American and European Cinema

[Display Name 60]

On 4/24/2019 at 7:16 PM, TheUlyssesian said:

Toni Erdmann is a towering masterpiece - one of the very greatest films of the new millennium. That film is going down as a great classic - mark my words. It also was the case for the most unfortunate snub in recent cinema history that the Cannes 2016 jury missed a great opportunity to give a woman the Palme - for a film that richly deserved and which had so much to say about the present moment we live in.

I agree.

On 4/24/2019 at 7:16 PM, TheUlyssesian said:

I actually liked Werk ohne Autor as well. It is a very long film but I found it very compelling and in some ways surprising about what it was. It has the perfect setup for a really melodramatic plot but it actually becomes about art and expression and how we put so much of ourselves into what we communicate out to the world. Mind you I don't think the film is perfect, there are definitely some problems with it but it is very classically handsome and the cinematography is good, the score too. There are several dialog-less scenes of just the artist working which are only driven by the cinematography and the score and they are stirring.

On the surface it is a well executed film - which is the reason why nobody dares to give it the 1/5 stars it deserves for its exaggeratedly bloated, clichéd and one-dimensional content. It is simply vicarious embarrassment that I feel, when I see that this was THE German film that got the Oscar nomination for best foreign language film last year. After Toni Erdmann a major step backwards.

[Thor 7,465]

Speaking of German cinema, what do you think of Christian Petzold's latest (TRANSIT)?

 

I found it very disappointing. A far cry from PHOENIX (his best), BARBARA or DREILEBEN.

[Display Name 60]

5 minutes ago, Thor said:

Speaking of German cinema, what do you think of Christian Petzold's latest (TRANSIT)?

 

I found it very disappointing. A far cry from PHOENIX (his best), BARBARA or DREILEBEN.

Transit, Phoenix and Barbara are the only Petzold films I've seen. And I wasn't disappointed by Transit at all. It was so suggestive! I can hardly imagine that there is a movie in his filmography that will exceed Phoenix.

[Quintus 5,399]

On 2/1/2019 at 2:10 PM, Stefancos said:

 

Really? Thats suspicious... 

 

It's obvious they played it safe this time, for fear of being shown to be a bunch of trigger happy buffoons on the last occasion.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

On 4/26/2019 at 7:08 AM, Display Name said:

Transit, Phoenix and Barbara are the only Petzold films I've seen. And I wasn't disappointed by Transit at all. It was so suggestive! I can hardly imagine that there is a movie in his filmography that will exceed Phoenix.

 

On 4/26/2019 at 7:01 AM, Thor said:

Speaking of German cinema, what do you think of Christian Petzold's latest (TRANSIT)?

 

I found it very disappointing. A far cry from PHOENIX (his best), BARBARA or DREILEBEN.

 

I actually quite liked Transit. There are some big critics that are huge champions of it.

 

It is a fascinating film. And the actors are tremendous. 

 

Also the modern dress period setting is quite unusual. Something I have never seen!