L'année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year at Marienbad)

Here is a film that has divided cineasts since it came out.

Some hate it. It has been included in Harry Medved's 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of all Time (and How They Got that Way), but that book also lists the likes of The Omen, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia or Valley of the Dolls (so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt).

Some love it. Those who do (this includes me), do so passionately, it seems. Roger Ebert gave it a coveted four star review. And while I'm linking to other pages and many an article has been written about Marienbad, here is another one. You're welcome.

The story is quickly told. At a luxurious hotel in Marienbad, a man approaches a woman and tells her that they have met and fell in love the previous year at the hotel and he wants her to run away with him now. The woman, however, does not seem to recall the meeting of the year before. What complicates matters is that she is there with her husband. In the end, we don't know if the first meeting ever happened.

That is really all of the story. There are several theories of what it all means. The most common one is that the narrative is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which the man has to convince the woman to come with him (out of the underwold) and to do so on her own account.

What we are shown is a series of breathtaking images. In wide shots the shadows do not match. The people are decked out in Chanel clothing. The pose like mannequins for a long while before they start moving. Heard words do not match moving lips.

Seeing this, to me, was utterly fascinating. And I am not usually a fan of French cinema of the 1960's and 1970's like so many others, unexplicaply, appear to be.

Love it or hate it, the film is unique and you have never seen anything like it.

10/10

Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon)

One of the earliest films in the classical sense and it is...science fiction. How about that?

It runs for only 14 minutes and it took people to the moon long before we were even close to considering space travel.

It is humorous, introduces us to weird characters and gave the world the often used, iconic image of the (man in the) moon with a looking glass, checking out what those weird little people on earth are up to.

An absolute must-see.

10/10

The Last Waltz

Listen up, kids!

This is what a concert should be.

No over-hyped auto-tuned 'singer'.
No crazy stage shows with colorful lights and vidiwalls.
No dance brigades and a gazillion costume changes.
Forget the Rhiannas and Beyoncés and Biebers and even the Madonnas.

Here is Martin Scorsese's version of The Band's last series of live concerts. Spiced up with interviews about their history and stories from various tours. It was a one-of-a-kind event thanks to the incredible list of guest performers that reads like a who is who of 1960's and 1970's music - The Staple Singers, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, even Bob Dylan and many more.

Not only is this the greatest concert film ever (not only in my opinion) but I will go as far as stating that this is Martin Scorsese's best film to date. There, I said it.

If there is one thing I envy my parents' generation it is the music. They really had something special in the time before pop took over and style became more important than the craft itself.

This is music.

10/10

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

This film is perfect.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof features two of the greatest movie stars ever. What's more, both are at their most beautiful in it.

Elizabeth Taylor is Maggie, the 'Cat', married to Brick, who - when drunk one night - decided to relive his glory jock days by jumping hurdles in the dark. Not as agile as he once was, he falls and ends up on crutches. And this right when they are to celebrate Big Daddy's birthday with the family.

The relationship between Maggie and a ceaselessly drinking Brick is strained to the maximum, gleefully noticed by Brick's sister-in-law, Mae, who believes that her husband Gooper is more worthy of Big Daddy's love, always having stayed in line and produced grandchild after grandchild after grandchild.

But the difficult dynamics among the brothers and their wives are not all that is plagueing the family on this suposedly joyous occasion. Big Daddy has terminal cancer, a fact the doctor chooses to hide from him and Big Mama but shares with the sons.

Big Daddy, annoyed with all the attention and the bickering, retreats to the basement where he talks and fights with Brick and evantually learns that he is, in fact, dying and Gooper and Mae are already in the process of securing Gooper's place in the family succession.

Wonderfully acted by all. They don't make films like that anymore.

Love it!

Bonus pic of one of the most handsome actors ever!

10/10

Searching for Sugar Man

I spent the entire Oscar night (and much of the day before) at the packed Gartenbaukino to watch the transmission. The pre-program the theater offered were five films nominated for one thing or another. The heavily favored film to win best documentary feature was one of the film shown - the wonderful Searching for Sugar Man.

This is the story of Detroit singer Sixto Rodriguez, who made two albums in the 1960s/1970s that fell pretty much on deaf ears, even though everyone involved and, really, everyone who ever heard him play cannot explain why he didn't take off. His music is wonderful and the lyrics and songwriting draw comparisons to calibers like Bob Dylan but somehow things didn't happen for him.

But somehow his debut album "Cold Facts" ended up in South Africa at a time when the country was shunned by other nations due to its regime of Apartheid and people withing South Africa were widely shielded from outside influences. Rodriguez singing of speaking up against the establishment triggered something of a musical revolution, as local musicians started to realize that they do have the means to make their voices heard. All of those musicians were heavily influenced by Rodriguez. He sold approximately half a million records in South Africa and the strangest thing is...he didn't even know it.

One day, a journalist took it upon himself to find out more about the singer/songwriter, who was something of a mystery. Nobody knew anything about him. The most important question that needed answering was: How did Rodriguez die? Rumors of him setting himself on fire, blowing his brains out or overdosing on drugs swirled around but nobody knew for sure. When he eventually got a hold of the producer of the first record and at the end of the interview asked his most burning question the journalist was told that Rodriguez was alive and well.

People interested in solving the mystery set up a website about their search for more information. One day, Eva Rodriguez, oldest daughter of the mysterious musician, wrote on the website's forum and left her contacts and finally got them in touch with the man himself. And when we, the audience, finally meet the man he turns out to be the most humble and gracious individual, working on construction sites, not bitter about not having had the success he would have wanted as a young man.

Eventually, he went to South Africa to play a sold out show (the first of many), which marks the climax of this wonderful, wonderful film. And after he played to sold out crowds in South Africa he went right back home to the house he has spent the last few decades in and back to work at the construction sites.

This is such a moving, loving portrait that everyone watching with me seemed to adore as much as I do. In the following Oscar night, along with the awards given to Austrians (Christoph Waltz, Michael Haneke), Searching for Sugar Man winning (as expected) best documentary got the biggest applause from my hometown crowd.

When I got home I went online an purchased both of Rodriguez' available albums.

10/10

Nineteen Eighty-Four

I have recently read - and loved - the book Nineteen Eighty-Four. With the book fresh in my mind it is always risky to watch the translation onto the screen. In the past, I have been bitterly disappointed many times, especially when not allowing some time to go by between book and film.

Thankfully, here the adaption of George Orwell's dark vision of the future is very close to the source material and wonderfully acted. The biggest burden of the film is on John Hurt's shoulders and he is nothing short of brilliant. Young Julia is played by one Suzanna Hamilton, who has remained obscure as an actress (before and after). The deceitful and turtoring O'Brien is portrayed by the great Richard Burton in his last film role. The film is dedicated to him.

I have already detailed the story in my book review and therefore will not do it again here, since I already mentioned the film's respect of the original text.

A bleak vision of a future, that has not quite arrived yet.

Brilliant.

10/10



Skyfall

It's a good thing it is dark in movie theatres because I spent most of Skyfall with a big stupid grin on my face. I only got into the entire series with the arrival of Daniel Craig as 007 and loved Casino Royale. Also, I dimly remember a few scenes from older Bonds I must have seen at some point, though the only one I could still piece together was Goldfinger. I recently watched Dr. No and From Russia with Love and am on a mission to watch every single Bond film.

But so far...Skyfall is my favorite Bond film ever.

It may be much more thriller than action film, but it has a brilliant villain in Javier Bardem. We all expected him to be great but he was GREAT. The story was less a grand scale operation and more of personal vendetta - man against man (and woman) so to say. His first meeting with Bond is one of my favorite scenes.

We learn some more about James Bond's history and the new cast that gets introduced is also very appealing. The new Q was a necessity, of course, and Ben Whishaw fits the young nerd perfectly - his forté being computers more than fancy gadgets (kept to a minimum and made fun of). And with Dame Judi Dench leaving the series - heartwrenchingly - we get a new M, also to my liking this one. (What? Like you didn't know!). Finally, we meet Miss Moneypenny.

Love it! Love it! Love it!

10/10