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Reviews
This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Great and unexpected drama
Oh man, I didn't expect it to be that dramatic. Things started out kind of bad and when it all got better and promised a happy ending and a wholesome love story between handsome Redford and Woods, it got really bad... Heartbreaking to me.
It really shows up the discord and troubles that can come about through your family system... And how on the outside it is usually all pretty well concealed under a neat and acceptable facade. How we adapt behaviors to navigate ourselves through that system.
If you don't liberate yourself and make it out, you get tangled more and more, and in the worst case don't make it out alive... Or not as yourself.
Ohh, Alva... She tried to find solace and relief in dreams and fantasies, so much so that she forgot her actions have real consequences...
The final scene, when we last see Alva, really captured the horror she must have felt.
Great acting and some nice cinematography as well.
Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull (2021)
Great
Touching and gripping story, tragic, sad and sometimes funny. Great actors. And yes, the lead character being quite handsome definitely added to it too.
I haven't read the book but this movie made me curious about it. It must be good. Especially towards the end with the professor there were some really beautiful lines of dialogue.
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Poetic, suggestive and sensual and yet very down to earth. The beauty, tenderness and tragedy of transience...
Pretty little dialogue and slow paced, which creates a kind of relaxed, spacious and contemplative atmosphere. But slowly the tension grows, as the interest between the two protagonists becomes more obvious.
Tranquil and rich imagery that very well captures a nostalgic and yet timeless feel.
The first kiss between Oliver and Elio still felt kind of awkward to me, but after a while the passion and intimacy between the two felt so convincing and real that it made me think why men would even like women - the male female romances depicted seemed rather lackluster, banal and shallow in comparison...
David Wants to Fly (2010)
The clashing of collective shadows
Sieveking's struggle and goal was to produce thrillingly "cryptic, abysmal" movies just like his big idol David Lynch. With this documentary he found his abyss within the TM Organisation and its members - their denial, secrecy and dubious projects.
In a way it's maybe the most lynchian film I've ever seen. Starring Lynch himself who probably didn't want to appear in it and even wanted to sue the director! It can't get more absurd than that and I really love it.
In his quest of becoming like his idol, Sieveking got to meet and subsequently rejected and even threatened with a sue by him... I just love the irony and poignancy of that.
At first I wasn't sure about it, but ultimately I liked that he showed intimate scenes from his private life. It all was very "real" and raw.
It's not just about TM and the harsh, dark side of spiritual business but also his personal spiritual seeking - while in the beginning he is motivated mainly by wanting to get creative ideas for movies he later on seems to develop a more serious interest in "enlightenment", liberation, and how it can be achieved.
I admired both the courage but also innocence and openness with which the director approached this documentary and his quest. He seemed to genuinely want to give TM a serious try and he did. I think he was pretty fair in his investigation and the things he disclosed and that the threat to sue he reiceved was absolutely unwarranted.
It's a difficult subject really because I'm convinced TM and meditation in general do bring about wonderful and potentially life changing benefits. However even the world of meditation and spirituality isn't as pure as you'd like to imagine.
There are complications that come with propagating and wanting to spread such a technique on a very wide scale. You run into questions of business and money that can render the spiritual/practical side of it questionable and evoke the greedy egotistical side of humans. Before I never really understood the allegations of TM being a cult or scam but after having watched this I can comprehend it.
The Organisation, as becomes obvious very soon, isn't as pure in its intentions as it pretends to be. What's the functions of all those rajas, what are they needed for? Why the rivalry and distrust even among them? Why do you have to pay such absurdly high amounts of money to become one? Why is everyone so super secretive about everything?
The aggression and rejection towards anybody who dares to question it or expose certain aspects of it really exposes its dubiosity and questionable hidden agenda.
Also some details and dark secrets about Maharishi himself are disclosed by former devotees.
The power struggles within the organisation that promotes world peace, huge amounts of donations that never got used properly, etc. Especially the statements of "Raja Emanuel" later on and how Lynch defended him were interesting and baffling!
Perhaps this documentary really also in a way deals not only with the collective shadow of the TM Organisation but also that which especially many Germans still carry with them - the guilt, shame and resulting distrust, hypervigilance and scepsis of anything to do with "following" leaders, religions or organisations...
It seems that Lynch's secrecy is one of the main ingredients to the "abysses" in his movies...
Which Sieveking seems to lack completely. I found his openness refreshing, but at times I thought he was a bit naive in his conception of enlightenment and world peace - it doesn't mean you won't face difficulties in life such as breaking up with your girlfriend f.e.
As a fan of Lynch myself I was a bit baffled and disappointed in his denial of the obvious shadow of this Organisation. Also I noticed he dodged and didn't clearly answer many of the questions.
But I guess it's good to see that he's just a human with flaws, too.
It does seem that at the end the director and protagonist has come closer to finding his own path and way of expression.
I think his seeking for truth and self expression wasn't in vain, even if much of the TM business remains a secret.
I personally would have been interested in a clear statement of him on TM and if he will keep practicing it. But I also like that he remains pretty neutral, just gives a glimpse into the reality and leaves the conclusions to the viewer.
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
Conclusion: it all goes all back to childhood trauma, yet again.
That's the about the worthwhile thing I got out of the movie.
La voce della luna (1990)
What an odd, dazzling, beautiful movie...
But also kind of sad and lonely.
To me, it portrayed in a both poignant and light hearted way the often overwhelming complexity and seeming absurdity of life.
A lot of beautiful dream-like imagery, too.
People are meeting and talking, but not really to each other, they aren't really heard or understood, or themselves understanding, as if everyone lives in their own world completely - especially the two protagonists... It felt both hilarious and poignant watching them in their ruminations and roamings.
The contrast between them is interesting too: one has at least understood that he doesn't really understand at all, exudes an almost childlike innocence, while the other is an old grumpy man, overly firm in his convictions he has drawn out of his bewilderment and paranoia.
But maybe they just exemplify this tendency of modern culture in an overdrawn, absurd, poignant way.
Diversity and individuality but no unity and coherence. In a way this also encapsulates the postmodern zeitgeist.
Upon the ending, I really did feel like waking from a dream... When there are still some clear images which are slowly becoming more vague and you are trying to keep them alive, to put the pieces together, to make sense of it... Like you're facing an abyss and can hear an echo rising from its depth which slowly dies away... In these last moments, as all fades, the apex is finally reached in complete silence... All the turmoil of thoughts, beliefs and questions come to rest. You are left simultaneously awe struck, humbled and at peace. This is how I felt, anyway.
Throughout the movie, the tone of silence and contemplation is harshly contrasted by noise, obscenity, turmoil and chaos. Much just like life itself, when we stray from our center, our core, and lose ourselves in the maze of the "world out there"...
I was often irritated - most by the scenes "in public", with its ostentatious noise and incoherence... It felt like the movie was going nowhere, and indeed it did, but in the best sense
Le placard (2001)
Pleasant surprise
This movie was a positive surprise! I didn't expect much and in fact found it rather slow and boring in the beginning. But it turned out to be a light hearted but witty and entertaining comedy. Especially Gerard Depardieus part was hilarious. Even a slight absurd edge to it.
Grave (2016)
Raw flesh & emotion
The movie not just manages to display raw, strong emotion, without making it seem overblown, but actually tie it into an engaging, intelligent story and good acting. Especially the twist that only gets revealed at the very end adds a lot to it, imo.
I haven't seen something like this for a long time in recent cinema. This movie withholds nothing of the details of what it really means to grow up and be confronted with the world of sexuality and associated primordial urges, such as aggression and lust in general. At first sight a coming of age movie, but really deals with the universal theme of the so-called human condition.
Most people don't really dare to explore what you can find in the depths - if you, like the protagonist, go against your conditioning and follow the mysterious pull from the depths of your being. I've read much criticism towards how "unrealistic" this movie is - sure, something like this probably wouldn't happen nowadays exactly as depicted (regarding the events in the college), but I see the cannibalism and the morbid and extreme actions of the sisters towards each other as more symbolic in nature. At times the movie really becomes almost surreal and takes on a very nightmarish vibe - not through gory, out-of-this-world imagery, but through its very real intensity, which becomes experienced and portrayed rarely.
It's like the deepest fears and dark dreams, hidden deep in the subconscious of both sisters, and humanity in general (public humiliation, taboos such as cannibalism and even eating raw meat, the shadow archetype), become gradually more exposed and a lived reality. And I found precisely that very engaging. It is much more psychological than an actual cannibal movie - the horror and unease is latent, subtle, and at certain moments flows over. All the while still maintaining the tone of modern, urban everyday life.
And while everything seems to become more bizarre and riddled, just at the very end, comes a rather unexpected and yet very plausible twist and explanation for the behaviour of the sisters, which at times almost seemed to stem from actual demonic possession.
At its heart this movie isn't about cannibalism but, imo/experience, about family systems/generational trauma and how younger generations are left to sort out the problems their forebearers were unable to face and solve themselves. The human condition with a special focus on youth and coming of age. It also shows that, despite technological advances, growing up still can be as harsh as ever.
All in all an intense and well made movie, worth watching, if one is open to it.