Der nackte Mann auf dem Sportplatz

The Naked Man in the Stadium is a light drama about a talented sculptor whose work seems to be out of sync with people around him. There is not much plot, although the movie is loosely centered around the artist's effort to create a statute of an athlete for a small town soccer club. The film is made up entirely of short scenes told in a deliberately flat style. You follow the artist around as he works and deals with family, friends, patrons, models and members of the public who seem bewildered by his work. He spends a lot of time talking to people about how they feel about his work and art in general. A lot of people might find this dull but my interest never waned. The movie is helped quite a bit by Kurt Bowe's charismatic performance and the glimpses of East German life during the early 1970s. An interesting meditation on art and a time capsule look at East Germany.