thus seeming routine and repetitive, whereas episode 4.7 feels, despite a twist on the typical handicapped person story (the "bubble boy" is a jerk), uncomfortable and wrong. Episode 4.11 was hailed a little bit too much: the four protagonists start a bet as to who can endure the longest without masturbating, but what other joke stands out besides the amusing montage of all three of them tossing and turning in bed at night, having trouble sleeping, except for Kramer who "did it" and thus sleeps like a baby? The episode wasn't that very well written nor was it versatile. By far, the highlight is the meta-series subplot of Jerry and George pitching to the NBC producers their idea for a TV pilot, basically "Seinfeld" within "Seinfled". This leads to one of the most surreal and demented two-episodes finales ever, when George is watching all those bald, short actors auditioning in the office for his role, and even Kramer auditioning for the role of Kramer (!), whereas the filming of the TV pilot in the studio is full of giggles. In one joke, George talks to an actor playing Kramer, giving him advice how to play the role, but the actor rejects him, demanding to play Kramer "his own way". This almost escalates when the Kramer actor threatens George to get off his back. One enchanting moment of pure gold is when Sandi, the method actress playing Elaine in the TV pilot, goes for a drink with Jerry, and is so dedicated to exploring her role she says to him: "I want to experience everything she experienced". Sandi then leans forwards, says: "How did Elaine kiss? Did she kiss like this?", and then kisses the confused Jerry. Perfection. Season 4 had much more of a focused storyline with longer story arcs, whereas Seinfeld has numerous lines that cause you to chuckle: "I would think the less time you have in life, the faster you would want to go. I think old people should be allowed to drive their age. If you’re 80, drive 80! If you’re a 100, drive 100!"

Grade:+++

The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing; documentary, UK / Denmark / Norway / Indonesia, 2012; D: Joshua Oppenheimer, Chrystine Cinn, S: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik, Yapto Soerjosoemarno

Indonesia. Gangsters Anwar Congo and Herman Konto recount how they were picked up by the government to join a paramilitary hunting and killing alleged Communists in the country during the Indonesian mass killings of 1 9 6 5-'6 6, and the Cold War. Anwar describes how people suspected of being Communists were brought to an office, interrogated, found guilty, and then strangled by a wire around their neck on a different location. Anwar and Herman re-enact the murders in movie genres, including a Western and a gangster film. Pancasila Youth members support Anwar and Herman. While re-enacting an interrogation with himself playing the victim, Anwar expresses regret and feels devastated.

Excellent documentary "The Act of Killing", one of the best movies of the decade, is a giant contemplation on the notion of "necessary evil". It depicts the rarely mentioned or publicized event of the Indonesian mass killings of 1 9 6 5-'6 6, when at least 500,000 suspected Communists were killed, of which at least half of them were probably innocent, presented through the two executioners, Anwar and Herman, who recount and re-enact how they killed these people. What follows is one of the most haunting and complex ethical debates seen in cinema. On the one hand, they were right: Communism killed at least 50 million people worldwide in the 20th century, was a dangerous ideology of a dictatorship, and Indonesia was just one of many countries that applied the Containment policy which stopped its spread during the Cold War. But on the other hand, so many people were killed that this supression itself reached a disturbing point, reminiscent of the old saying: "Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster". It's a trolley problem and lesser of two evils principle thought experiment. Therefore, a large part of the film's crew, including cinematographers, production manager and gaffers, are only credited as "Anonymous".

Rarely were such chilling tales of murders told in such a calm, tranquil manner: Anwar and Herman talk about killing someone as if they are talking about such normal things as buying a cake or drinking coffee. Anwar goes to the location where hundreds of suspected Communists were brought, he then placed a long wire around their necks, and pulled it from two yards away until they were strangled. The bizarre thing is that the director Joshua Oppenheimer allows Anwar and Herman to stage movie clips from their favorite movie genres while depicting these murders, and thus in one such fake movie Anwar plays a cowboy on a horse as he re-enacts killing a Communist in the forrest, while Herman is for some reason dressed in a drag during a horror movie segment, where he feigns he is eating Anwar's liver. Several surreal moments stand out. Anwar recounts a government propaganda film that was made for the audience to hate the Communists, and little kids were ordered to watch it in the cinema, as he says: "Some children were traumtized by the film. But deep inside I was proud because I killed the Communists who look so cruel in the film." Some people go into a debate: "So, the Communists were not more cruel than us!" - "Cruel is totally different from sadistic!" In another, Anwar says how he cut the head of a man and threw the body away in the forest, but he was haunted that he didn't close the eyes of the victim's head. It's fascinating how some people need a justification that the others were a bigger evil as to make their evil less bad or more acceptable, as a psychological method to calm themselves. One deduction from the film is that certain groups still have that primordial bloodthirst that needs to be satisfied by declaring someone the enemy and then killing them. The other is that there are no ideal solutions in the complex world, and that we all live in a Catch 22, where whatever we do, we will regret it, more or less. These characters will stay in your mind rent-free long after the movie is over.

Grade:+++

Lilies of the Field

Lilies of the Field; drama, USA, 1963; D: Ralph Nelson, S: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Pamela Branch, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino

Homer Smith, an African-American handyman, stops at a desolate Arizona convent with five nuns to ask for some tap water for his overheated car engine. However, Sister Maria persuades him to stay to fix their rooftop. Homer agrees, but when he demands for his salary, Sister Maria persuades him to sleep over at the convent and start building a small chapel in the back yard. Homer realizes the nuns have no money, as they fled from East Germany to try to find a new life in the US, but only live off the land and animals on their farm. Homer leaves them, but then changes his mind and returns to continue building the chapel. He is helped by the men from the nearby town, including a waiter and a construction worker who gives them bricks and cement. Finally, the chapel is completed, Sister Maria is pleased and Homer leaves in his car.

A gentle and harmless "feel-good" drama with a dash of occasional humor, "Lilies of the Field" is an overall good little independent film with its heart on the right place, yet from today's perspective it hasn't aged that well, and one realizes why it didn't become a classic and is largely forgotten, save for a footnote in film lexicons mentioning the excellent Sidney Poitier who was awarded with several prizes for the role of the kind and noble protagonist Homer Smith, one of the most innocent and philanthropic movie characters of the 60s. The movie has a noble message, but, alas, as it is the case with most of such 'message films', it is not very cinematic. The situations and dialogue is banal or simplistic, without any sequence that truly stands out, whereas the finale feels strangely lukewarm and incomplete, as if something is missing: maybe a better connection between Homer and Sister Maria, or a better conclusion than the plain ending. Neither that well directed nor written, "Lilies" work exclusively thanks to the character of Homer, who basically decides to work at the convent for free out of pity for the German nuns who fled the Communist persecution in East Germany, only to find themselves in an even worse situation in Arizona, where they are broke and barely survive from the food of their desolate farm. Thanks to Homer's actions, a certain level of redemption and salvation is reached, which compensates for the lacking storyline. 

Grade:++

Beau Travail

Beau Travail; art-film / military drama, France, 1999; D: Claire Denis, S: Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Gregoire Colin

Galoup is an officer of the French Foreign Legion stationed in Djibouti. His unit trains there under the hot weather, while his superior is Commander Forestier, whom he greatly admires. One day a new soldier appears, Sentain, and Forestier dedicates too much attention towards him, which makes Galoup jealous. When Sentain tries to give water to a punished soldier who was ordered to dig a hole under the hot Sun, Galoup uses this as an excuse to drop Sentain in the middle of the desert with a broken compass, far away from the military base. Sentain falls unconscious from heat, but is saved by a local African tribe. As a punishment, Galoup is discharged from the military, losing his prestige, and spends his days aimlessly walking on the streets in Marseilles.

Even though it was critically recognized during its premiere, Claire Denis' film isn't a universal delight: the director takes on a loose, stream-of-consciousness approach with a minimum of dialogue, but unless this is done the right way, Malick-style, it can get tedious and lose the focus of the viewers. Denis spends too much time on overlong training exercises of the soldiers (in one of the most unusual ones, the soldiers "jump" at each other and embrace in a clinch, and then back off again, and again; they meditate and do hand moves under the Sun in the desert), when the movie needed a tighter narrative with a concise set of points leading to the finale. Critics analyzed "Beau Travail" as a meditation on routine, male physical beauty, repressed homosexuality, and toxic jealousy (the protagonist Galoup wants to get rid of the dashing Sentain, fearing the latter is attracting too much attention of his idol, Commander Forestier), yet these symbols work only on a certain level. Ironically, the most impressive moments are the opening and the closing sequences in the disco, playing outside the military world: the opening has a wonderfully synchronized moment of a soldier making a "smoochie" in front of the dancing people just in tune to Tarkan's song "Simarik" reaching the lyrics "Kiss Kiss"; while the ending has the protagonist doing incredible dance moves all by himself while the song "The Rhythm of the Night" by Corona plays in the background, at one point even dropping and rolling on the floor, exiting the screen. "Beau Travail" is good and enigmatic, yet also too vague at times, without rewarding the viewers to the fullest.

Grade:++

Dark (Season 2)

Dark; science-fiction / mystery series, Germany, 2019; D: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese, S: Louis Hofmann, Oliver Masucci, Karoline Eichhorn, Peter Schneider, Maja Schöne, Lisa Vicari, Jördis Triebel, Christian Steyer, Andreas Pietschmann, Mark Waschke, Anne Ratte-Polle, Paul Lux

Stuck in the future of 2 0 5 3, where Winden was destroyed from an unknown explosion, the teenage Jonas meets the deaf Elisabeth, now leader of a cult that forbids anyone entering the Dead Zone. Jonas goes there regardless and finds scattered mass floating around a bubble, which consolidates into a sphere, so he enters it and travels to the year 1 9 2 1. He meets the leader of the time travel society Sic Mundus, Adam, who reveals to Jonas that he is him from he future. Jonas is sent back to 2019, and he tries to prevent the chain of events from happening, but everything just happens, anyway. The old Claudia gives the young Claudia the location of the buried time machine, which Claudia starts using. Having lost everyone, Hannah also travels back in time, to 1 9 5 4, and stays there with Egon, the police officer who arrested Ulrich. The older Jonas wants to save Martha from the upcoming apocalypse, and locks her in a bunker, but she escapes and returns to the house. Adam shows up and shoots Martha in front of the teenage Jonas, claiming that he needs to trigger all the events to discover dark matter which he will then use later in the future to destroy the old world and build a new one. A Martha from another world shows up and takes the teenage Jonas with her thanks to a machine, just before a giant explosion, caused by Elisabeth from the future activating the time machine and the employees from the nuclear power plant opening a lid containing dark matter, destroys Winden.

"Dark" is a TV series that almost became the series we wanted it be, yet was hindered by its own stubborn decision to repeat the same plot elements again and again until it became tiresome. Unfortunately, this is the typical syndrome of many modern TV series: they take a two hour story and overstretch it into an eight hour season. The 1st season raised high hopes that this is going somewhere unique, and thus its long set-up was tolerated, yet the 2nd season squandered these hopes by turning, basically, into the self-referential ending of Nolan's "Interstellar", just repeated a dozen time, again and again, as if the viewers didn't get it the first time already. The only thing the 2nd season needs is the relationship between Jonas from 2019 and Adam from the future—while all the rest of 50 different characters are unnecessary. This is an ambitious and professional series, but it has a calculated story that just keeps inventing another time travel subplot that is used to justify the previous events, and another, and another, until this becomes boring and schematic. We understand, it is a cycle that keeps repeating and nobody is able to change it because every decision just leads to the same set of events, as one giant commenatry on fatalism and determinism, and the futility of people trying to break the destiny. But it becomes ridiculous at times. For instance, Noah wants to shoot Adam, aims, but his pistol is stuck, and Adam tells him it is destiny that decided so, whereas then when Agnes shows up, she takes the pistol, aims, and then all of a sudden it is able to fire and shoot Noah. In another, an older Jonas locks up Martha in a bunker, because he warns that a giant explosion will wipe out the town during the day—yet later Elisabeth and her dad run to the bunker, unlock the door, and as they open it, Martha escapes outside, anyway. Sometimes, these stretches seems too forced when trying to fit all these events into the cycle at the end. The 2nd season is well made, well acted, well filmed (the apocalyptic future in the year 2 0 5 4 is filmed in washed out, bleak colors), and a lot of details play a role later on. But it simply is just a variation of the same plot point for eight hours, which ultimately leads to the viewers losing their focus and enthusiasm for it.

Grade:++

Dark (Season 1)

Dark; science-fiction / mystery series, Germany, 2017; D: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese, S: Louis Hofmann, Oliver Masucci, Karoline Eichhorn, Peter Schneider, Maja Schöne, Lisa Vicari, Jördis Triebel, Christian Steyer, Andreas Pietschmann, Mark Waschke, Anne Ratte-Polle, Paul Lux

Winden, a German town near a nuclear power plant, 2019. Teenager Jonas Kahnwald is angry that his father Michael committed suicide without explanation. Jonas' mother Hannah is having an affair with Ulrich Nielsen, a police inspector married to Katharina, with whom he has three kids: teenagers Magnnus and Martha (Jonas' ex-girlfriend) and the 10-year old Mikkel. Noah, a mysterious man from the future, recruits Bartosz, Jonas' friend and Martha's boyfriend. One day, Mikkel goes through an underground tunnel in the forest and emerges in 1 9 8 6. He stays there, is adopted by the Kahnwalds, renamed Michael and becomes Jonas' father. Jonas receives a letter from his late father, hinting at time travel, and goes through the tunnel, to 1 9 8 6, to try to bring Mikkel back. However, Jonas is kidnapped by Jonas 33 years in the future, who locks him up in a room. Ulrich and police officer Charlotte suspect power plant employee Helge (75), now in a retirement home, kidnapped the children 33 years ago. Ulrich goes through the tunnel and emerges in 1 9 5 3, just before the nuclear power plant was supposed to be built. Ulrich wants to find Mikkel, but decides to kill Helge (9) as a kid, hoping this will prevent him kidnapping kids when he grows up. However, Helge survives and wakes up in a basement. Ulrich is arrested by the police before he could return back to the present. Time travel is activated and a portal shows the teenage Jonas seeing Helge (9) in the basement. They reach out for each other, and Helge (9) lands in the room, while the teenage Jonas ends up in 2052.

One of the most hyped European productions by Netflix, German science-fiction time travel mystery series "Dark" is a highly complex, ambitious, intelligent and demanding work which blends in elements from "Steins;Gate", "Back to the Future", "La Jetee" and others, but manages to restructure and change everything enough to make it seem original and fresh, while the production values are so high they almost give an impression as if the viewers are watching an American show. However, the 1st season suffers from the frequent problem of modern long TV shows—it gets to pay off later on when everything connects in the end, but it takes too long for its set-up, which means that the viewers have to endure seven hours of dry exposition until it gets good. Movies or TV shows that make even their set-up entertaining or fun are a much more fluent watch. Directors and screenwriters Baran bo Odar and  Jantje Friese conjure up a bleak and clever story about predestination, fatalism and determinism, yet several of its solutions were already explored in previous time travel stories (for instance, when a character goes to do something to stop the time loop, but it only turns out his action actually started it in the first place). 

It observes the relations between four families through three time periods seperated by 33 years—2019, 1 9 8 6, 1 9 5 3—and thus the viewers will have to focus twice than usual to catch which character is a grown up in one time period, and a teenager in the previous one, so one episode even had several characters presented in a split screen, to help show the young actor/actress on the left frame, and the older actor/actress on the right frame, playing their grown-up counterpart in the future. One old character, Helge, appears in all three due to his longevity, and several scenes actually get a different context after all the dots are connected (for instance, police inspector Ulrich wans to question the 75-year old Helge in bed, but the latter is scared of him, even though they met for the first time, until we find out Ulrich travelled back in time, to '53, and wanted to kill the 9-year old Helge because he wanted to stop him from kidnapping children when he grows up). Two plot twists in episodes 5 and 10 are stunning: the viewers have been given clues throughout the storyline, but are still surprised when these secrets are revealed, anyway. A few refreshing moments based on the viewers knowing more through a broader time perspective are sparse, but welcomed—in one memorable, we know that Ulrich and Katharina from 2019 are married and have three kids, and thus it is amusing when they are shown as teenagers in the 80s, where the teenage Katharina wants to have sex, but says to the teenage Ulrich that he must use condoms because she "doesn't want to have kids, never, ever". The 1st season of "Dark" is very good, and yet, since a lot of things were left unexplained, there is still a feeling that it went to overcomplicate and obfuscate these events a bit too much, while the best parts may yet to follow, after this arduous set-up is finally completed. 

Grade:+++

Moolaadé

Moolaadé; drama, Senegal / Burkina Faso / Morocco / Tunisia / Cameroon / France, 2004; D: Ousmane Sembène, S: Fatoumata Coulibaly, Hélène Diarra, Salimata Traoré, Dominique Zeïda, Théophile Sowié 

In a Bambara village in Burkina Faso, Collé is a rare woman who refused to allow her daughter Amasatou having female genital circumcision, an ancient tradition in her culture, since she lost two children that way before her. Four young girls run to Colle asking for a sanctuary against the circumcision, and she invokes the ancient rule, "Moolaade", which grants protection around the compound of the village, by tying a rope at the entrance. The elders constantly scold Colle for defying the tradition, and forbide Amasatou from ever marrying the much beloved Ibrahima, a man who worked in Paris and now returned with radios, TV sets and riches for the village. On the insistence of his older brother, Colle's husband whips her publicly in front of people, trying to force her to renounce "Moolaade" for the four girls, but a local merchant, Mercenaire, intervenes and stops the cruelty. Ibrahima announces he doesn't mind that Amasatou isn't circumcised. In the end, Colle and the women rebel, collect all the knives and end the tradition of circumcision.

Included in Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies, Ousmane Sembene's last film, "Moolaade" is a bitter contemplation about the damage caused by people enslaved by dogmatic-archaic traditions, in this case female genital mutilation, still practiced at that time in some African Muslim villages. "Moolaade" is an honest, emotional and humanistic little film that criticizes any kind of religious fundamentalism which is harmful, and advocates for a broadening of human rights and perspectives: in that sense, the first sign of technology, a car, shows up only some 42 minutes into the film, driving the Cosmopolitan Ibrahima returning from Paris up to the village, bringing radios and TV sets which allow contact to the outside world, symbolizing the expanded wordview that slowly reaches even this isolated place, which formerly only had this one narrow way of life. The main protagonist is thankfully a woman, Colle (very good Fatoumata Coulibaly), who becomes a sort of female revolutionary who wants to reform the society and end the gential mutilation practice. 

Women, as symbols of those who give birth ("Hope brings birth to courage!", says one of them), also here become symbols of a birth of a new humanistic era. But as the old saying goes: social issue movies are not very cinematic. "Moolaade" relies mostly on these (noble) messages, and less on some other stylistic components to keep also movie buffs satisfied. Sembene directs the movie in a conventional way, and with a running time of 120 minutes, at least 30 minutes could have been cut for a better pacing, yet he also shows a lot of care and delicacy towards telling the story: only one example of a genital mutilation is implied, not shown directly, depicting how a 10-year old girl is being held by her arms and is crying, begging them not to cut her, while a masked woman with a knife is seen going beneath her. As it is hinted at, as flawed and problematic as the modern world is, it is still ten times better than some of these primitive, cruel traditions from the past. The people in the village are good people, but when given the (imposed) task of upholding an ideology, they resort to fanaticism, using misleading euphemism (genital mutilation is called "purification") and attacking Colle by reframing it as if she is the crazy one. Little details give the movie spark (an old radio is placed on the ground, several cockroaches exit from it, and a chicken starts chasing them), but if there is one moment that is a small perfection, then it is the finale that ends with a match cut involving a camera pan of smoke rising to the tower of a spiked ancient building, and then transitioning to the scene of an antenna, allegorically showing how despite numerous hardline attempts at holding on to regressive conservatism in any shape or form, the society is eventually destined to progress to a modern way of thinking.

Grade:+++

The Indian Scarf

Das indische Tuch; crime, Germany, 1963; D: Alfred Vorher, S: Heinz Drache, Corny Collins, Gisela Uhlen, Hans Clarin, Klaus Kinski, Eddi Arent

The rich Lord Lebanon is strangled with an Indian scarf in his room. His disparate family and relatives shows up in his castle for inheritance, but the lawyer Tanner informs them that the last will orders that all of them have to stay six days in the castle, and the wealth will be divided among those who are still there. One by one, the guests get strangled by someone with an Indian scarf. Mr. Tilling, an American, is initially the suspect, but later on even he is found dead. Chiko, the corpulent servant, commits suicide because he was helping in the killings, but his boss in unknown. Ross, the illegitimate son of Mr. Lebanon, is also killed. Finally, Tanner and Isla find out Mrs. Lebanon ordered the murders, so that her son Edward can get all the money. Edward, who was also strangling with the scarf, is killed by the dog that pushes him out of the window. Tanner reads the will: all the inheritance goes to Edgar Wallace.

"The Indian Scarf" is probably the funniest and most twisted of all the German films from the 60s based on the crime novels by British writer Edgar Wallace, which were for some reason popular back then in that country. Like all of these movie adaptations, there are no high expectations for them, but they enjoy cult status due to their wacky, sometimes even unintentionally comical attempts at suspense, and the black and white cinematography even helps in that aspect. The director Alfred Vorher took this to the extreme: the characters are so demented, insane, with distraught looks, weird gestures and, at the same time, dignified behavior, that the viewers are bound to get actually more chuckles than fear out of this film. The character who stands out the most is Ross, played by the eccentric Klaus Kinski: in one hilarious sequence, lawyer Tanner confronts the dozen guests sitting at the table about the Indian scarf he found after another murder: "Did anybody hear anything?" Ross, sitting underneath him and staring at Tilling sitting at the other side of the table, gives a deadpan response: "I didn't hear, but I saw someone going to that room." - "You, of course, couldn't recognize who that was." - "I could of course recognize who that was. It was Mr. Tilling!" Ross continues: "I belong as much to this family... (leans forward, looks towards right) as the Lord seduced my mother... but I still recommend we isolate this Gentleman." Upon hearing that, Mr. Tilling takes a drink from the table and splashes it into Ross' face. The whole exchange is so insane and grotesque it's as almost the authors wanted to make it as comical as possible. German comedian Otto even used numerous clips from "The Indian Scarf" to incorporate and dub it into his comedy TV show "Otto - Die Serie", which worked marvelously at times. This is trash, but when the dog chases the killer across the castle, and into the pigeon coop, it's hard not to have fun.

Grade:++

Seinfeld (Season 3)

Seinfeld; comedy series, USA, 1992, D: Tom Cherones, S: Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Wayne Knight    

Jerry, George and Elaine try out a massage therapy... Jerry is angry that George broke up with a woman, an accountant, before she could do Jerry's taxes... Jerry tries to help a Pakistani restaurant owner by motivating him to cook Pakistani food, but the place goes broke... George persuades his girlfriend to do a nose job, but it ends badly, so she has to go for another surgery... George finally finds a job, but gets fired for having sex with the cleaning lady in the workplace... The quartet have a bad day in a subway... At the airport, George takes a limo reserved for a certain O'Brien, who turns out to be a Neo-Nazi... After a macho neighbor falls into a coma, Jerry starts a relationship with his girlfriend... Jerry witnesses a hit-and-run car, but upon finding the driver is a beautiful woman, he begins dating her... Kramer goes to California to try to become an actor on TV...

The third season of "Seinfeld" is definitely the one where the authors found their true calling and consolidated the structure for the rest of the series. The quality of the episodes is again inconsistent: some stories are brilliant, others are bland. Admittedly, the concept of the show is 'slice-of-life' in New York, yet a fair share of its running time is spent on too trivial or obscure observations—as S. Martin's character in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" said: "Not everything is an anecdote". The first five episodes are weak, especially the rather tiresome 'filler' stories of Jerry and Elaine going to visit Jerry's parents in Florida or Jerry having to return an overdue book to the library, but the wanning impression is finally saved and fixed in episode 3.6, where the entire minimalistic story plays out only on one location, the public garage, where the four protagonists spend their entire time trying to find Kramer's car. Thanks to Larry David's tight script, said episode is able to sustain the viewers' attention through sharp and witty dialogues. 

Some of the best bits appear when Jerry is sharply calling out certain flaws, nuissances or clichees in people's behavior: for instance, in episode 3.11, Jerry and Elaine go to rent a car, but it's not there despite a reservation, so the clerk says she will go to talk to her supervisor, and we see her make gesticulations behind a glass door, causing Jerry and Elaine to begin to mimic their hand movements: "You know what she's saying over there?" - "What?" - "Hey Marge, see those two people over there, they think I'm talking to you, so you pretend you are talking to me! OK, now you start talking." - "Oh, you mean like this, so it looks like I'm saying something, but I'm not really saying anything at all?" - "Now you say something else, and they won't yell at me because they will think I was checking with you!". In another, Jerry returns to his apartment with his date, and at the door, he says: "Hey, do you ever pretend like there's murderers chasing you, and you're trying to see how fast you can get your keys out and get into your apartment?", so they try unlocking the door really fast. By far, the best joke appears in episode 3.16, which is comedy gold, an insane spoof of "JFK" (also starring Wayne Knight): Kramer and Newman recalling how they were walking after a game, but baseball player Hernandez spat on Kramer behind his back, and Newman adds: "Then the spit ricochet off him as it hit me". Jerry, however, steps in, and proceeds to dispute the events using laws of physics and makes a delicious reconstruction: "The spit then splashed off the wrist, pauses, in mid air, mind you, makes a left turn, and lands on Newman's left thigh. That is one magic loogie!"

Grade:++

Brewster's Millions

Brewster’s Millions; comedy, USA, 1985, D: Walter Hill, S: Richard Pryor, Lonette McKee, John Candy, Stephen Collins, David White, Jerry Orbach, Pat Hingle, Hume Cronyn, Rick Moranis  

New York. Monty Brewster’s luck takes on an unexpected turn towards better when the washed-up baseball player gets bailed out from prison and escorted to a building where he is informed that his late great-uncle Rupert will leave him an inheritance of 300 million $. The catch: he has to spend 30 million $, under the condition that he buys stuff but has no assets, in 30 days, or he will not get the inheritance. Since a clause forbids Brewster from telling anyone about this secret deal, his friend Spike is puzzled and shocked that Brewster would now rent the most expensive hotel room and squander all the money on bizarre investments and parties. His accountant, Angela, is also concerned. Finally, Brewster spends all the money, but an employee was bribed to sabotage the inheritance, so he gives Brewster some money from fictional funds, yet Angela manages to dismantle the conspiracy, allowing for Brewster to inherit the 300 million $.  

You would not know Richard Pryor and John Candy were great comedians based just on their film “Brewster’s Millions”, since their talent doesn’t come across here due to the placid script which seems to be doing more to inhibit them than to simply showcase their potentials. Screenwriters Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod tried to pull off a similar variation of their previous hit, "Trading Places", but, sadly, this film is simply not that funny. All the jokes seem as if they were improvised on the spot, without much thought or better planning what to do with the juicy concept in which the title hero has to spend a fortune to inherit an even bigger fortune. Pryor wasn't given any memorable lines or dialogue, while his love interest, Angela, is a disappointingly one-dimensional and bland character. Candy wasn't given much to do, either. At first, the story follows Brewster's attempts as they backfire (he spends an insane amount of money on sure misfires, like on a loser's race and investing in a business that aims to bring icebergs from the North Pole via the ocean to farmers, yet they unexpectedly become a success that yield him even more money he now has to spend), yet the rest is just routine and overstretched "improvising". There is only one good joke here (Brewster buys a rare postal stamp for 1.25 million $ and mails it on a letter to the office of his supervisors), and the rest is just a series of half-baked, underdeveloped or forced attempts at jokes. "Brewster's Millions" has no inspiration. As much as Brewster squanders his money in the movie, the movie squanders its potentials in front of the viewers.

Grade:+

Awakenings

Awakenings; drama, USA, 1990; D: Penny Marshall, S: Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Julie Kavner, John Heard, Ruth Nelson, Alice Drummond, Penelope Ann Miller, Max von Sydow

Bronx, 1 9 6 9. Dr. Malcolm Sayer half-heartedly accepts a new job as a physician in a hospital for people in a catatonic state. He realizes all these patients were diagnosed with encephalitis lethargica and assumes they still have consciousness, so he decides to try out an experimental new drug, L-Dopa, on one patient, Leonard. He gives it to him orally with orange juice, but with no results. He then gives it to him with milk, and Leonard awakens after 30 years of catatonic state. Leonard is amazed by the new world, and other patients also awaken after being treated with L-Dopa. However, Leonard starts having spasms, isn't allowed to walk outside without assistance, and again falls back to his catatonic state. The L-Dopa treatment isn't effective anymore. Sayer asks nurse Eleanor out for a drink, embracing his private life more.

1990 was a great year for Robert De Niro: not only did he star in the classic "GoodFellas", but he was also nominated for several awards for his portrait of a man awakening from a 30-year catatonic state in "Awakenings", a fictionalized account based on the memoirs of Dr. Oliver Sacks (here renamed into Malcolm Sayer). It's a pity the true story was heavily edited and dramatized in this film, but it still offers a few great moments and messages about people taking consciousness and health for granted, when in reality such terms are far more fragile than many think. Comedian Robin Williams is great in a serious edition as Dr. Sayer, but also gives a few refreshing humorous touches in the otherwise sad story: one sequence has a great commentary on the trials-and-errors of scientific research of the unknown ("It was an immense project. I was to extract 1 decagram of myelin from 4 tons of earth worms. I was on the project for 5 years. I was the only one who believed in it. Everyone else said it couldn't be done!" - "It can't!" - "I know that now. I proved it!"), while another one has Sayer insisting that patients in a catatonic state still have consciousness, another Doctor disputes it, but Sayer replies: "I'm sorry, if you were right, I would agree with you." 

A certain problem is the somewhat unrealistic depiction of patients, as if the writer didn't consult medical advice, which at moments looks fake: for instance, it is a stretch that half a dozen patients in a catatonic state, sitting in a wheelchair in a circle, can somehow throw a ball and catch it between each other. Another is that patients are able to both walk (sometimes even run!) and talk immediately after waking up from a 20 or 30-year catatonic state, when they muscles would have been too weak after all this time in a wheelchair. The director Penny Marshall directs the film in a bland and routine way, though it is still crafted well enough, yet the screenplay clearly surpasses the direction due to several very emotional and inspired moments. For instance, Leonard is so fascinated being aware again that he finds everything amazing, so he just walks into the sea in his clothes. One unforgettable scene: Leonard says to Dr. Sayer that they have to "remind the world" about how good life is: "Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad. It's all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They've forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!" Despite falling into sentimentality and manipulative "handicap-sympathy" clichees, "Awakenings" is a powerful movie that stimulates the viewers to think, and since it is based on a true story, its events have authority and merit.

Grade:++

Yard Kings

Yard Kings; drama / short, UK, 2020, D: Vasco Alexandre, S: Elle Atkinson, David Price, Carolina Lazarus, Jermaine Ricketts

After her abusive dad has another harsh fight with her mother, the scared Ellie (9) runs away from their home, a trailer. She goes to a nearby scrapyard, befriends a boy, Pete, and they start making their own home in an abandoned trailer, using old chairs from the junk as furniture. When her father leaves, Ellie goes back to the trailer, picks up her mom and persuades her to move to her and Pete's old trailer, with a bedroom made just for her.

A bitter-sweet depiction of social realism, Vasco Alexandre's "Yard Kings" are, despite all realism, an ode to escapism from harsh realities of life, in this case a violent father who assaults the heroine's mother. 'Raw', rough, minimalistic and ascetic, this short movie works thanks to its two very genuine main actors, Elle Atkinson as Ellie, and David Price as Pete, yet, like most movies that come too close to real life, it also feels slightly grey, monotone, routine and plain at times. Several little details are great at illustraing this "lower class" world (a figure made out of soda cans; the kids taking car seats from the junk to use them as their furniture...), and allows for an astringent-emotional touch. While the style is rather conventional, its messages and themes resonate surprisingly well: the old scrapyard trailer Ellie escapes to is just a variation of her own home, a trailer, showing that she just meanders between two similar worlds at the bottom. The only difference is that at least she can feel safe in this scrapyard trailer, and find an idylic oasis for her mom, even though it is all just make-believe: this oasis isn't even an oasis. Ellie's escape is an escape to the same world.

Grade:++

Love Camp

Die Todesgöttin des Liebescamps; erotic / exploitation film, Germany / Greece, 1981; D: Christian Anders, S: Christian Anders, Laura Gemser, Simone Brahmann, Sacha Borysenko, Bob Burrows, Sylvia Engelmann

Cyprus. The rich Senator Benneman and his 20-year old daughter Patricia arrive for a vacation. Patricia is infatuated by the blond Dorian, the preacher of a love sect that predicts the end of the world in the year 1999, and offers salvation for its members. The sect is led by the Goddess, a woman who demands that its members love everyone, because loving only one person is "betrayal to the rest of humanity". However, the Goddess secretly forces women into prostitution as to finance the cult. Dorian is tasked to seduce Patricia to extract money from her, but he truly falls in love with her. When the police wants to arrest everyone, Goddess orders that a bomb blast destroys their community, while her muscle-bound servant Tanga attacks Dorian and Patricia for daring to flee the sect, but Dorian is able to throw him into a pit in a cave.

One of the bizarre curiosities from the German cinema of the 80s, this exploitation film extravaganza by Austrian musician Christian Anders feels like a very clumsy and poorly thought-out execution, though its idea is rather interesting. "Love Camp" tries, in theory, to make a critique of various cults and sects (and religious and other ideologies in general) by depicting a community that presents itself as practicing love, yet in reality it egoistically uses and exploits its members for its leader, a woman called the Goddess (Laura Gemser), who brainwashes adherents. This can be seen as a dark commentary on ideologies taking a monopoly on any information and reality, banning any kind of critical thought or debate, as it was the case with Jonestown or the Heaven's Gate cult (the ending hints at mass suicide delusion). However, everything here is done so laughably bad it is embarasisng to watch at moments. In one weird moment that tries to show the perversion of its leader, a servant holds a goat by its front legs while the Goddess takes a knife and stabs the animal, letting its blood drip into a bowl, and later the Goddess drinks it (it was done with a puppet, so the animal wasn't killed in real life). In another, the Goddess wants to dominate Dorian's life completely, so she submerges his head into the sea, while she has sex with him, sitting herself on top, and when he passes out and almost dies, she is suddenly worried and tries to help him, as if she didn't see what the consequences will be. Conventional filming and tiresome, schematic dialogue plague the movie, as well as the ridiculous finale, while Anders plays the cult preacher Dorian. If there is one saving grace here, then it is the enchanting Simone Brahmann, who would later become a famous voice actress and dub numerous movies into German language. Whenever she is on the screen, it is as if she floats above all this nonsense around her, a walking oasis of beauty in a desert of ugliness and dilettante on the screen.

Grade:+