Borat the Sequel (film: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Sacha Baron Cohen, 2020)

Posted on October 24, 2020 by admin

‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm‘ or for short ‘Borat 2‘ directed by Jason Woliner is the most surprising production I’ve seen so far in this strange year, a proof that interesting films can appear despite or even due to the pandemic. The film is a sequel to the first ‘Borat‘ made 14 years ago, resuming the American adventures of the pseudo-Kazakh character invented and played by Sacha Baron Cohen in the America of 2020. One of the things that happened during this time was was the series ‘Who Is America‘ in which Cohen practiced and perfected scenarios in which the imaginary stereotypes of the characters meet real people, some stereotypically banal, others at the political or religious extremes of American society. The premises are farcical until the confrontations of characters and ideas make them seem painfully real. Satire is all the sharper as the characters Cohen / Borat encounters become more involved in their own roles, and those are the instances when comic effects are most successful and satire is devastating. However, the surprise effect is missing, not only that the formula is the same as in the original ‘Borat‘, but also some of the comic effects (for example using ‘exotic’ languages) are repeated, and in almost any category the comparison with the original is unfavorable.

‘Borat 2‘ has about ten screenwriters (including Cohen), and that feels like it, because the film looks like a succession of scenes that can be viewed as separate comic clips. The film takes the risk of upsetting just about everyone and manages to do so in full, though probably unevenly, because the political orientation of the authors is clear. Almost anyone who wants or can’t avoid feeling offended will find reasons to be so in this film, but especially adepts of political correctness and those who do not believe that political, social, character satire can afford saying anything or almost anything in a movie. The novelty introduced in the pretext of the film is the character of Borat’s daughter played by the Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova. The 15-year-old girl destined to be delivered as a ‘gift’ for bribing politicians offers the opportunity to expand satire in the #Me Too space, but the topic gets a Borat treatment here as well. The melodramatic line of action about the relationship between father and daughter, although a bit conventional, did not hurt I believe, on the contrary, it added a necessary emotional counterpoint in the succession of comic scenes. Sacha Baron Cohen also adopts a series of disguises justified by the fact that the character Borat has an already famous physiognomy created in the original film. Both Cohen and Bakalova immerse themselves with talent and courage in environments that risk becoming hostile at any time, especially if and when they understand that they have become the subject of a filmed satirical prank. They also do not avoid confrontations with the top of American politicians, and the results on the screen are interesting, debatable, but of a comic that cannot be denied.

The disguises are not perfect, I had the impression that the mascara is almost always thick, the costumes are beyond credibility, and that these imperfections are intentional, as if to give an additional but unused chance to those involved to understand the context. Jokes of all kinds and to all tastes abound, including in the use of languages. ‘Kazakhstan’ is filmed on location in Romania and its inhabitants speak Romanian. Borat speaks Hebrew and his daughter answers in Bulgarian. The comic effect is inevitable, amplified if you understand these languages. Being a Romanian and Hebrew speaker, I was able to enjoy a large part of the ‘foreign’ dialogues. But not all gags work just as well, and some of them are complete misses. The unsuspecting heroes provide moments of comedy but also of unexpected emotion (like in the synagogue scene). At its best moments, the film manages to create a aggressive and substantial comedy. At others, however, the humor is tendentious, repetitive or simply flat. Sacha Baron Cohen did not invent the ‘mockumentary’ but with the first ‘Borat‘ he achieved one of his greatest successes, perhaps the greatest so far in the history of the genre. ‘Borat 2‘ is a sequel that tries to repeat this success but is not very successful.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

the obvious signs of a huge talent (film: ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? – Pedro Almodovar, 1984)

Posted on October 22, 2020 by admin

‘¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?‘ (or ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?‘) made in 1984 is one of the films of the first decade of Pedro Almodóvar‘s film career, if I did not miss the count it is his fifth feature film. The director, who in his youth had no money to study film and any way had nowhere to do it because Franco’s regime had closed film schools, was trying in the early 1980s his talent and was satisfying his thirst to make films, experimenting with forms of artistic expression and was testing the limits of the freedom recently acquired together with his country just out of the deep sleep of the dictatorship. ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?‘ does not look at all like a beginner’s film, and even if it does not yet have the fullness and artistic perfection of his best films later it undoubtedly looks like an Almodóvar film: bold, human, funny, colorful, autobiographical, and in plus the main characters who catch the director’s interest and win our hearts are women. All the signs of his immense talent are already present.

The main heroine of the film is Gloria (Carmen Maura), a married woman who lives in a crowded suburb of Madrid and works from morning to night in housework to support a family composed of a lazy taxi driver husband who is interested in all kind of scams and fakes, a cultured and illiterate mother-in-law (yes, there are such people, at least at Almodóvar), two boys, one of whom is a drug dealer and the other is gay, to whom a lizard is added for a while. Gloria’s only friend is Cristal (Verónica Forqué), a creative prostitute (another Almodóvar brand). Also part of the plot is a writer who dreams of publishing Hitler’s fake diaries and a few cops. An overworked, hysterical, grotesque, pathetic, disoriented world, in which everyone seeks her or his own happiness, refuge or simply tries to survive. Only some of them succeed.

Nothing happens as we expect and as we know it in our everyday universe. Almodóvar‘s world has its own logic. The director takes us in an absurd and colorful cinematic experience and an emotional one, perhaps naive but permanently authentic. The heroes of his films are characters that we can rarely meet in everyday life, but with whom we can identify without problems. The acting interpretations are magnificent, especially that of Carmen Maura who seems to be descended directly from one of the Italian neo-realist films made two or three decades before. ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?‘ it is a film that we can enjoy even today, whether it is the first viewing, or we see it again 36 years after its production. It still keeps evident (in music, in cinematography) many of the elements of popular cinema from which Almodóvar was inspired, but it filters them, processes them and offers them to the spectators in a form not yet seen on Spanish and world screens. A recommended viewing.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

grădinari și pădurari (carte: Andrei Kurkov – Grădinarul din Oceakov)

Posted on October 21, 2020 by admin

Născut în 1961 la Leningrad, Andrei Kurkov este unul dintre scriitorii ucrainieni contemporani cei mai cunoscuți dacă nu cel mai cunoscut în lume. Scrie în limba rusă și multe dintre cele 19 romane ale sale au fost traduse în 37 de limbi și publicate în 65 de țări. Cel mai citit dintre ele este ‘Moartea pinguinului’ care inaugurează ‘ciclul pinguinului’ care i-a adus faimă internațională. ‘Grădinarul din Oceakov’ a văzut lumina tiparului pentru prima dată în 2010, iar versiunea sa în limba română a apărut în 2019 în excelenta colecție ‘ficțiune fară frontiere’ a editurii Paralela 45, în traducerea Antoanetei Olteanu.

Nu fac parte dintre cei care consideră că literatura de calitate trebuie să fie greoaie la lectură. Eu cred că literatura cu adevărat bună se citește ușor și că măiestria mânuirii cuvântului sau conținutul bogat trebuie să vina în întâmpinarea cititorilor. De aceea mă bucur de fiecare data când întâlnesc un scriitor și cărți dintr-acelea care mă absorb în lectură, care mă fac să aștept cu nerăbdare întoarcerea paginii, pe care nu le pot lăsa din mână deoarece îmi pasă mai mult de soarta eroilor și de ceea ce se va întâmpla în capitolul următor decât de masa de seară. Este cazul ‘Grădinarului din Oceakov’, o carte lejeră și spumoasă la lectură, și cu un conținut care nu numai că te invită ca cititor să te alături aventurii dar și îndeamnă la reflecție, însă într-un mod implicit, lipsit de pretenții și retorici.

Igor, eroul cărții, este un fel de tăietor de frunză la câini într-un sat de pe lângă Kiev, în anul de grație 2010. Trăiește împreună cu mama sa din pensia și din produsele grădinii de zarzavaturi a acesteia, atunci când apare în viața lor Stepan, un bărbat mult mai în vârstă care își asumă treaba de grădinar în schimbul găzduirii în baraca de lângă casă. Stepan îl antrenează pe Igor într-o aventură nocturna în orășelul Oceakov de lângă Marea Neagra, unde în pereții unei case legate cumva de copilăria lui Stepan, cei doi găsesc o comoară: trei valize cu valori (diamante, ceasuri de aur) și … o uniformă de milițian rămase acolo din anul 1957.

‘Stepan deschise ușor ultimul geamantan adus de la Oceakov și se uită îngândurat în el, la o uniformă veche de miliție împăturită cu grijă. Acolo se aflau și cizme de piele, și o centură cu cataramă, și cascheta.

Stepan pipăi cu mâinile fundul geamantanului, fară să scoață uniforma de miliție. Deodată pe fata lui îngheță un zâmbet rău și împietri. Buzele îi erau încordate, iar mâinile, băgate în geamantan, nu i se vedeau. O asemenea față au copiii care prind pe pipăite raci în mâluri din râuri.

În cele din urmă Stepan scoase mâna din geamantan și în ea avea un pistol în toc. Apoi mai scoase de undeva două teancuri de bancnote sovietice, uriașe în comparație cu grivnele.’  (pag. 46)

Uniforma se dovedește a fi mult mai mult decât un simplu obiect de îmbrăcăminte, simbol al puterii și ordinii publice. Este o mașină de călătorit în timp, un portal prin care cel care o îmbracă poate călători, la miezul nopții, la ora la care se petrec actele de magie, înapoi în timp spre Oceakov-ul anului 1957. De aici începe o serie de salturi temporale, în care eroul nostru va trăi o aventură în universul paralel al primilor ani de după Stalin. Salturile în timp par o combinație de vise și de scenarii de filme.

‘Imediat ce portița de la curte i s-a închis în urmă, imediat ce a pornit în direcția stației de autobuz, totul în jur s-a făcut mai întunecat. De parcă întunericul era viu și încerca să-l învăluie în el pe Igor, cu cap cu tot. Dar sub tălpile cizmelor de piele asfaltul începe să sune familiar și picioarele îi mergeau singure, de parcă nu aveau nevoie de nici un însoțitor.

Frica îl cuprinse pe Igor de câteva ori. Fie din spate, fie din lateral, drept pentru care el se oprea și se uita în jur, având încredere mai mult în auz decât în ochi. Dar în jur era liniște.

După o vreme în fata apăru o lumină vizibilă, care deveni reperul lui. Iar după încă vreo douăzeci de minute Igor recunoscu poarta luminată a Fabricii de vin din Oceakov. S-a oprit la ușă, la vreo douăzeci de metri de ea. Se gândea. “Ce rezultă de aici? Oare totul se repetă? Ca în acel film american în care aceeași zi se repetă la infinit, scoțându-l din minți pe erou?’ (pag. 74)

‘Farmecul lecturii are la bază combinația dintre realism și fantastic. Lumile între care călătorește eroul sunt familiare cititorului român sau est-european, iar eroii cărții, oameni simpli confruntați cu sisteme absurde și corupte, trăind la marginea legii sau dincolo de ea, sunt priviți cu o doză de empatie chiar și când este vorba despre criminali. Personajele descind din lumile lui Ilf și Petrov sau a lui Panait Istrati, dar trăiesc experiențe fantastice precum eroii nuvelelor timpurii ale lui Mircea Eliade. Pestele și hrișca, votka și coniacul nu par a lipsi în niciuna dintre perioade. În fapt, nu există niciun fel de ierarhizare a celor două lumi. Ucraina pare a se afla într-un perment prezent continuu sau, daca vreți, un permanent trecut continuu. 1957 și perioada sovietică, 2010 și perioada tranziției par a fi echivalente la nivelul ordinii (sau dezordinii) sociale, al respectului (sau ocolirii) legii, și dacă ar fi de ales, eroul cărții mai degrabă ar prefera 1957, pentru că acolo trăirile îi sunt mai autentice și acolo întâlnește chiar și iubirea.

Sub o formă lejeră și sub pretextul lecturii unei cărți de bucate transmise intre generații printr-un manuscris descoperit într-unul din cele trei geamantane, Alexei Kurkov dezvoltă o variantă a teoriei conflictului dintre vânători și agricultori care stă la baza unor cercetări antropologice și ale pre-istoriei civilizației, variantă care câștigase popularitate în ultimul deceniu al secolului trecut. În carte aceștia sunt numiți ‘grădinari’ (factorul stabil și productiv al societății) și respectiv ‘pădurari’ (elementele disruptive, uneori violente, dar și cele care determina schimbările și salturile calitative). La nivel metaforic eroii cărții preferă grădinăritul dar nu pot evita pericolele și nevoia de acțiune sau poate de reacțiune a pădurarilor.

Ca cititor pasionat de romane științifico-fantastice mă așteptam ca scriitorul să se joace cu mai multa îndrăzneală cu paradoxurile călătoriei în timp, mai ales că existau premize interesante în biografiile unora dintre personaje. Nu a fost intenția lui Kurkov în această carte, scriitorul preferând o scriere lejeră și deconectantă și o viziune relaxată asupra istoriei. În cele din urma, chiar și vehicolul magic care îi transportă pe eroi în timp pare a se supune regulilor de scriere și rescriere a istoriei din spațiul fost sovietic:

‘Uniforma asta, și cizmele împreună cu ea, sunt trecutul. Iar trecutul își schimbă dimensiunile în funcție de cel care îl probează.’ (pag. 289)

Posted in books | Tagged , | Leave a comment

the destinies of two women in post-war France (film: ‘Coup de foudre – Isabelle Huppert, 1983)

Posted on October 20, 2020 by admin

In the final seconds before the credits we find out that for the director and co-writer Diane Kurys the film ‘Coup de foudre‘ (which also had an alternative title ‘Entre nous‘) made in 1983 was a very personal film, as one of the principal heroines of the story that unfolded on screen had been her mother. This is a special film, especially for the time when it was made, a film about the fate of two women in France in the aftermath of World War II, written and directed by a female director and conveying a strong feminist message. Reviewed from the perspective of the 37 years that have passed since the production, ‘Coup de foudre‘ provides an assessment of the differences in approach to feminist themes and in fact of the status of women in French society and family between the 40s and 50s when the action takes place, the 80s when the film was made, and today. A good example of how cinema reflects what is happening in society.

The destinies of the two heroines are tragically marked by war. The prelude, which lasts only a few screen minutes, takes place in 1942 in Nazi-occupied France. Lena Weber (Isabelle Huppert) is a Jewish refugee from Belgium who is saved from deportation by what begins as a marriage of convenience with Michel (Guy Marchand). Madeleine (Miou-Miou) is an art student from a wealthy family who is struck by tragedy when the husband she just married is accidentally killed in an ambush of the Resistance. Michel will save Lena’s life for a second time by carrying her (literally) over the mountains to Italy. Madeleine will marry after the war an actor and conman named Costa (Jean-Pierre Bacri). The destinies of the two women meet in 1952, when the two families, both with children and on their way to apparent gentrification, meet in Lyon. But the two marriages are in crisis. The two women hit by fate during the war seek to make up for lost time, but face the family, economic and moral barriers put in the face of women by a France that had not yet emerged from patriarchy.

The friendship between Lena and Madeleine, their economic, artistic, erotic aspirations are at the heart of the film. If there is a lesbian tint in this relationship, it is only insinuated with the utmost discretion. The two women complement each other in characters and help each other in key moments, but there are also crises and separations. The interpretations of Isabelle Huppert and Miou-Miou are also minimalist, dominated by an opportune discretion. It is a feminist film and men by definition are not presented in a very favorable light, but their portraits are far from caricatured. Michel and Costa are rather victims of their own prejudices or rather of the prejudices of the society in which they grew up. Revised today, 37 years after its production ‘Coup de foudre‘ impresses especially because of the respectful discretion by which a story that would otherwise risk sounding rhetorical and moralizing is beig told. If the conclusion seems a bit outdated today, this is a measure of the successes of the feminist cause on and off screen.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CHANGE.WORLD: Premiile Nobel în anul Coronei

Posted on October 19, 2020 by admin

2020 este un an special din multe puncte de vedere. Am scris cam de multe ori aceste cuvinte în ultima vreme și probabil că le voi mai scrie încă de multe ori. Pandemia a schimbat multe planuri și a afectat viețile tuturor. Eram curios să văd care va fi impactul Coronei asupra Premiilor Nobel, una dintre instituțiile cele mai stabile din calendarul internațional. Remarcabil, lucrările comisiilor care decid câștigătorii și anunțurile acestora au avut loc conform planurilor inițiale. În săptămâna dintre 5 și 12 octombrie, câte o comisie pe zi, s-au anunțat câștigătorii în ordinea stabilită și respectată de mulți ani. În articolul de astăzi al rubricii CHANGE.WORLD voi trece în revistă câștigătorii premiilor și principalele lor realizări în cele trei domenii ale cercetării științifice premiate Nobel – medicină, fizică și chimie.

(sursa imagine: holeinthedonut.com/2017/10/20/photo-golden-hall-at-stockholm-city-hall/)

Daca procesul de selecție și decizie pare să se fi desfășurat aproape ca în orice alt an, ceremoniile vor fi foarte diferite în 2020. În momentul în care scriu acest articol nu este clar dacă festivitățile de decernare, care au loc în mod tradițional în Sala de Concerte din Stockholm (Stockholms Konserthus), respectiv la sediul Primăriei din Oslo pentru Premiul Nobel pentru Pace, vor avea loc, chiar și într-o variantă redusă, sau vor fi transformate într-un eveniment complet virtual. Este sigur însă că faimoasele banchete ale laureaților stabilite tradițional pentru data de 10 decembrie au fost anulate pentru prima dată din 1956, când anularea s-a datorat intervenției sovietice în Ungaria. Banchetul suedez care se desfășoară sub patronajul familiei regale adună în fiecare an peste 1300 de invitați și are loc din 1930 în clădirea Primăriei din Stockholm. Am avut și eu ocazia să vizitez această construcție extrem de interesantă, inaugurată la 23 iunie 1923, la exact 400 de ani de la intrarea în Stockholm a regelui Gustav I, întemeietorul dinastiei Vasa și cel care a introdus Reforma în Scandinavia. Pe cât este de sobră și de integrată în peisaj văzută din exterior, pe atât este clădirea mai somptuoasă în interior, cu Sala Albastră cu arcade în stil toscan și cea mai mare orgă din Scandinavia și cu Sala de Aur în care mozaicul format din peste 18 milioane de piese reprezintă imagini din istoria și mitologia țărilor nordului. Clădirea este construită în exclusivitate din materiale provenind din Scandinavia. În acest an însă, la 10 decembrie, aceste săli vor rămâne pustii. Suedia, una dintre țările care a adoptat o politică diferită de majoritatea restului lumii în combaterea pandemiei, se confruntă și ea cu efectele acesteia și poate și ale propriilor decizii.

(sursa imaginii: nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/)

Nu știu dacă și când vor fi atribuite Premii Nobel pentru Medicină legate de COVID-19. Sper că se va întâmpla cât mai repede, căci omenirea are mare nevoie de succese în găsirea unor tratamente și crearea imunizării care să ne descotorosească de această boală. Premiul Nobel pentru Medicină atribuit în acest an nu este complet fără legătură cu acest domeniu, întrucât a fost atribuit pentru ‘contribuții decisive’ în descoperirea unui alt virus care afectează omenirea, răspunzător de moartea a peste 400 de mii de oameni anual, virusul Hepatitei C. Laureații sunt americanul Harvey Alter (născut în 1935, afiliat la Institutul National de Sănătate din Bathesda, Maryland), Michael Houghton (născut în Regatul Unit în 1949, actualmente asociat cu Universitatea din Alberta, Canada) și Charles M. Rice (născut în California în 1952, în prezent la Universitatea Rockefeller din New York). Hepatita este o boală cunoscută din antichitate, iar cauzele formelor A și B erau deja identificate din secolul trecut. Identificarea virusului Hepatitei C are o importanță deosebită din mai multe motive. În primul rând, detectarea bolnavilor permite aplicarea tratamentelor adecvate, ceea ce reduce rata mortalității și a cazurilor grave. Descoperirile celor trei laureați ai Nobelului au permis efectuarea de analize de sânge sensibile care au eliminat riscul hepatitei transmise prin transfuzie într-o mare parte a lumii. Această descoperire a permis, de asemenea, dezvoltarea de medicamente antivirale care pot vindeca boala. Există acum o perspectivă clară de eradicare a Hepatitei C în decurs de câteva decenii. Metodologia de analiză și detectare a virusului are importanță și aplicabilitate în alte maladii virale, inclusiv în cele din familia căreia îi aparține COVID-19.

(sursa imaginii: nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/)

Premiul Nobel pentru Fizică ne poartă, aparent cel puțin, spre un domeniu mai puțin legat de aplicabilitatea imediată – găurile negre sau, daca vreți, cel mai întunecat secret al Universului, cel care ne leagă de Creație și poate și de ceea ce s-a întâmplat înainte de Creație. Și acest premiu este împărțit de trei laureați, dar în mod inegal, spre deosebire de premiul pentru Medicină. Jumătate din premiu a fost atribuit englezului Charles Penrose de la Universitatea din Oxford, născut în 1931, cel care a demonstrat matematic în 1965, la zece ani după moartea lui Einstein, legătura dintre găurile negre și teoria relativității generalizate. A trecut mai mult de jumătate de secol de atunci, dar Penrose a continuat și a aprofundat cercetările sale legate de găurile negre, cu rigoarea matematică a teoreticianului, dar legându-le de descoperirile care au confirmat existenta acestora. Cercetările sale mai recente leagă găurile negre de momentul zero al nașterii Universului, teoria Big Bang și modelul cosmologic asociat. Una dintre consecințe ar fi o scurgere de energie între Universul de acum și cel dinaintea creației, fiind vorba deci despre o axă a timpului generalizată, care ar admite și valori negative. Cercetătorii care își împart cealaltă jumătate  premiului pentru fizică din acest an, germanul Reinhard Genzel, născut în 1952 și asociat cu Institutul Max Planck și cu Universitatea Berkeley, și Andrea Ghez, născută la New York și afiliată cu Universitatea din Los Angeles, au fost premiați pentru descoperirea unui obiect compact super-masiv în centrul galaxiei noastre, care reprezintă în fapt o confirmare practică a demonstrațiilor teoretice ale lui Penrose. Metodologia și instrumentația inventate de echipele lui Genzel și Ghez explică nu numai comportamentul astrelor în apropierea găurilor negre, ci și traiectoriile tuturor corpurilor stelare care compun galaxia. Se poate spune că realizările celor trei laureați leagă istoria Universului de viitorul explorării acestuia.

(sursa imaginii: israelhayom.com/2020/10/07/2-women-share-nobel-prize-in-chemistry/)

Premiul Nobel pentru Chimie este împărțit în acest an de două cercetătoare: Emmanuelle Charpentier, născută în Franța în 1968 care lucrează pentru Institutul Max Planck, secția de studiu a științei patogenilor din Berlin, și americana Jennifer A. Doudna, născută în 1964 la Washington, DC și afiliată la Universitatea Berkeley, California. Este pentru prima dată în istoria premiilor Nobel când două femei își împart un premiu. Despre domeniul în care activează cu succes cele două femei de știință am mai scris în rubrica CHANGE.WORLD. Ele au inventat o metodă de editare a genomului, numită metaforic „foarfece moleculare”, care permite intervenții directe în structura genetică și oferă promisiunea de a vindeca într-o zi bolile moștenite și chiar cancerul. Această metodă cunoscută sub numele de CRISPR / Cas9  poate fi utilizată pentru a schimba ADN-ul animalelor, plantelor și microorganismelor cu o precizie extrem de ridicată. În fapt, genetica se află acum, datorită progreselor înregistrate de cele două cercetătoare și echipele lor, într-un stadiu în care realizabilitatea practică a operațiilor de inginerie genetică a depășit studiul consecințelor acestora. Cu alte cuvinte, putem opera cu precizie la nivelul materialului genetic, dar nu o facem deoarece încă nu știm exact care pot fi consecințele. Este un domeniu în care cercetările continuă în ritm accelerat în multe locuri din lume, și în care prevăd evoluții spectaculoase în viitorii ani. Poate chiar și viitoare premii Nobel.

(Articolul a apărut iniţial in revista culturală ‘Literatura de Azi’ – http://literaturadeazi.ro/)

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

troubadour and anti-hero of a complex era (film: Gundermann – Andreas Dresen, 2018)

Posted on October 16, 2020 by admin

‘Gundermann‘ made in 2018 by Andreas Dresen is the biography of a musician. It can be categorized as a biographical and musical film but it is very different from what we usually see in these genres. 30 years have passed since the fall of communism and the reunification of Germany. Life in the former ‘Democratic Republic’ and the transition period following reunification have already been the subject of many films, but the topic seems inexhaustible and new perspectives are constantly being added. This is the case with this biography of Gerhard Gundermann, one of the most popular East German singers of the 1990s. A complex and original personality, Gundermann, who died suddenly at the age of only 43 in 1998, pursued his career as a musician in parallel with his work as an excavator operator in a surface coal mine. He was a popular singer even before the fall of communism and had become one of the original voices expressing the problems of transition, the hopes, the difficulties and the disappointments of the generation that had reached maturity in the decade of change. Musician, proletarian, and … informant of the STASI secret police, as the reporters from the press of the time would reveal. The screenplay written by Laila Stieler describes the contradictions of the artist’s biography, an example of the complexity of the processes that East Germany and the people who lived in this state went through.

In recent months, I have seen several films made in Eastern Europe (Romania, Russia) that had as their subject the way in which informants were recruited by the secret services which were the main tools for terrorizing the population and repressing dissidents. The hero of this film, Gerhard Gundermann was a somewhat of a special case. His enlistment in STASI was not the result of extreme pressure or blackmail, nor was opportunism the reason. The film presents him as an idealist and a rebel, who believed in the ideals of communism, and wanted to apply them for the benefit of people and society. But the system was so corrupt that it did not even assimilate Gundermann as an informant or as a party member but for a few years. However, this relatively short period was enough to compromise him morally and for his ‘reports’ about co-workers or fellow musicians to influence their lives, may destroy some. Later came the attempt to forget, the ‘amnesia’, the attempt to recover morally, the impossible forgiveness from those who sufered. Examining Gundermann’s case, director Andreas Dresen questions the moral bases of an entire system in which all citizens had files of victims at STASI, but a significant part of them also had files of collaborators. How was it possible for a large part of the population of East Germany to collaborate with those who oppressed them? A question similar to the one that can be asked about the collaboration with the Nazi regime a few decades before. It seems shocking how easily most of those who are confronted with the news about Gundermann’s collaboration accept it as a fact, as an attitude that even if it cannot be forgiven can be understood, forgotten and buried in silence. But can we, today, judge retrospectively that era and those who lived it?

The biopic by Andreas Dresen enjoys the exceptional performance of Alexander Scheer, who manages to bring to the screen the personality of Gundermann in all its complexity, and to get closer to his physical appearance and original music. The only aspect that did not succeed perfectly for the director and the actor are these related to time switching. The narrative jumps permanently between three periods (around 1976, the 80s, and 1992) which makes sense in the gradual construction of the character, but the physical appearance of the hero is always almost the same, and we need a few seconds each time to assimilate from the visual context or from dialogues in what period of time the scene takes place. Fortunately, the sets and props authentically describe the three moments in time, and the orientation is not very difficult. The rest of the cast does its job more than satisfactorily, with discreet and natural interpretations. A special mention deserves Anna Unterberger for the role of Conny, Gerhard Gundermann’s wife, describing the woman behind in a non-trivial love affair, with many moments of doubt and crisis. Music plays an important role, about a third of the two-hour screening time is occupied by Gundermann’s songs, which Alexander Scheer performs perfectly, and I hope other viewers will have the chance – as I did – to watch a copy of the movie that contains the original soundtrack and the lyrics of the songs in subtitles. Follow the words, because they punctuate, complement and broaden the understanding of the character, a troubadour and an anti-hero of a complex era.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

tender vampires (film: Only Lovers Left Alive – Jim Jarmusch, 2013)

Posted on October 15, 2020 by admin

A vampire movie directed by Jim Jarmusch? This question was asked by Jarmusch fans and vampire movie buffs in 2013, when ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘ was released on screens. The two categories of moviegoers who apparently do not seem to have much in common do not think I have special reasons for dissatisfaction. ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘ is really a vampire movie with characters and a story line that follows all the rules of the genre. Jarmusch‘s fans will find in the film the atmosphere of poetry and candor that they love in his films. Jim Jarmusch may have tried to broaden his regular circle of spectators, but he did not seek cheap success with ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘. Rather, I could say that the director has shown that he knows how to make a personal film, identifiable for his style, in a genre of popular cinema that is apparently far from his comfort zone. And we, the others, the cinema lovers who do not necessarily belong to any of the mentioned categories, we simply enjoy a beautiful film.

The heroes of the film, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), are a couple of vampires in love. It is not clear if they are really ‘The’ Adam and Eve, but it is certain that they have been on Earth’s face long enough, for example, to have been present and involved in the writing of ‘Hamlet’. Actually their more mature friend, also a vampire, is called Marlowe (John Hurt). As one of the secrets of vampire permanence is discretion, the two lead ordinary lives, to the extent that vampires can lead ordinary lives, and even feed on blood from the (increasingly contaminated) hospital supplies. Eve lives in Tangier, Tom in ruined Detroit, where he deals with retro music (being a composer, a great lover of guitars and old records). The idyll between the two has an allure of sophisticated and decadent intellectualism, sprinkled with cultural references from the music of the ’60s going back to the Middle Ages. The intrusion into their lives of Ave (Mia Wasikowska), Eve’s sister, a teenage and somewhat reckless vampire, blows up the comfortable and discreet arrangement of the two vampires’ lives in the ruins of Detroit.

Can a vampire movie say more about America today, about the state of the planet, or about the underground culture than dozens of political movies? Jim Jarmusch proves that the answer is yes. ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘ is a delicious movie to watch, full of cultural and historical references, with a selected and significant soundtrack. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are perfectly distributed and melt with obvious pleasure in their roles. The story is thin, but it is only a pretext. The characters and the atmosphere around them matter much more. Jim Jarmusch‘s vampires are a superior race of tender beings who transmit to us, the spectators, something of their tenderness.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

original and copies, reality and appearances (film: Copie conforme – Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)

Posted on October 14, 2020 by admin

‘Certified Copy‘ is one of the latest films by Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami and one of the few made by him outside Iran. The landscape is very different from his previous films. The film looks completely ‘European’ and the assimilation of the European cultural background is perfect. At the same time, we find here familiar themes that have preoccupied Kiarostami throughout his career – family and couple relationships, the place of children in the family, the different personal memories and perceptions of the characters. As in his best films of earlier periods, the director manages to tell a meaningful story with simple and expressive means. But what we also find in ‘Certified Copy‘ is a game of meanings with which the director envelops the behavior and the words of the heroes of the story that is being told on screen in an atmosphere of mystery and ambiguity. The story in the film haunts its viewers after the screening. What did we actually see?

The main heroine, played by Juliette Binoche, whose name we never know, is a mature French woman, who raises alone a boy in his early teens and keeps a gallery of antiques and art objects in the Tuscan town of Arezzo. James Miller (William Shimell) is a British author of art books, the most recent one having as topic the relation between originals and copies of works of art. She witnesses the launch of the author’s book in Arezzo and then becomes his guide for a few hours in the villages of Tuscany. At one point, in a cafe, the owner of the place confuses them with a married couple. The two seem amused by the confusion, and from now on they gradually enter the roles and behave more and more naturally as a couple for 15 years, maybe separated or on the verge of separation, in any case a couple in crisis. A game or reality, because their behavior becomes more and more deeply suited to the attitudes of a loving woman and of an indifferent man, concerned only with his career? Which of the two hypotheses is the ‘true’? Discussions about originals and copies suddenly can be viewed in a different dimension, get a different meaning. What is truth? what is authenticity? can the copy generate more emotion than the original? can the feelings in the game be deeper than those in reality? or maybe everything around us is a multitude of copies or the result of simulation games? or just imagination?

Juliette Binoche is perfect and in my opinion makes this film one of the best roles in her mature career. I wasn’t extremely convinced by William Shimell, a semi-professional actor (and famous tenor). His intellectualism and emotional disconnection may have been in line with Kiarostami‘s vision, but I couldn’t help but think as I watched the film to alternative casting choices (Daniel Day-Lewis? Jeremy Irons?). James Miller’s character remains one of the many mysteries of this beautiful film, which is worth seeing and reviewing, and then discussing in mind or with friends. I recommend you do it.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

the starting point of a few beautiful careers (film: Rendez-vous – André Téchiné, 1985)

Posted on October 13, 2020 by admin

When film director André Téchiné made ‘Rendez-vous‘ in 1985, his name was already well known. However, some of his collaborators were anonymous and this film would be a very good launching pad for celebrities. Téchiné offered the lead role and in fact the first consistent role to Juliette Binoche, who at the age of 21 featured in 5 films that year, starting a formidable career. Téchiné‘s co-writer was Olivier Assayas, in his first screenplay for a feature film, which he wrote in parallel with directing his own debut film. And for Lambert Wilson as well the role here was one of the first important roles, although he had already met with success a year before. Wadeck Stanczak completes the triangle of young actors, also in an important first role, an actor who promised a lot, but whose career has evolved much more disappointingly than those of his famous partners. The film is a psychological thriller set in the world of the young people of Paris in the mid-80s and there are many reasons to be watched with pleasure today, in addition to the film debuts I mentioned.

At the age of 21, Juliette Binoche plays the role of Nina, an 18-year-old girl who comes to Paris to realize her dream of becoming an actress. She manages to get a role in a boulevard comedy, dreaming of big roles while the men around her seem to have no other intentions than to sleep with her. Looking for a reasonably priced apartment, he meets Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak) and Quentin (Lambert Wilson), two young men who are the opposite of each other. The dull clerk Paulot represents mediocre stability, actor Quentin decadent ambition. The triangle throws the girl’s life in a whirlwind that mixes passion and ambition, art and pornography, hopes and ghosts of the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm3FDvfeACw

I usually complain about the length and especially the lengthning of the films when there are not enough artistic or narrative good reasons. In the case of ‘Rendez-vous‘, which only lasts about 80 minutes, I think that an extra 20-30 minutes would have given more psychological depth to the characters and would have allowed the development of some of the themes that are barely suggested in the film. Even so, the characters are well defined and each of the acting creations manages to bring them to life and make us care about them and be curious about their lives beyond what we see on screen. In addition to the trio of young actors, Jean-Louis Trintignant is also cast as a theater director who seems to play a role as a mentor a la ‘Pygmalion’ for Nina, while hiding dark secrets from the past with repercussions in the lives of the heroes. Shakespeare’s Julia becomes a symbol in a film that could have said more about the fascination of theater if it had a little more time to do it. Juliette Binoche is young, beautiful and magnetic, in a role that can get extra-meanings nowadays in the perspective of the fight against the objectification of women. It is one of the reasons, but not the only one, why this foray into the world of Paris in the ’80s deserves to be seen and re-seen.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

the heavy burden of history (film: DAU.Natasha – Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel, 2020)

Posted on October 12, 2020 by admin

‘DAU. Natasha‘, directed by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel, is part of ‘DAU ‘, a project of great ambitions and dimensions, which due to the methods used by the production already provokes heated discussions and controversies. ‘DAU’ started from the biography of a Russian scientist and the history of a Soviet research institute, and developed into a multimedia and multidisciplinary project for which the producers brought together a number of actors, many non-professionals, for more than two years in the conditions of a ‘reality show’ that reconstructs the oppressive atmosphere of the Stalinist period. ‘DAU. Natasha‘ is one of the two films offered to the public so far in this project, and can be judged without problems as a stand-alone film. That’s what I’m going to do. It is the story of a modest woman in charge of the research institute canteen who is forcibly recruited as a KGB informant. A film of a cruel realism, beautifully acted, and which does not avoid shocking.

Natasha (Natalia Berezhnaya) is about 40 years old, Olga (Olga Shkabarnya) is between 20 and 30 years old, and the two women run the canteen of the research institute led by Professor Blinov (Alexei Blinov). The coincidence of names between the characters and the actors is probably not accidental, because the whole cast in this production seems to be made up of unprofessional actors or beginners. The canteen (well stocked for the communist period) is a micro-cosmos of those who work in the institute whose scientific profile is obscure. We only know that some experiments are being performed on people, soldiers, maybe related to radiation, with the participation of a French scientist (Luc Bigé). The two women do not get along very well with each other, both are lonely, victims of the permanent harassment of the male superiors. Lives are gray, hopeless and dominated by fear. After a party with a lot of drink occasioned by the ‘success’ of an experiment, Natasha has a one-night stand with Luc. It is not long before the investigator Azhippo (Vladimir Azhippo) appears, blackmails and subjects Natasha to interrogation and torture to force her to become a KGB collaborator. The resistance of the lonely woman is impossible and hopeless.

‘DAU. Natasha‘ is a shocking testimony of the breaking of human dignity in the conditions of dictatorship. It is also a film about loneliness, about human solidarity and its fragility, about the Stockholm syndrome (sympathy between the victim and the torturer). The realization is extremely realistic, well thought out and absolutely credible from a historical and psychological point of view. The film lasts over two hours, although it is not composed of more than about eight scenes, but their length is stylistically justified in the tradition of Russian cinema and psychologically in the feeling of slow and heavy flow of time and of the lives of the characters. The actors do not play the roles but live them, and here, of course, the method used by directors and producers has an influence. I am convinced that this film and the whole ‘DAU’ project will be discussed a lot in the future.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment