We went to the German Film Festival here in Melbourne during June; somewhat delayed and truncated because I got Covid 19 in May! All the films were good and a few were great. Here’s what we saw.
The Black Square -💥💥💥💥💥
This was terrific. We love the German actress Sandra Hüller who is in this and who starred in the movie Toni Erdman (another great German comedy). The best comedies mix up humour and poignancy. As this one did. Two crooks, one ageing one naive board a cruise ship to effect the transfer of a stolen masterpiece (the Black Square of the title) to a Russian oligarch. They chloroform a couple of strangers in order to get aboard. Just so happens they are the ship’s entertainment, meant to be David Bowie and Elvis Presley look alikes. And so the fun starts. Our ageing crim supplies the poignance as do a couple of older employees on the boat. A great shoot-out ending bordering on slapstick. Highly recommended if it comes your way either via cinemas or streaming services. The trailer is here.
Risks and Side Effects 💥💥💥💥💥
Another great comedy but with an underlying serious message. A couple, longstanding, the familiarity is established quickly. The wife is told she needs a kidney transplant. The husband’s response not what is expected. The side effects of that first interchange ripple through their family and friends. A scene later on when the husband takes to his bed had the whole cinema laughing – a common male trait! Another movie worth looking out for. The trailer is here.
Monte Verità 💥💥💥💥
This is a beautiful film – everything about it is beautiful – the cinematography, the performances and the story. Based on a real place. Real people are portrayed seeking fulfilment in a hippy paradise in the early twentieth century – Isadora Duncan, Herman Hesse, Otto Gross. The lead actress, Maresi Riegner, is beautiful with the most wonderful eyes. The camera lingers on her face from the very first shot. We first meet Hanna Leitner confined – in every sense of the word – to her role as wife and mother in a middle class Viennese family. Any excitement – which means contact with her daughters – brings on her asthma – or is it hysteria? She’s being treated by the handsome and charming Dr Gross. Is he too good to be true? And is her husband who disdains her photographic ambitions, and who’d really like to have sex, really a villain? All of the characters are presented sympathetically – there are no heroes and villains here. Everyone is multi-faceted. Terrific. I only gave it four stars but could have given five. The trailer is here.
Dear Thomas 💥💥💥💥
This was a hit in Germany, winning this years film prizes. It’s in black and white and from the very first scene you are absorbed. Which is interesting because the protagonist – the Thomas of the title – is not a vey sympathetic fellow. He’s a real person, Thomas Brasch who’s described in the short outline of the film as a rebel, poet, revolutionary. He’s in East Germany where his father is a party functionary with a senior position in government. Thomas, as he keeps insisting to everyone, is a writer. And write he does. All the while challenging authority be it at art school or in the streets following Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. He is shocking towards women – loves them and leaves them without a backward glance. So a warts and all depiction. Really interesting about life in West Germany, especially for young artistic types. Thomas finally makes it to the West in 1976 and thereafter becomes a successful author, playwright and film maker which doesn’t seem to make him any happier. Just don’t call him a dissident. The film is divided into 7 chapters – and I’m pleased to find a review that lists them, I realised they were poetic but didn’t know they came from a Brasch poem: 1 What I have I don’t want to lose; 2 Where I am I don’t want to stay; 3 Who I love I don’t want to leave; 4 Who I know I don’t want to see any more; 5 Where I love I don’t want to die there; 6 Where I die I don’t want to go there; 7 I want to stay where I have never been. This reviewer thought it was too Arty but I didn’t. There are dream sequences and hallucinations. Very inventive film-making. All of it gripping. The trailer is here.
My Son 19/6 💥💥💥💥
A road movie really with a mother and son trapped together in a car. He’s injured his leg which might put paid to his competitive roller blading and she has used all her connections to get him into a top grade rehabilitation centre located somewhere in the spectacular Swiss Alps. He is hell bent on resisting her curiosity about his life and over protectiveness – a hang-over from her time as a single mother. He’s another not entirely sympathetic character – everything is about him. Nor is she entirely – she is over-protective and you can see why he keeps pushing her away. Two encounters on their road trip; one with hippies where he is comfortable and she is not, one with a middle class father and daughter where she reveals her vulnerability. There are no pat answers to the conflict between them. They argue. Nothing is resolved. I liked that. Some might not. Here’s the trailer.
It’s Just A Phase 💥💥💥
This was okay and could have been great. It’s interesting trying to work out what prevented it from being better. A group of friends of longstanding are playing charades; the wife of the husband playing provides the answer. Of course – great couple, know what each other thinks! So we know they are for a fall. Which comes. Wife is bored – wants a break. Husband dumbfounded but leaves. We see each with their longstanding friends – the boys together, the girls together – discussing the turn of events. Their are three children who are great – the goth older girl who is appalled by her parents; the youngest boy who is always asking what’s going on and the middle girl who is wise beyond her years and as good as a therapist. Anyway it just misses the mark, which is a shame. Good for an escapist hour and 45 minutes. I couldn’t find an English language trailer but a German one is here.
Contra 💥💥💥
This is another that could have been great – primarily because of the performances. But the story has too many holes. A racist misogynist lecturer is given one last chance to redeem himself by tutoring an immigrant student in how to be a successful debater – for the prestige of the university in the annual debating challenge. A sympathetic relationship between student and lecturer gradually emerges – as we know it must. But there’s not enough back story or personal interaction between the two of them to make this remotely likely. He has a past tragedy that she initially knows nothing about although all the other students do. She has all sorts of trials and tribulations that he knows nothing about – migrants can get chucked out even if born in Germany and precarious jobs! Where’s he been living? She doesn’t know he’s been forced to tutor her when all the other students know and its all over social media. A shame. Great performances from both the principles and everyone really. The hints about how to be a good debater and the actual debates are good. The trailer – another German one – is here.
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