It is tempting to paint Damo Suzuki, the singer for legendary krautrock band Can, as some sort of musical shaman. And frankly, the video footage that exists of him makes it easy to do so. There is a film by Peter Przygodda that captures the German group at Cologne’s Sporthalle in 1972. At one point, a man arrives on stage to juggle three umbrellas — each a different color — and while a spotlight shines on the entertainer, Suzuki has the most magnetic presence in the room. Dressed in all red, he...
- 2/12/2024
- by Joshua Minsoo Kim
- Rollingstone.com
An amazing Blu-ray year is capped by a genuine favorite, rescued by its filmmaker and set aside for almost twenty years. Wim Wenders was forced to make a shortened version of what he hoped would be his greatest success, following Wings of Desire: but he cleverly saved his 4.5-hour uncut version, making its Blu-ray debut on December 10. Longform video is currently the rage, so perhaps the time has finally come for the uncut Bis ans Ende der Welt. The music soundtrack is nothing less than fantastic, not to be missed.
Until the End of the World
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1007
1991 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 158, 181, 287 min. / Bis ans Ende der Welt / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 10, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Solveig Dommartin, William Hurt, Sam Neill, Rüdiger Vogler, Jeanne Moreau, Max von Sydow, Chishu Ryu, Kuniko Miyake, Allen Garfield, David Gulpilil, Ernie Dingo, Lois Chiles, Adelle Lutz, Chick Ortega, Eddy Mitchell,...
Until the End of the World
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1007
1991 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 158, 181, 287 min. / Bis ans Ende der Welt / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 10, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Solveig Dommartin, William Hurt, Sam Neill, Rüdiger Vogler, Jeanne Moreau, Max von Sydow, Chishu Ryu, Kuniko Miyake, Allen Garfield, David Gulpilil, Ernie Dingo, Lois Chiles, Adelle Lutz, Chick Ortega, Eddy Mitchell,...
- 11/30/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A major talent of the New German Cinema finds his footing out on the open highway, in a trio of intensely creative pictures that capture the pace and feel of living off the beaten path. All three star Rüdiger Vogler, an actor who could be director Wim Wenders' alter ego. Wim Wenders' The Road Trilogy Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 813 1974-1976 / B&W and Color / 1:66 widescreen / 113, 104, 176 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 30, 2016 / 99.95 Starring Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Yetta Rottländer; Hannah Schygulla, Nasstasja Kinski, Hans Christian Blech, Ivan Desny; Robert Zischler. Cinematography Robby Müller, Martin Schäfer Film Editor Peter Przygodda, Barbara von Weltershausen Original Music Can, Jürgen Knieper, Axel Linstädt. Directed by Wim Wenders
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
This morning I 'fessed up to never having seen David Lynch's Lost Highway. Now I get to say that until now I've never seen Wim Wenders'...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
This morning I 'fessed up to never having seen David Lynch's Lost Highway. Now I get to say that until now I've never seen Wim Wenders'...
- 5/16/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Wim Wenders goes neo-noir in this wonderfully moody character-driven crime tale. Soulful art framer Bruno Ganz is the patsy in a murder scheme, but Dennis Hopper's sociopath / villain has a change of heart and befriends him. This modern classic looks great and features movie directors Nicholas Ray and Samuel Fuller in major guest roles. The American Friend Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 793 1977 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 127 min. / Der Amerikanische Freund / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 12, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller. Cinematography Robby Müller Art Direction Heidi & Toni Lüdi Film Editor Peter Przygodda Original Music Jürgen Knieper Written by Wim Wenders from the novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith Produced by Renée Gundelach, Wim Wenders Directed by Wim Wenders
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fourteen years ago Anchor Bay released a Wim Wenders DVD collection with excellent extras provided by the director himself.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fourteen years ago Anchor Bay released a Wim Wenders DVD collection with excellent extras provided by the director himself.
- 1/16/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Peter Przygodda, the renowned editor who worked with Wim Wenders, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Volker Schlöndorff, Hans W Geissendörfer, Reinhard Hauff, Klaus Lemke, Peter Handke and Romuald Karmakar, has died at the age of 70. He was, as Ekkehard Knörer writes in die taz, the most important editor — a term he preferred over another commonly used in Germany, "Cutter" — of the New German Cinema of the 70s and early 80s.
Though he'd originally intended to become an architect, Przygodda founded a small theater with Rolf Zacher and shot his first short film in 1969, Der Besuch auf dem Lande (The Visit to the Country), with Zacher taking on the lead role. Later that same year, he began working with Wenders on Summer in the City, striking up a friendship and professional partnership that would see them all the way through Palermo Shooting in 2008. Przygodda won the German Film Prize (Gold) for his work on...
Though he'd originally intended to become an architect, Przygodda founded a small theater with Rolf Zacher and shot his first short film in 1969, Der Besuch auf dem Lande (The Visit to the Country), with Zacher taking on the lead role. Later that same year, he began working with Wenders on Summer in the City, striking up a friendship and professional partnership that would see them all the way through Palermo Shooting in 2008. Przygodda won the German Film Prize (Gold) for his work on...
- 10/4/2011
- MUBI
Berlin – "John Rabe," an historic biopic about the German business man who saved 200,000 Chinese civilians from the Nanking massacre, is the front runner for this year's German Film Awards – or Lolas – with seven nominations.
The film's nominations include best film, best director for Florian Gallenberger and a best actor for star Ulrich Tukur as Rabe.
Steve Buscemi also picked up a nomination as best supporting actor for his role as an idealistic American doctor who helps Rabe. It was one of the few Lola nominations ever given to a non-German actor.
Uli Edel's Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated terrorist drama "The Baader Meinhof Complex" picked up four Lola noms, including best film and best actress for Johanna Wokalek.
"Chiko," a gangster movie by first time director Ozgur Yildirim, surprised many by also nabbing a best film nom along with ones for Yildirim's screenplay, for lead actor Denis Moschitto and for editor Sebastian Thumler.
The film's nominations include best film, best director for Florian Gallenberger and a best actor for star Ulrich Tukur as Rabe.
Steve Buscemi also picked up a nomination as best supporting actor for his role as an idealistic American doctor who helps Rabe. It was one of the few Lola nominations ever given to a non-German actor.
Uli Edel's Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated terrorist drama "The Baader Meinhof Complex" picked up four Lola noms, including best film and best actress for Johanna Wokalek.
"Chiko," a gangster movie by first time director Ozgur Yildirim, surprised many by also nabbing a best film nom along with ones for Yildirim's screenplay, for lead actor Denis Moschitto and for editor Sebastian Thumler.
- 3/13/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes, In Competition
It's well known that once-revered German auteur Wim Wenders doesn't make films like he used to. The director of such cinema classics as "Kings of the Road" (1976), "The American Friend" (1977), "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" (1987) hasn't made a decent film in years, apart from "Buena Vista Social Club", his 1998 documentary on music in Cuba.
However, Wenders has reached a new low with "Palermo Shooting", a film of startling and embarrassing banality and, yes, even silliness. One is hard-pressed to imagine any commercial future whatsoever for this film, and a pickup by a U.S. distribution company seems virtually impossible.
Finn (Campino) is a very, very handsome photographer who leads a hectic but exciting professional life. (This character seems to be lifted almost intact from Antonioni's "Blow-up", including a scene in which he enlarges a photograph to find its hidden meaning.)
One night he's almost killed in a automobile accident, and he comes face-to-face with the meaninglessness of his life. After a fashion shoot in Palermo, he decides to stay in the Sicilian city, presumably to reconnect with the reality that has been drained from his high-tech locations and to discover the meaning of life.
What he discovers instead is a fleeting monklike figure, part real and part dreamlike, who is shooting semi-imaginary arrows at him. Everyone he encounters in his mostly cliched wanderings through the city tells him Palermo is "the city of death" despite the fact that many other writers and filmmakers have long ago awarded this honor to Naples. He also meets Flavia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) , a specialist in the restoration of frescoes, who also helps to restore his spirit.
Every time the film goes philosophical on us, the resultant dialogue is sententious and banal. We learn, among other things, that people during the time of the fresco that Flavia is restoring were afraid of death, and that they still are, and that, to live life to the fullest, we should do everything as though it were for the last time. He speaks meaningfully of "absurd freedom" and "desperate futility." Finn also is repeatedly warned that doing this "fashion crap" is hurting his reputation in the art world, another not-exactly-fresh theme.
Finn also is beset by recurring nightmares in which he is reduced to a minuscule figure in a gigantic room (shades of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but at least that guy had the excuse of atomic radiation). Another favorite is a distorted clock that he hangs on to in mid-air (shades of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"). Wenders seems to have absolutely no idea that these images would cause audiences to laugh out loud (and not in a good way).
In his travels, Finn encounters a huge number of disparate souls that impart various nuggets of wisdom. He tells one, in one of the movie's better moments, that "I am completely lost". But all of this pales into insignificance when he comes face-to-face with Death, appropriately played by Dennis Hopper. During their verbal sparring, Death explains reasonably that "the fear of death is really a fear of life," but the best exchange comes when he peevishly complains that "I'm tired of playing the bad guy" and asks Finn, the accomplished photographer, to help him improve his image by taking a great photo, even if it has to be a digital one, which he doesn't approve of.
For most viewers, the question of the meaning of it all will come down to this: Where does Wenders find people to continue to invest in his films?
Production: Neue Road Movies. Cast: Campino, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Inga Busch. Director: Wim Wenders. Screenwriters: Wim Wenders, Norman Ohler. Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel. Director of photography: Franz Lustig. Sales: Hanway Films. No rating, 124 minutes. Production designer: Sebastian Soukup Costume designer: Daniela Ciancio Editor: Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss Music: Irmin Schmidt...
It's well known that once-revered German auteur Wim Wenders doesn't make films like he used to. The director of such cinema classics as "Kings of the Road" (1976), "The American Friend" (1977), "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" (1987) hasn't made a decent film in years, apart from "Buena Vista Social Club", his 1998 documentary on music in Cuba.
However, Wenders has reached a new low with "Palermo Shooting", a film of startling and embarrassing banality and, yes, even silliness. One is hard-pressed to imagine any commercial future whatsoever for this film, and a pickup by a U.S. distribution company seems virtually impossible.
Finn (Campino) is a very, very handsome photographer who leads a hectic but exciting professional life. (This character seems to be lifted almost intact from Antonioni's "Blow-up", including a scene in which he enlarges a photograph to find its hidden meaning.)
One night he's almost killed in a automobile accident, and he comes face-to-face with the meaninglessness of his life. After a fashion shoot in Palermo, he decides to stay in the Sicilian city, presumably to reconnect with the reality that has been drained from his high-tech locations and to discover the meaning of life.
What he discovers instead is a fleeting monklike figure, part real and part dreamlike, who is shooting semi-imaginary arrows at him. Everyone he encounters in his mostly cliched wanderings through the city tells him Palermo is "the city of death" despite the fact that many other writers and filmmakers have long ago awarded this honor to Naples. He also meets Flavia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) , a specialist in the restoration of frescoes, who also helps to restore his spirit.
Every time the film goes philosophical on us, the resultant dialogue is sententious and banal. We learn, among other things, that people during the time of the fresco that Flavia is restoring were afraid of death, and that they still are, and that, to live life to the fullest, we should do everything as though it were for the last time. He speaks meaningfully of "absurd freedom" and "desperate futility." Finn also is repeatedly warned that doing this "fashion crap" is hurting his reputation in the art world, another not-exactly-fresh theme.
Finn also is beset by recurring nightmares in which he is reduced to a minuscule figure in a gigantic room (shades of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but at least that guy had the excuse of atomic radiation). Another favorite is a distorted clock that he hangs on to in mid-air (shades of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"). Wenders seems to have absolutely no idea that these images would cause audiences to laugh out loud (and not in a good way).
In his travels, Finn encounters a huge number of disparate souls that impart various nuggets of wisdom. He tells one, in one of the movie's better moments, that "I am completely lost". But all of this pales into insignificance when he comes face-to-face with Death, appropriately played by Dennis Hopper. During their verbal sparring, Death explains reasonably that "the fear of death is really a fear of life," but the best exchange comes when he peevishly complains that "I'm tired of playing the bad guy" and asks Finn, the accomplished photographer, to help him improve his image by taking a great photo, even if it has to be a digital one, which he doesn't approve of.
For most viewers, the question of the meaning of it all will come down to this: Where does Wenders find people to continue to invest in his films?
Production: Neue Road Movies. Cast: Campino, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Inga Busch. Director: Wim Wenders. Screenwriters: Wim Wenders, Norman Ohler. Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel. Director of photography: Franz Lustig. Sales: Hanway Films. No rating, 124 minutes. Production designer: Sebastian Soukup Costume designer: Daniela Ciancio Editor: Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss Music: Irmin Schmidt...
- 5/28/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes, In Competition
It's well known that once-revered German auteur Wim Wenders doesn't make films like he used to. The director of such cinema classics as "Kings of the Road" (1976), "The American Friend" (1977), "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" (1987) hasn't made a decent film in years, apart from "Buena Vista Social Club", his 1998 documentary on music in Cuba.
However, Wenders has reached a new low with "Palermo Shooting", a film of startling and embarrassing banality and, yes, even silliness. One is hard-pressed to imagine any commercial future whatsoever for this film, and a pickup by a U.S. distribution company seems virtually impossible.
Finn (Campino) is a very, very handsome photographer who leads a hectic but exciting professional life. (This character seems to be lifted almost intact from Antonioni's "Blow-up", including a scene in which he enlarges a photograph to find its hidden meaning.)
One night he's almost killed in a automobile accident, and he comes face-to-face with the meaninglessness of his life. After a fashion shoot in Palermo, he decides to stay in the Sicilian city, presumably to reconnect with the reality that has been drained from his high-tech locations and to discover the meaning of life.
What he discovers instead is a fleeting monklike figure, part real and part dreamlike, who is shooting semi-imaginary arrows at him. Everyone he encounters in his mostly cliched wanderings through the city tells him Palermo is "the city of death" despite the fact that many other writers and filmmakers have long ago awarded this honor to Naples. He also meets Flavia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) , a specialist in the restoration of frescoes, who also helps to restore his spirit.
Every time the film goes philosophical on us, the resultant dialogue is sententious and banal. We learn, among other things, that people during the time of the fresco that Flavia is restoring were afraid of death, and that they still are, and that, to live life to the fullest, we should do everything as though it were for the last time. He speaks meaningfully of "absurd freedom" and "desperate futility." Finn also is repeatedly warned that doing this "fashion crap" is hurting his reputation in the art world, another not-exactly-fresh theme.
Finn also is beset by recurring nightmares in which he is reduced to a minuscule figure in a gigantic room (shades of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but at least that guy had the excuse of atomic radiation). Another favorite is a distorted clock that he hangs on to in mid-air (shades of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"). Wenders seems to have absolutely no idea that these images would cause audiences to laugh out loud (and not in a good way).
In his travels, Finn encounters a huge number of disparate souls that impart various nuggets of wisdom. He tells one, in one of the movie's better moments, that "I am completely lost". But all of this pales into insignificance when he comes face-to-face with Death, appropriately played by Dennis Hopper. During their verbal sparring, Death explains reasonably that "the fear of death is really a fear of life," but the best exchange comes when he peevishly complains that "I'm tired of playing the bad guy" and asks Finn, the accomplished photographer, to help him improve his image by taking a great photo, even if it has to be a digital one, which he doesn't approve of.
For most viewers, the question of the meaning of it all will come down to this: Where does Wenders find people to continue to invest in his films?
Production: Neue Road Movies. Cast: Campino, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Inga Busch. Director: Wim Wenders. Screenwriters: Wim Wenders, Norman Ohler. Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel. Director of photography: Franz Lustig. Sales: Hanway Films. No rating, 124 minutes. Production designer: Sebastian Soukup Costume designer: Daniela Ciancio Editor: Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss Music: Irmin Schmidt...
It's well known that once-revered German auteur Wim Wenders doesn't make films like he used to. The director of such cinema classics as "Kings of the Road" (1976), "The American Friend" (1977), "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" (1987) hasn't made a decent film in years, apart from "Buena Vista Social Club", his 1998 documentary on music in Cuba.
However, Wenders has reached a new low with "Palermo Shooting", a film of startling and embarrassing banality and, yes, even silliness. One is hard-pressed to imagine any commercial future whatsoever for this film, and a pickup by a U.S. distribution company seems virtually impossible.
Finn (Campino) is a very, very handsome photographer who leads a hectic but exciting professional life. (This character seems to be lifted almost intact from Antonioni's "Blow-up", including a scene in which he enlarges a photograph to find its hidden meaning.)
One night he's almost killed in a automobile accident, and he comes face-to-face with the meaninglessness of his life. After a fashion shoot in Palermo, he decides to stay in the Sicilian city, presumably to reconnect with the reality that has been drained from his high-tech locations and to discover the meaning of life.
What he discovers instead is a fleeting monklike figure, part real and part dreamlike, who is shooting semi-imaginary arrows at him. Everyone he encounters in his mostly cliched wanderings through the city tells him Palermo is "the city of death" despite the fact that many other writers and filmmakers have long ago awarded this honor to Naples. He also meets Flavia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) , a specialist in the restoration of frescoes, who also helps to restore his spirit.
Every time the film goes philosophical on us, the resultant dialogue is sententious and banal. We learn, among other things, that people during the time of the fresco that Flavia is restoring were afraid of death, and that they still are, and that, to live life to the fullest, we should do everything as though it were for the last time. He speaks meaningfully of "absurd freedom" and "desperate futility." Finn also is repeatedly warned that doing this "fashion crap" is hurting his reputation in the art world, another not-exactly-fresh theme.
Finn also is beset by recurring nightmares in which he is reduced to a minuscule figure in a gigantic room (shades of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but at least that guy had the excuse of atomic radiation). Another favorite is a distorted clock that he hangs on to in mid-air (shades of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"). Wenders seems to have absolutely no idea that these images would cause audiences to laugh out loud (and not in a good way).
In his travels, Finn encounters a huge number of disparate souls that impart various nuggets of wisdom. He tells one, in one of the movie's better moments, that "I am completely lost". But all of this pales into insignificance when he comes face-to-face with Death, appropriately played by Dennis Hopper. During their verbal sparring, Death explains reasonably that "the fear of death is really a fear of life," but the best exchange comes when he peevishly complains that "I'm tired of playing the bad guy" and asks Finn, the accomplished photographer, to help him improve his image by taking a great photo, even if it has to be a digital one, which he doesn't approve of.
For most viewers, the question of the meaning of it all will come down to this: Where does Wenders find people to continue to invest in his films?
Production: Neue Road Movies. Cast: Campino, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Inga Busch. Director: Wim Wenders. Screenwriters: Wim Wenders, Norman Ohler. Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel. Director of photography: Franz Lustig. Sales: Hanway Films. No rating, 124 minutes. Production designer: Sebastian Soukup Costume designer: Daniela Ciancio Editor: Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss Music: Irmin Schmidt...
- 5/27/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes Film Festival, In Competition
It's well known that once-revered German auteur Wim Wenders doesn't make films like he used to. The director of such cinema classics as "Kings of the Road" (1976), "The American Friend" (1977), "Paris, Texas" (1984), and "Wings of Desire" (1987) hasn't made a decent film in years, apart from "Buena Vista Social Club", his 1998 doc on music in Cuba.
However Wenders has reached a new low with "Palermo Shooting", a film of startling and embarrassing banality and, yes, even silliness. One is hard-pressed to imagine any commercial future whatsoever for this film, and a pick-up by a U.S. distribution company seems virtually impossible.
Finn is a very, very handsome photographer who leads a hectic but exciting professional life. (This character seems to be lifted almost intact from Antonioni's "Blow-up", including a scene in which he enlarges a photograph to find its hidden meaning.)
One night he's almost killed in a automobile accident and he comes face to face with the meaninglessness of his life. After a fashion shoot in Palermo, he decides to stay in the Sicilian city, presumably to re-connect with the reality that has been drained from his high-tech locations and to discover the meaning of life.
What he discovers instead is a fleeting monk-like figure, part real and part dream-like, who is shooting semi-imaginary arrows at him. Everyone he encounters in his mostly cliched wanderings through the city tells him Palermo is "the city of death," despite the fact that many other writers and filmmakers have long-ago awarded this honor to Naples. He also meets Flavia, a specialist in the restoration of frescoes, who also helps to restore his spirit.
Every time the film goes philosophical on us, the resulting dialogue is sententious and banal. We learn, among other things, that people during the time of the fresco that Flavia is restoring were afraid of death, and that they still are, and that, to live life to the fullest, we should do everything as though it were for the last time. He speaks meaningfully of "absurd freedom" and "desperate futility." Finn is also repeatedly warned that doing this "fashion crap" is hurting his reputation in the art world, another not-exactly-fresh theme.
Finn is also beset by recurring nightmares in which he is reduced to a miniscule figure in a gigantic room (shades of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but at least that guy had an excuse: atomic radiation). Another favorite is a distorted clock that he hangs on to in mid-air (shades of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"). Wenders seems to have absolutely no idea that these images would cause audiences to laugh out loud -- and not in a good way.
In his travels, Finn encounters a huge number of disparate souls that impart various nuggets of wisdom. He tells one, in one of the movie's better moments, that "I am completely lost". But all of this pales into insignificance when he comes face to face with Death, appropriately played by Dennis Hopper. During their verbal sparring, Death explains reasonably that "the fear of death is really a fear of life," but the best exchange comes when he peevishly complains that "I'm tired of playing the bad guy" and asks Finn, the accomplished photographer, to help him improve his image by taking a great photo, even if it has to be a digital one, which he doesn't approve of.
For most viewers, the question of the meaning of it all will come down to this: where does Wenders find people to continue to invest in his films?
Production Companies: Neue Road Movies
Cast: Campino, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Inga Busch
Director: Wim Wenders
Screenwriter: Wim Wenders, Norman Ohler
Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel
Director of photography: Franz Lustig
Production designer: Sebastian Soukup
Costume designer: Daniela Ciancio
Editor: Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss
Music: Irmin Schmidt
Sales: Hanway Films
No rating, 124 minutes...
It's well known that once-revered German auteur Wim Wenders doesn't make films like he used to. The director of such cinema classics as "Kings of the Road" (1976), "The American Friend" (1977), "Paris, Texas" (1984), and "Wings of Desire" (1987) hasn't made a decent film in years, apart from "Buena Vista Social Club", his 1998 doc on music in Cuba.
However Wenders has reached a new low with "Palermo Shooting", a film of startling and embarrassing banality and, yes, even silliness. One is hard-pressed to imagine any commercial future whatsoever for this film, and a pick-up by a U.S. distribution company seems virtually impossible.
Finn is a very, very handsome photographer who leads a hectic but exciting professional life. (This character seems to be lifted almost intact from Antonioni's "Blow-up", including a scene in which he enlarges a photograph to find its hidden meaning.)
One night he's almost killed in a automobile accident and he comes face to face with the meaninglessness of his life. After a fashion shoot in Palermo, he decides to stay in the Sicilian city, presumably to re-connect with the reality that has been drained from his high-tech locations and to discover the meaning of life.
What he discovers instead is a fleeting monk-like figure, part real and part dream-like, who is shooting semi-imaginary arrows at him. Everyone he encounters in his mostly cliched wanderings through the city tells him Palermo is "the city of death," despite the fact that many other writers and filmmakers have long-ago awarded this honor to Naples. He also meets Flavia, a specialist in the restoration of frescoes, who also helps to restore his spirit.
Every time the film goes philosophical on us, the resulting dialogue is sententious and banal. We learn, among other things, that people during the time of the fresco that Flavia is restoring were afraid of death, and that they still are, and that, to live life to the fullest, we should do everything as though it were for the last time. He speaks meaningfully of "absurd freedom" and "desperate futility." Finn is also repeatedly warned that doing this "fashion crap" is hurting his reputation in the art world, another not-exactly-fresh theme.
Finn is also beset by recurring nightmares in which he is reduced to a miniscule figure in a gigantic room (shades of "The Incredible Shrinking Man", but at least that guy had an excuse: atomic radiation). Another favorite is a distorted clock that he hangs on to in mid-air (shades of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"). Wenders seems to have absolutely no idea that these images would cause audiences to laugh out loud -- and not in a good way.
In his travels, Finn encounters a huge number of disparate souls that impart various nuggets of wisdom. He tells one, in one of the movie's better moments, that "I am completely lost". But all of this pales into insignificance when he comes face to face with Death, appropriately played by Dennis Hopper. During their verbal sparring, Death explains reasonably that "the fear of death is really a fear of life," but the best exchange comes when he peevishly complains that "I'm tired of playing the bad guy" and asks Finn, the accomplished photographer, to help him improve his image by taking a great photo, even if it has to be a digital one, which he doesn't approve of.
For most viewers, the question of the meaning of it all will come down to this: where does Wenders find people to continue to invest in his films?
Production Companies: Neue Road Movies
Cast: Campino, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, Inga Busch
Director: Wim Wenders
Screenwriter: Wim Wenders, Norman Ohler
Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel
Director of photography: Franz Lustig
Production designer: Sebastian Soukup
Costume designer: Daniela Ciancio
Editor: Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss
Music: Irmin Schmidt
Sales: Hanway Films
No rating, 124 minutes...
- 5/24/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened at Method Fest, Burbank
"Three Days of Rain" is an auspicious feature debut for writer-director Michael Meredith and a fitting opener for the fifth Method Fest, which spotlights independent films with an accent on acting. Inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov, Meredith has woven together a half-dozen portraits of contemporary lives-on-the-edge in this quietly searing drama. Presented under the aegis of Wim Wenders, the film deserves further festival exposure and could see art house action in the hands of the right distributor.
Opening with jazz strains, a disc jockey's mellow voice-over relaying storm predictions and striking shots of an unfamiliar skyline, "Three Days" introduces its six central figures, residents of Cleveland, through elliptical scenes. The seventh main character is the rain-drenched cityscape itself, shot in a moody blue palette by director of photography Cynthia Pusheck, whose elegant, compelling visuals are a crucial unifying element. Deftly avoiding a frequent pitfall of multiple-character studies, Meredith does not impose a uniform performance style on his cast, instead allowing each to find the pulse of the role. And in Meredith's strong script, every role is a gem of understated complexity.
Football great Don Meredith (the filmmaker's father) is a strong presence here, setting the tone as a cabbie who moves through his days with a restless melancholy. Reeling from a recent loss, he seeks comfort from strangers, but his blank, stunned sadness is met at every turn with self-centered dramas -- most strikingly in Blythe Danner's darkly comic cameo as one of his fares.
In the most direct expression of these stories' Old World roots, a tile maker (Michael Santoro) whose work is ruined by the rain beseeches God with a why-me lament and relentlessly pursues a widow (Penny Allen) who owes him money. Peter Falk plays another character seeking cash, but Waldo's search is chronic. A retiree on an endless pub-crawl, he repeatedly phones his son to finagle loans he'll never repay. Falk captures the duplicity, contrition and maudlin charm of the alcoholic with an incisiveness so real it's hard to watch at times.
While there are no easy answers for these characters, some provide more clear-cut rooting interests than others. Erick Avari brings a simmering intensity to the role of Alex, a well-heeled professional whose encounter with a man living on the street throws his entire life into question and fuels his growing resolve to choose kindness over convention.
But not everyone has that option. Two of the most affecting story lines involve characters who must endure cruelty that is anything but casual. As a developmentally disabled janitor being set up by his boss (Chuck Cooper), Joey Bilow creates a childlike character without sentimentalizing him. Tess (Merle Kennedy), a young heroin addict tethered to brutal circumstances, is a composite of delicacy and steely despair.
Commenting on one another but never intersecting, the vignettes are juxtaposed with increasing urgency, thanks in large part to the heartbeat-precise editing of Peter Przygodda and Sabine Hoffman. The running commentary of Bob Belden's jazz score and Lyle Lovett's DJ patter underscores the sense of connectedness, which culminates in a visual symphony of Edward Hopper images: near-empty diners and lonely rooms, new lovers about to face the morning. "Three Days" eloquently taps into the aching, resilience and battered hope at the heart of Chekhov's fiction.
THREE DAYS OF RAIN
Maximon Pictures
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Michael Meredith
Producers: Bill Stockton, Robert Casserly
Executive producers: Henry Herzing, Roger St. Cyr
Director of photography: Cynthia Pusheck
Production designer: Scott Wittmer
Music: Bob Belden
Costume designer: Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Editors: Peter Przygodda, Sabine Hoffman
Cast:
Waldo: Peter Falk
John: Don Meredith
Thunder: Michael Santoro
Tess: Merle Kennedy
Alex: Erick Avari
Dennis: Joey Bilow
Jim: Chuck Cooper
Helen: Penny Allen
Woman in Cab: Blythe Danner:
Disc Jockey: Lyle Lovett
Lisa: Heather Kafka
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Three Days of Rain" is an auspicious feature debut for writer-director Michael Meredith and a fitting opener for the fifth Method Fest, which spotlights independent films with an accent on acting. Inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov, Meredith has woven together a half-dozen portraits of contemporary lives-on-the-edge in this quietly searing drama. Presented under the aegis of Wim Wenders, the film deserves further festival exposure and could see art house action in the hands of the right distributor.
Opening with jazz strains, a disc jockey's mellow voice-over relaying storm predictions and striking shots of an unfamiliar skyline, "Three Days" introduces its six central figures, residents of Cleveland, through elliptical scenes. The seventh main character is the rain-drenched cityscape itself, shot in a moody blue palette by director of photography Cynthia Pusheck, whose elegant, compelling visuals are a crucial unifying element. Deftly avoiding a frequent pitfall of multiple-character studies, Meredith does not impose a uniform performance style on his cast, instead allowing each to find the pulse of the role. And in Meredith's strong script, every role is a gem of understated complexity.
Football great Don Meredith (the filmmaker's father) is a strong presence here, setting the tone as a cabbie who moves through his days with a restless melancholy. Reeling from a recent loss, he seeks comfort from strangers, but his blank, stunned sadness is met at every turn with self-centered dramas -- most strikingly in Blythe Danner's darkly comic cameo as one of his fares.
In the most direct expression of these stories' Old World roots, a tile maker (Michael Santoro) whose work is ruined by the rain beseeches God with a why-me lament and relentlessly pursues a widow (Penny Allen) who owes him money. Peter Falk plays another character seeking cash, but Waldo's search is chronic. A retiree on an endless pub-crawl, he repeatedly phones his son to finagle loans he'll never repay. Falk captures the duplicity, contrition and maudlin charm of the alcoholic with an incisiveness so real it's hard to watch at times.
While there are no easy answers for these characters, some provide more clear-cut rooting interests than others. Erick Avari brings a simmering intensity to the role of Alex, a well-heeled professional whose encounter with a man living on the street throws his entire life into question and fuels his growing resolve to choose kindness over convention.
But not everyone has that option. Two of the most affecting story lines involve characters who must endure cruelty that is anything but casual. As a developmentally disabled janitor being set up by his boss (Chuck Cooper), Joey Bilow creates a childlike character without sentimentalizing him. Tess (Merle Kennedy), a young heroin addict tethered to brutal circumstances, is a composite of delicacy and steely despair.
Commenting on one another but never intersecting, the vignettes are juxtaposed with increasing urgency, thanks in large part to the heartbeat-precise editing of Peter Przygodda and Sabine Hoffman. The running commentary of Bob Belden's jazz score and Lyle Lovett's DJ patter underscores the sense of connectedness, which culminates in a visual symphony of Edward Hopper images: near-empty diners and lonely rooms, new lovers about to face the morning. "Three Days" eloquently taps into the aching, resilience and battered hope at the heart of Chekhov's fiction.
THREE DAYS OF RAIN
Maximon Pictures
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Michael Meredith
Producers: Bill Stockton, Robert Casserly
Executive producers: Henry Herzing, Roger St. Cyr
Director of photography: Cynthia Pusheck
Production designer: Scott Wittmer
Music: Bob Belden
Costume designer: Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Editors: Peter Przygodda, Sabine Hoffman
Cast:
Waldo: Peter Falk
John: Don Meredith
Thunder: Michael Santoro
Tess: Merle Kennedy
Alex: Erick Avari
Dennis: Joey Bilow
Jim: Chuck Cooper
Helen: Penny Allen
Woman in Cab: Blythe Danner:
Disc Jockey: Lyle Lovett
Lisa: Heather Kafka
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened at Method Fest, Burbank
"Three Days of Rain" is an auspicious feature debut for writer-director Michael Meredith and a fitting opener for the fifth Method Fest, which spotlights independent films with an accent on acting. Inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov, Meredith has woven together a half-dozen portraits of contemporary lives-on-the-edge in this quietly searing drama. Presented under the aegis of Wim Wenders, the film deserves further festival exposure and could see art house action in the hands of the right distributor.
Opening with jazz strains, a disc jockey's mellow voice-over relaying storm predictions and striking shots of an unfamiliar skyline, "Three Days" introduces its six central figures, residents of Cleveland, through elliptical scenes. The seventh main character is the rain-drenched cityscape itself, shot in a moody blue palette by director of photography Cynthia Pusheck, whose elegant, compelling visuals are a crucial unifying element. Deftly avoiding a frequent pitfall of multiple-character studies, Meredith does not impose a uniform performance style on his cast, instead allowing each to find the pulse of the role. And in Meredith's strong script, every role is a gem of understated complexity.
Football great Don Meredith (the filmmaker's father) is a strong presence here, setting the tone as a cabbie who moves through his days with a restless melancholy. Reeling from a recent loss, he seeks comfort from strangers, but his blank, stunned sadness is met at every turn with self-centered dramas -- most strikingly in Blythe Danner's darkly comic cameo as one of his fares.
In the most direct expression of these stories' Old World roots, a tile maker (Michael Santoro) whose work is ruined by the rain beseeches God with a why-me lament and relentlessly pursues a widow (Penny Allen) who owes him money. Peter Falk plays another character seeking cash, but Waldo's search is chronic. A retiree on an endless pub-crawl, he repeatedly phones his son to finagle loans he'll never repay. Falk captures the duplicity, contrition and maudlin charm of the alcoholic with an incisiveness so real it's hard to watch at times.
While there are no easy answers for these characters, some provide more clear-cut rooting interests than others. Erick Avari brings a simmering intensity to the role of Alex, a well-heeled professional whose encounter with a man living on the street throws his entire life into question and fuels his growing resolve to choose kindness over convention.
But not everyone has that option. Two of the most affecting story lines involve characters who must endure cruelty that is anything but casual. As a developmentally disabled janitor being set up by his boss (Chuck Cooper), Joey Bilow creates a childlike character without sentimentalizing him. Tess (Merle Kennedy), a young heroin addict tethered to brutal circumstances, is a composite of delicacy and steely despair.
Commenting on one another but never intersecting, the vignettes are juxtaposed with increasing urgency, thanks in large part to the heartbeat-precise editing of Peter Przygodda and Sabine Hoffman. The running commentary of Bob Belden's jazz score and Lyle Lovett's DJ patter underscores the sense of connectedness, which culminates in a visual symphony of Edward Hopper images: near-empty diners and lonely rooms, new lovers about to face the morning. "Three Days" eloquently taps into the aching, resilience and battered hope at the heart of Chekhov's fiction.
THREE DAYS OF RAIN
Maximon Pictures
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Michael Meredith
Producers: Bill Stockton, Robert Casserly
Executive producers: Henry Herzing, Roger St. Cyr
Director of photography: Cynthia Pusheck
Production designer: Scott Wittmer
Music: Bob Belden
Costume designer: Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Editors: Peter Przygodda, Sabine Hoffman
Cast:
Waldo: Peter Falk
John: Don Meredith
Thunder: Michael Santoro
Tess: Merle Kennedy
Alex: Erick Avari
Dennis: Joey Bilow
Jim: Chuck Cooper
Helen: Penny Allen
Woman in Cab: Blythe Danner:
Disc Jockey: Lyle Lovett
Lisa: Heather Kafka
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Three Days of Rain" is an auspicious feature debut for writer-director Michael Meredith and a fitting opener for the fifth Method Fest, which spotlights independent films with an accent on acting. Inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov, Meredith has woven together a half-dozen portraits of contemporary lives-on-the-edge in this quietly searing drama. Presented under the aegis of Wim Wenders, the film deserves further festival exposure and could see art house action in the hands of the right distributor.
Opening with jazz strains, a disc jockey's mellow voice-over relaying storm predictions and striking shots of an unfamiliar skyline, "Three Days" introduces its six central figures, residents of Cleveland, through elliptical scenes. The seventh main character is the rain-drenched cityscape itself, shot in a moody blue palette by director of photography Cynthia Pusheck, whose elegant, compelling visuals are a crucial unifying element. Deftly avoiding a frequent pitfall of multiple-character studies, Meredith does not impose a uniform performance style on his cast, instead allowing each to find the pulse of the role. And in Meredith's strong script, every role is a gem of understated complexity.
Football great Don Meredith (the filmmaker's father) is a strong presence here, setting the tone as a cabbie who moves through his days with a restless melancholy. Reeling from a recent loss, he seeks comfort from strangers, but his blank, stunned sadness is met at every turn with self-centered dramas -- most strikingly in Blythe Danner's darkly comic cameo as one of his fares.
In the most direct expression of these stories' Old World roots, a tile maker (Michael Santoro) whose work is ruined by the rain beseeches God with a why-me lament and relentlessly pursues a widow (Penny Allen) who owes him money. Peter Falk plays another character seeking cash, but Waldo's search is chronic. A retiree on an endless pub-crawl, he repeatedly phones his son to finagle loans he'll never repay. Falk captures the duplicity, contrition and maudlin charm of the alcoholic with an incisiveness so real it's hard to watch at times.
While there are no easy answers for these characters, some provide more clear-cut rooting interests than others. Erick Avari brings a simmering intensity to the role of Alex, a well-heeled professional whose encounter with a man living on the street throws his entire life into question and fuels his growing resolve to choose kindness over convention.
But not everyone has that option. Two of the most affecting story lines involve characters who must endure cruelty that is anything but casual. As a developmentally disabled janitor being set up by his boss (Chuck Cooper), Joey Bilow creates a childlike character without sentimentalizing him. Tess (Merle Kennedy), a young heroin addict tethered to brutal circumstances, is a composite of delicacy and steely despair.
Commenting on one another but never intersecting, the vignettes are juxtaposed with increasing urgency, thanks in large part to the heartbeat-precise editing of Peter Przygodda and Sabine Hoffman. The running commentary of Bob Belden's jazz score and Lyle Lovett's DJ patter underscores the sense of connectedness, which culminates in a visual symphony of Edward Hopper images: near-empty diners and lonely rooms, new lovers about to face the morning. "Three Days" eloquently taps into the aching, resilience and battered hope at the heart of Chekhov's fiction.
THREE DAYS OF RAIN
Maximon Pictures
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Michael Meredith
Producers: Bill Stockton, Robert Casserly
Executive producers: Henry Herzing, Roger St. Cyr
Director of photography: Cynthia Pusheck
Production designer: Scott Wittmer
Music: Bob Belden
Costume designer: Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Editors: Peter Przygodda, Sabine Hoffman
Cast:
Waldo: Peter Falk
John: Don Meredith
Thunder: Michael Santoro
Tess: Merle Kennedy
Alex: Erick Avari
Dennis: Joey Bilow
Jim: Chuck Cooper
Helen: Penny Allen
Woman in Cab: Blythe Danner:
Disc Jockey: Lyle Lovett
Lisa: Heather Kafka
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/28/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Germany's 1996 Oscar submission, booked for screenings at the Palm Springs Film Festival and the American Cinematheque's "New Films from Germany" series, "The Deathmaker" (Der Totmacher) is a nasty, up-close encounter with one of the century's most notorious mass murderers.
Based on transcripts of a six-week psychiatric evaluation of Fritz Haarmann--who was accused in 1924 of seducing and then killing more than 20 young men--Romuald Karmakar's debut feature is an actor's showcase, with the spotlight falling heavily on lead Gotz George.
Grubby and yet manipulative, cracked World War I veteran Haarmann is a sympathetic monster (he was the model for the Peter Lorre character in Fritz Lang's "M"). The setting is one unadorned room and the action is limited to a few theatrical gestures. In the course of a dozen or so long dialogue scenes the life story and warped perspective of a psychotic, yet oddly lucid killer unfolds.
Although he jokes constantly and admits to the killings, Haarmann shows some remorse. In one long wrenching series of questions and answers, we learn of his early homosexual experiences. He also hated his stern, unloving father. But the interviewee is also evasive and playful, quoting the scriptures and anticipating his own execution.
When the questioning of the dapper, shocked Dr. Schultze (Jurgen Hentsch) turns to why Haarmann chopped up all the bodies and how he disposed of all the parts, one becomes mighty uncomfortable. There are no flashbacks or re-enactments of the grisly slayings, but the material is incredibly graphic nonetheless.
The actors, thankfully, are superb, including Pierre Franckh as the silent stenographer, reacting to the undeniably charismatic Haarmann through furtive glances and body language. Hentsch is outstanding as the questioner who leads the deranged Haarmann into many stark revelations.
At nearly two hours, the film is exhausting, bitter medicine. But to see the amazing George, who won the best actor award at the 1995 Venice Film Festival, is the reward awaiting those who make the effort.
THE DEATHMAKER
(DER TOTMACHER)
Pantera Film
Director Romuald Karmakar
Producer Thomas Schuhly
Writers Romuald Karmakar, Michael Farin
Director of photography Fred Schuler
Editor Peter Przygodda
Production designer Toni Ludi
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fritz Haarmann Gotz George
Dr. Ernst Schultze Jurgen Hentsch
Stenographer Pierre Franckh
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA Rating...
Based on transcripts of a six-week psychiatric evaluation of Fritz Haarmann--who was accused in 1924 of seducing and then killing more than 20 young men--Romuald Karmakar's debut feature is an actor's showcase, with the spotlight falling heavily on lead Gotz George.
Grubby and yet manipulative, cracked World War I veteran Haarmann is a sympathetic monster (he was the model for the Peter Lorre character in Fritz Lang's "M"). The setting is one unadorned room and the action is limited to a few theatrical gestures. In the course of a dozen or so long dialogue scenes the life story and warped perspective of a psychotic, yet oddly lucid killer unfolds.
Although he jokes constantly and admits to the killings, Haarmann shows some remorse. In one long wrenching series of questions and answers, we learn of his early homosexual experiences. He also hated his stern, unloving father. But the interviewee is also evasive and playful, quoting the scriptures and anticipating his own execution.
When the questioning of the dapper, shocked Dr. Schultze (Jurgen Hentsch) turns to why Haarmann chopped up all the bodies and how he disposed of all the parts, one becomes mighty uncomfortable. There are no flashbacks or re-enactments of the grisly slayings, but the material is incredibly graphic nonetheless.
The actors, thankfully, are superb, including Pierre Franckh as the silent stenographer, reacting to the undeniably charismatic Haarmann through furtive glances and body language. Hentsch is outstanding as the questioner who leads the deranged Haarmann into many stark revelations.
At nearly two hours, the film is exhausting, bitter medicine. But to see the amazing George, who won the best actor award at the 1995 Venice Film Festival, is the reward awaiting those who make the effort.
THE DEATHMAKER
(DER TOTMACHER)
Pantera Film
Director Romuald Karmakar
Producer Thomas Schuhly
Writers Romuald Karmakar, Michael Farin
Director of photography Fred Schuler
Editor Peter Przygodda
Production designer Toni Ludi
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fritz Haarmann Gotz George
Dr. Ernst Schultze Jurgen Hentsch
Stenographer Pierre Franckh
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA Rating...
- 1/14/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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