A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
Olaf Möller is a film programmer and critic, as well as a Professor in the Department of Film, Television and Scenographyat Aalto University in Finland. He regularly collaborates with prestigious film magazines such as Sight & Sound, Cinema Scope, Mubi Notebook, Eye for Film and Film Comment, among others. He is considered one of the most authoritative voices of film history and criticism, along with Jonathan Rosenbaum, Laura Mulvey or David Bordwell. He has curated cycles and retrospectives for festivals such as Rotterdam, the Viennale or Locarno, and was a member of the Selection Committee of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Möller is the author of numerous publications, including Fragmentos de búsqueda (2013), focusing on the cinema of Thomas Heisse, Romuald Karmakar (2013), about the German filmmaker, or Geliebt und Verdrängt: Das Kino der jungen Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1949 bis 1963/ Loved and repressed: the cinema of the young Federal Republic of Germany from...
- 11/3/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Everyone ElseThe so-called “Berlin School” has gone from strength to strength in recent years. This new wave of precise, formalist cinema has been noteworthy for several reasons, one of them being the fact that most of its practitioners are currently making their best, most fully realized works to date. Despite a critical tendency, across virtually all media, to make a fetish of the “early work,” there appears to be a consensus that these German auteurs are working at the height of their powers.This certainly accounts for the significantly heightened profile of several of the Berlin School filmmakers in recent years. In a rare conjunction between critics and the film business, more and more of these films are being distributed in North America and being seen by not-inconsiderable groups of viewers. Thus far, the highest profile film from the “movement” over here has been Maren Ade’s oddball comedy Toni Erdmann,...
- 5/7/2019
- MUBI
Aficionados of electronic dance music know that Germany remains one of the greatest producers of techno in the world, and that visiting Berlin’s infamous nightspot Berghain is the Edm equivalent of making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the documentary When I Think of Germany at Night (Denk Ich An Deutschland In Der Nacht), director Romuald Karmakar hammers that point home by focusing on five major DJs who are keeping Teutonic techno alive and well. Speaking – and sometimes freely associating – about the music they make and its evolution over the past decades, international stars like Ricardo Villalobos and Roman...
In the documentary When I Think of Germany at Night (Denk Ich An Deutschland In Der Nacht), director Romuald Karmakar hammers that point home by focusing on five major DJs who are keeping Teutonic techno alive and well. Speaking – and sometimes freely associating – about the music they make and its evolution over the past decades, international stars like Ricardo Villalobos and Roman...
- 2/14/2017
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ben Gibson, former director of the London Film School (Lfs), is set to become the first non-German director of Berlin’s German Film & Television Academy (dffb).
Gibson was selected by the appointments committee over rival applications by filmmakers Bela Tarr and Romuald Karmakar, producer Dagmar Jacobsen and Pavel Jech, currently Dean of Prague’s Famu, as the successor to the previous director Jan Schütte.
Gibson left the Lfs last year after 13 years as director to become director of degree programmes at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (Aftrs) in Sydney.
Gibson is no stranger to the dffb having recruited the Berlin academy as one of the European partners in the Making Waves distribution and marketing workshop with Paris’ La Fémis, Barcelona’s Ecac, and Romania’s Unatc.
During his time at Lfs, Gibson collaborated with the dffb on the Serial Eyes postgraduate high-level TV series writing and producing programme, launched in January 2013.
Funded by the EU’s Creative...
Gibson was selected by the appointments committee over rival applications by filmmakers Bela Tarr and Romuald Karmakar, producer Dagmar Jacobsen and Pavel Jech, currently Dean of Prague’s Famu, as the successor to the previous director Jan Schütte.
Gibson left the Lfs last year after 13 years as director to become director of degree programmes at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (Aftrs) in Sydney.
Gibson is no stranger to the dffb having recruited the Berlin academy as one of the European partners in the Making Waves distribution and marketing workshop with Paris’ La Fémis, Barcelona’s Ecac, and Romania’s Unatc.
During his time at Lfs, Gibson collaborated with the dffb on the Serial Eyes postgraduate high-level TV series writing and producing programme, launched in January 2013.
Funded by the EU’s Creative...
- 10/19/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2013—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2013 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How...
- 1/13/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Leaning back and shrouded in the nocturnal darkness of an interrogation room with only a glint of overhead light hitting his upper chest, a convicted serial killer glares at his psychiatric interrogator and insists “you already know that!” This is the introductory image of taboo-obsessed German filmmaker Romuald Karmakar’s The Deathmaker (1995), and the jarring lack of context to the statement is by design; it’s as if Karmakar is saying, “This is a film about knowledge.” Confined entirely to the space of a single nondescript room in Weimar-era Germany yet surprisingly and exhilaratingly expansive, the rest of the film constitutes a diverse set of interrogations into what it means to know, what can be known, different types of knowledge, and the depths of human behavior that knowledge actually complicates and obfuscates rather than illuminates.
Until a brief appearance of two prison guards and a final-act injection of a young victim and a visiting doctor,...
Until a brief appearance of two prison guards and a final-act injection of a young victim and a visiting doctor,...
- 3/25/2013
- by Carson Lund
- MUBI
For the rest of the Notebook's Fantasy Double Features of 2012, see the poll's main index.
***
New: Far from Afghanistan (John Gianvito, Jon Jost, Minda Martin, Soon-Mi Yoo, Travis Wilkerson)
Old: Allons enfants... pour L'Algerie (Karl Gass, 1961)
Two works of international(ist) solidarity made exactly half a century apart (Far from Afghanistan was already shown on the net last year in the so-called October Version), both dealing with a colonial war and its ramifications for the victim—as well the aggressor and collaborator state. Two works, also, of fragmentation, multitudes of voices, dialectic pluralism; Gass sub-divided his film into three parts (actually, it's more like two halves and a coda), while the Gianvito-masterminded project consists of five quasi-independent segments (working also quite well as stand-alone shorts) plus half a dozen interludes. Yet, in one—maybe the most—crucial way they're light years apart: Gass lays it down smack from the center...
***
New: Far from Afghanistan (John Gianvito, Jon Jost, Minda Martin, Soon-Mi Yoo, Travis Wilkerson)
Old: Allons enfants... pour L'Algerie (Karl Gass, 1961)
Two works of international(ist) solidarity made exactly half a century apart (Far from Afghanistan was already shown on the net last year in the so-called October Version), both dealing with a colonial war and its ramifications for the victim—as well the aggressor and collaborator state. Two works, also, of fragmentation, multitudes of voices, dialectic pluralism; Gass sub-divided his film into three parts (actually, it's more like two halves and a coda), while the Gianvito-masterminded project consists of five quasi-independent segments (working also quite well as stand-alone shorts) plus half a dozen interludes. Yet, in one—maybe the most—crucial way they're light years apart: Gass lays it down smack from the center...
- 1/7/2013
- by The Ferroni Brigade
- MUBI
A day after Greg Smith rattled the financial sector with his New York Times Op-Ed, "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs," claiming that "the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it," Deadline's Mike Fleming reminds us that Wall Street was pretty toxic and destructive long before Smith even began his 12-year run at the company. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio "are committing to make The Wolf of Wall Street their fifth collaboration. The film is based on the Jordan Belfort memoir of his days as a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch. Shooting will begin August in New York." The Playlist's Kevin Jagernauth posts a 2007 interview with Belfort.
Also at the Playlist, Jagernauth reports that Gerardo Naranjo (Miss Bala) will likely direct Michael Fassbender in J Mills Goodloe...
Also at the Playlist, Jagernauth reports that Gerardo Naranjo (Miss Bala) will likely direct Michael Fassbender in J Mills Goodloe...
- 3/15/2012
- MUBI
Our Deaths, in memoriam was the project title of Lav Diaz' Kagadanan sa Banwaan Ning mga Engkanto (2007). For the Ferroni Brigade, it became the motto of Venice 2011—specters of dear lives gone seemed to roam the event, the Mostra internazionale d’arte cinematografica as well as the Esposizione internazionale d'arte, and beyond.
We always commemorate the murder of Nika Bohinc and Alexis Tioseco on September 1st 2009, quietly, invariably in Venice; it was here that we heard about the crime; now, whenever we go to the press room to check our e-mails, deep down something inside us is afraid of getting another message like that one; fittingly, one of the last films we saw this year was Diaz' latest, Siglo ng Pagluluwal (Century of Birthing, 2011), which ends with a dedication to them, and talks about the way our loved ones, just like cherished ideas, notions and visions are essentially eternal,...
We always commemorate the murder of Nika Bohinc and Alexis Tioseco on September 1st 2009, quietly, invariably in Venice; it was here that we heard about the crime; now, whenever we go to the press room to check our e-mails, deep down something inside us is afraid of getting another message like that one; fittingly, one of the last films we saw this year was Diaz' latest, Siglo ng Pagluluwal (Century of Birthing, 2011), which ends with a dedication to them, and talks about the way our loved ones, just like cherished ideas, notions and visions are essentially eternal,...
- 2/7/2012
- MUBI
Another day, another trio of announcements from the Berlin International Film Festival (February 9 through 19). First off, this year's Berlinale Camera has been presented to Haro Senft, "one of the pioneers of New German Cinema as well as a tireless advocate of German children films... He was the initiator of Doc 59, a group based in Munich at the end of the 1950s; many of its members went on to sign the Oberhausen Manifesto in 1962." His 1961 documentary short Kahl was nominated for an Oscar and Bruno Ganz gave his first performance in a major role in Senft's first narrative feature, Der sanfte Lauf (1967).
"In 1971 he resigned from all his positions related to film policy and devoted himself unlike anyone else to developing a culture of children's films. With his films Ein Tag mit dem Wind (1978) and Jacob hinter der blauen Tür (1987) he set the standard for the genre." Because Senft can no longer travel,...
"In 1971 he resigned from all his positions related to film policy and devoted himself unlike anyone else to developing a culture of children's films. With his films Ein Tag mit dem Wind (1978) and Jacob hinter der blauen Tür (1987) he set the standard for the genre." Because Senft can no longer travel,...
- 1/18/2012
- MUBI
Spiegel Online and the Süddeutsche Zeitung are reporting that character actor Jürgen Hentsch has died at the age of 75. Having made a name for himself at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Hentsch made his onscreen debut in the East German television production of Herrmann Zschoche's Carla (1965) and appeared in Konrad Wolf's classic antiwar film I Was Nineteen (1968).
Hentsch will probably be best remembered for his portrayal of Ernst Schultze, the psychiatrist who attempts to determine the psychological stability of the infamous serial killer who terrified Germany in the 1920s, Fritz Haarmann (Götz George) in Romuald Karmakar's The Deathmaker (1995). Hentsch also impressed German television viewers with his performances as the Social Democratic Party Chairman Herbert Wehner in Oliver Storz's Im Schatten der Macht and as Heinrich Mann in Heinrich Breloer's mini-series The Manns (2001).
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Hentsch will probably be best remembered for his portrayal of Ernst Schultze, the psychiatrist who attempts to determine the psychological stability of the infamous serial killer who terrified Germany in the 1920s, Fritz Haarmann (Götz George) in Romuald Karmakar's The Deathmaker (1995). Hentsch also impressed German television viewers with his performances as the Social Democratic Party Chairman Herbert Wehner in Oliver Storz's Im Schatten der Macht and as Heinrich Mann in Heinrich Breloer's mini-series The Manns (2001).
For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @thedailyMUBI on Twitter and/or the RSS feed.
- 12/21/2011
- MUBI
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
Roughly assembled; order within tiers based chronologically on viewing date.
01:
Cut (Amir Naderi, Japan), Anna (Alberto Grifi, Massimo Sarchielli, Italy), Faust (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia), Louyre - This Our Still Life (Andrew Kotting, UK), Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz, Philippines)
02:
Vieni, dolce morte (dell’ego) (Paolo Brunatto, Italy), A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada), Whores’ Glory (Michael Glawogger, Austria), A Simple Life (Ann Hui, Hk), Il potere (Augusto Tretti, Italy), Himizu (Sono Sion, Japan), Conference (Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria), 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA), Die Herde des Herrn (Romuald Karmakar, Germany), Life without Principles (Johnnie To, Hk), Late and Deep (Devin Horan, USA), Iz Tokio (Aleksej German Jr., Russia)
03:
Il canto d’amore di Alfred Prufrock (Nico D’Alessandria, Italy), Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Poland ), Black Mirror at the National Gallery (Mark Lewis, UK), Meteor (Chrisoph Giraret, Matthias Müller, Germany), Il villaggio di cartone (Ermanno Olmi,...
01:
Cut (Amir Naderi, Japan), Anna (Alberto Grifi, Massimo Sarchielli, Italy), Faust (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia), Louyre - This Our Still Life (Andrew Kotting, UK), Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz, Philippines)
02:
Vieni, dolce morte (dell’ego) (Paolo Brunatto, Italy), A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada), Whores’ Glory (Michael Glawogger, Austria), A Simple Life (Ann Hui, Hk), Il potere (Augusto Tretti, Italy), Himizu (Sono Sion, Japan), Conference (Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria), 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA), Die Herde des Herrn (Romuald Karmakar, Germany), Life without Principles (Johnnie To, Hk), Late and Deep (Devin Horan, USA), Iz Tokio (Aleksej German Jr., Russia)
03:
Il canto d’amore di Alfred Prufrock (Nico D’Alessandria, Italy), Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Poland ), Black Mirror at the National Gallery (Mark Lewis, UK), Meteor (Chrisoph Giraret, Matthias Müller, Germany), Il villaggio di cartone (Ermanno Olmi,...
- 9/11/2011
- MUBI
Dueling festival lineups! It seems that for every announcement for the Toronto International Film Festival lineup comes a competing (and often overlapping) one from Venice. Here we're collecting the finalized Venice lineups so far. (Above image: Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer.)
Competition
The Ides of March (George Clooney, USA) (opening night) 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA) Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece) A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel, France) Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Spain/Poland) Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France/Belgium/Germany) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada) Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA) The Exchange (Eran Kolirin, Israel/Germany) Faust (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) Himizu (Sion Sono, Japan) Killer Joe (William Friedkin, USA) Life without Principle (Johnnie To, Hk) Quando la notte (Cristina Comencini, Italy) Seediq Bale (Wei Desheng, Taiwan) Shame (Steve McQueen, UK) Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann,...
Competition
The Ides of March (George Clooney, USA) (opening night) 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA) Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece) A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel, France) Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Spain/Poland) Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France/Belgium/Germany) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada) Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA) The Exchange (Eran Kolirin, Israel/Germany) Faust (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) Himizu (Sion Sono, Japan) Killer Joe (William Friedkin, USA) Life without Principle (Johnnie To, Hk) Quando la notte (Cristina Comencini, Italy) Seediq Bale (Wei Desheng, Taiwan) Shame (Steve McQueen, UK) Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann,...
- 8/9/2011
- MUBI
Just a few days after Tiff had announced its first 50 films from this year’s festival slate, the Venice Film Festival has announced their own lineup, and I must say, it’s one hell of a collective.
Criterion Collection nuts will have a field day here, as various directors from the collection will be bringing their new films to Italy this year.
First up, in competition, David Cronenberg will be taking his new film, A Dangerous Method, to Venice this year, making it one of the bigger fall festival season players this year. Steve McQueen’s Shame will play this year, as will Andrea Arnold’s (Fish Tank) Wuthering Heights. Roman Polanski will debut his latest film, Carnage, at Venice this year, as will Todd Solondz, who brings Dark Horse this year.
Out of competition, Chantal Akerman and Whit Stillman will debut their next projects, La Folie Almayer and Damsels In Distress respectively.
Criterion Collection nuts will have a field day here, as various directors from the collection will be bringing their new films to Italy this year.
First up, in competition, David Cronenberg will be taking his new film, A Dangerous Method, to Venice this year, making it one of the bigger fall festival season players this year. Steve McQueen’s Shame will play this year, as will Andrea Arnold’s (Fish Tank) Wuthering Heights. Roman Polanski will debut his latest film, Carnage, at Venice this year, as will Todd Solondz, who brings Dark Horse this year.
Out of competition, Chantal Akerman and Whit Stillman will debut their next projects, La Folie Almayer and Damsels In Distress respectively.
- 7/29/2011
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
The line-up for the 2011 Venice Film Festival was unveiled a little earlier today and this year’s edition looks particularly stacked on the English-language side of things with a large number of dramatic outputs from the U.K. and U.S.
Dozens and dozens of high-intrigue fare are set to be premiering over the two week event which kicks off proceedings on August 31st with the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March as an in-competition film. A trailer was released last night and you can see it Here.
The other big headliners include;
Working Title’s attempt to bring the classic John Le Carre novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the big screen for the first time (though there was an amazing 70′s t.v. series with Alec Guinness that this film will need to go to some quality to beat) has been on our radar every...
Dozens and dozens of high-intrigue fare are set to be premiering over the two week event which kicks off proceedings on August 31st with the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March as an in-competition film. A trailer was released last night and you can see it Here.
The other big headliners include;
Working Title’s attempt to bring the classic John Le Carre novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the big screen for the first time (though there was an amazing 70′s t.v. series with Alec Guinness that this film will need to go to some quality to beat) has been on our radar every...
- 7/28/2011
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
"My sense is that Joe and his films bring out the best in people. And that his swift rise to prominence, to the upper ranks of the cinema republic has not lessened but strengthened his - and our - desire for films, and a film culture, where things are done differently, dreamily, democratically." —Alex Horwath, p. 6
The series of books put out by FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen, devoted to the likes of Romuald Karmakar, Gustav Deutsch, and James Benning (among other people and topics) has done well in its recent-ish collection on Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Before getting to the content, it's a fine object—matte paper, almost square in its dimensions, double columned text, and tasteful photographs in color throughout. The Thai tyro has risen even further in the ranks of international art cinema in the wake of his Cannes Palme d'Or for the tremendous Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010). So...
The series of books put out by FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen, devoted to the likes of Romuald Karmakar, Gustav Deutsch, and James Benning (among other people and topics) has done well in its recent-ish collection on Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Before getting to the content, it's a fine object—matte paper, almost square in its dimensions, double columned text, and tasteful photographs in color throughout. The Thai tyro has risen even further in the ranks of international art cinema in the wake of his Cannes Palme d'Or for the tremendous Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010). So...
- 5/2/2011
- MUBI
"Olaf Möller lives in Cologne, writes about and programs films." It's a typically modest blurb that appears at the end of innumerable articles for international film magazines but behind it lie countless texts for festival catalogs, regular columns in Cinema Scope and Film Comment (where Möller has also served as a European editor since 2004), annual festival reports from Berlin, Venice, Rotterdam and Udine, books on filmmakers such as John Cook and Michael Pilz, selection duties for the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and curatorial work on retrospectives and film programs for the Austrian Film Museum. He also happens to be the Other First Secretary and Minister of Spirituality of the Ferroni Brigade.
There are several qualities that Möller has brought to the proverbial table of film criticism since the beginning of the last decade: a) astute and well-informed writing, with an instantly recognizable style and his own brand of syntax and punctuation,...
There are several qualities that Möller has brought to the proverbial table of film criticism since the beginning of the last decade: a) astute and well-informed writing, with an instantly recognizable style and his own brand of syntax and punctuation,...
- 6/28/2010
- MUBI
Cologne, Germany -- German actor Frank Giering, who played a courteous psychopath in Michael Haneke's 1997 film "Funny Games" and starred in hit German crime series "Der Kriminalist," died Wednesday in Berlin. He was 38.
Born and raised in East Germany, Giering was well known and successful without ever becoming a star. In many ways, his career -- which began in theater before moving mainly to supporting, often small-screen roles -- resembled that of Christoph Waltz before "Inglourious Basterds." And like Waltz he was an actor's actor, often cited as an inspiration by a younger generation of performers.
"Giering is God," is how Robert Stadlober ("Krabat") put it.
But Giering also struggled with alcoholism and self-doubt, issues he discussed publicly. He once described himself as a "remnant" of the Gdr and not suited for modern life. German police are investigating the cause of death.
Giering has a series of small roles...
Born and raised in East Germany, Giering was well known and successful without ever becoming a star. In many ways, his career -- which began in theater before moving mainly to supporting, often small-screen roles -- resembled that of Christoph Waltz before "Inglourious Basterds." And like Waltz he was an actor's actor, often cited as an inspiration by a younger generation of performers.
"Giering is God," is how Robert Stadlober ("Krabat") put it.
But Giering also struggled with alcoholism and self-doubt, issues he discussed publicly. He once described himself as a "remnant" of the Gdr and not suited for modern life. German police are investigating the cause of death.
Giering has a series of small roles...
- 6/24/2010
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival lineup includes the main festival plus the sidebar which will be playing films like Yannick Dahan's gangster zombie flick The Horde.
In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.
Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.
Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.
Full list after the break.
66Th Annual Venice Film Festival Lineup
Competition
"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)
"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)
"Between Two Worlds,...
In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.
Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.
Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.
Full list after the break.
66Th Annual Venice Film Festival Lineup
Competition
"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)
"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)
"Between Two Worlds,...
- 7/30/2009
- QuietEarth.us
Rome -- Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" will headline a 24-film competition lineup at September's Venice Film Festival, which is heavy on first and second films from up-and-coming directors.
The lineup includes five U.S. films, four each from Italy and France, four from Asia, two from the Middle East -- with all 23 films named Thursday as world premieres.
A 24th surprise competition pic to be announced during the fest would also be a world premiere, officials said. The fest will feature 71 world premieres.
"We are very pleased and very honored to announce this lineup," Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a briefing Thursday, where Fatih Akin's comedy "Soul Kitchen"; "Accident," a thriller from China's Cheang Pou; and "A Single Man," a drama from Tom Ford starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, were revealed as part of the lineup.
All told, the fest will feature 16 first works and nine second works.
The lineup includes five U.S. films, four each from Italy and France, four from Asia, two from the Middle East -- with all 23 films named Thursday as world premieres.
A 24th surprise competition pic to be announced during the fest would also be a world premiere, officials said. The fest will feature 71 world premieres.
"We are very pleased and very honored to announce this lineup," Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a briefing Thursday, where Fatih Akin's comedy "Soul Kitchen"; "Accident," a thriller from China's Cheang Pou; and "A Single Man," a drama from Tom Ford starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, were revealed as part of the lineup.
All told, the fest will feature 16 first works and nine second works.
- 7/30/2009
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Berlin -- Richard Loncraine's "My One and Only," a '50s-era comedy starring Renee Zellweger and Kevin Bacon, was squeezed into the competition lineup for this year's Berlin International Film Festival, barely a week before the event kicks off.
Zellweger plays a glamorous single mom on the hunt for a rich man to foot the bill for her and her sons' lifestyle. Produced by Merv Griffith Entertainment and Ray Gun Prods., "My One and Only" will have its world premiere in Berlin. Essential Entertainment is handling international sales.
Berlin also added Lone Scherfig's Sundance favorite "An Education" with Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson and Davis Guggenheim's music documentary "It Might Get Loud" for its Berlinale Special Galas, ensuring the films will get the red carpet treatment without any of the pressure of competition.
All three films should give an added boost of star power to...
Zellweger plays a glamorous single mom on the hunt for a rich man to foot the bill for her and her sons' lifestyle. Produced by Merv Griffith Entertainment and Ray Gun Prods., "My One and Only" will have its world premiere in Berlin. Essential Entertainment is handling international sales.
Berlin also added Lone Scherfig's Sundance favorite "An Education" with Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson and Davis Guggenheim's music documentary "It Might Get Loud" for its Berlinale Special Galas, ensuring the films will get the red carpet treatment without any of the pressure of competition.
All three films should give an added boost of star power to...
- 1/27/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With the addition of the following 26 titles (14 of which have been invited), the competition section is almost completed. You'll notice the kid with wings flick Ricky by Francois Ozon that we reported on earlier. Also having it's world premier is Mitchell Lichtenstein's (Teeth) newest film Happy Tears which sounds nothing it's predecessor (a genre piece) as it's a family drama.
You can check out the list after the break.
Competition (some out)
Cheri UK
By Stephen Frears (The Queen, Dangerous Liaisons)
With Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones
World premiere
Darbareye Elly (About Elly) Iran
By Asghar Farhadi (Fireworks Wednesday)
With Golshifteh Farahani, Taraneh Alidousti, Mani Haghighi
World premiere
Deutschland 09 Germany - Out of Competition
Compilation film by Fatih Akin, Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker, Sylke Enders, Dominik Graf, Romuald Karmakar, Nicolette Krebitz, Isabelle Stever, Hans Steinbichler, Hans Weingartner, Christoph Hochhäusler, Dani Levy and Angela Schanelec
World...
You can check out the list after the break.
Competition (some out)
Cheri UK
By Stephen Frears (The Queen, Dangerous Liaisons)
With Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones
World premiere
Darbareye Elly (About Elly) Iran
By Asghar Farhadi (Fireworks Wednesday)
With Golshifteh Farahani, Taraneh Alidousti, Mani Haghighi
World premiere
Deutschland 09 Germany - Out of Competition
Compilation film by Fatih Akin, Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker, Sylke Enders, Dominik Graf, Romuald Karmakar, Nicolette Krebitz, Isabelle Stever, Hans Steinbichler, Hans Weingartner, Christoph Hochhäusler, Dani Levy and Angela Schanelec
World...
- 1/15/2009
- QuietEarth.us
Berlin -- Stephen Frears' period epic "Cheri," rap biopic "Notorious" and the omnibus project "Deutschland 09," featuring a who's who of German directing talent, have made the cut for next month's Berlin International Film Festival.
As the Berlinale rushes to close its competition lineup, director Dieter Kosslick has secured several high-profile titles for the race for the 2009 Golden Bear.
These include Francois Ozon's "Ricky"; "Storm," from German art house favorite Hans-Christian Schmid ("Requiem"); and "Happy Tears," Michael Lichtenstein's hotly-anticipated follow up to his breakthrough debut, "Teeth."
The fresh faces will be joined by several old masters including Andrzej Wajda, who returns to Berlin with "Sweet Rush"; Bertrand Tavernier, whose Civil War drama "In the Electric Mist," starring Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman, will have its world premiere in Berlin; and Costa-Gavras, who will close the festival with his out-of-competition entry "Eden Is West."
Other competition titles include Danish director Annette K.
As the Berlinale rushes to close its competition lineup, director Dieter Kosslick has secured several high-profile titles for the race for the 2009 Golden Bear.
These include Francois Ozon's "Ricky"; "Storm," from German art house favorite Hans-Christian Schmid ("Requiem"); and "Happy Tears," Michael Lichtenstein's hotly-anticipated follow up to his breakthrough debut, "Teeth."
The fresh faces will be joined by several old masters including Andrzej Wajda, who returns to Berlin with "Sweet Rush"; Bertrand Tavernier, whose Civil War drama "In the Electric Mist," starring Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman, will have its world premiere in Berlin; and Costa-Gavras, who will close the festival with his out-of-competition entry "Eden Is West."
Other competition titles include Danish director Annette K.
- 1/15/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- The jury composed of Walter Carvalho, Saverio Costanzo, Irène Jacob, Jia Zhang-ke, Romuald Karmakar and Bruno Todeschini gave out a bunch of leopards on the weekend. Masahiro Kobayashi (see pic above) won the Golden Leopard for his film Ai no yokan (The Rebirth). Best Director was awarded to Capitaine Achab by Philippe Ramos (France) and the Special Jury Prize went to Memories (Jeonju Digital Project 2007) by Pedro Costa, Harun Farocki and Eugène Green. Spanish actress Carmen Maura and the French actor Michel Piccoli both received an Excellence Award (Michel Piccoli also received the prize for best actor in Sous les toits de Paris, joint winner was Michele Venitucci in Fuori dalle corde). And finally (and not surprisingly), Death at a Funeral (the Brit comedy by Frank Oz) won the audience award – this making it the 5th or 6th time that it has walked away from an international festival with such honors.
- 8/13/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- Ioncinema.com presents: Best of Fests53rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen When: May 3rd to 8th, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('May 3, 2007'); Where: Oberhausen, Germany Official Website: http://www.kurzfilmtage.de/What: In the course of more than five decades, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen has become one of the world's most respected film events - a place where filmmakers and artists such as Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Roman Polanski, Alexander Kluge and Werner Herzog, and more recently Ulrike Ottinger, Romuald Karmakar, Pipilotti Rist, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and François Ozon have presented their first films. Up until today, the Festival continues its tradition of launching up and coming filmmakers and setting trends - whether it's the early recognition of short videos, the support of music videos, the exploration of new digital formats or its openness for the interaction between art and the short form. Due to its unconventional view of short film,
- 4/30/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Nightsongs" (Die Nacht Singt Ihre Lieder) is a spectacularly bad movie. Based on a Norwegian play by Jon Fosse that seldom leaves an apartment living room, Romuald Karmakar's film is essentially a 95-minute quarrel between a young couple in a disintegrating marriage. When the movie's first line is "I can't take it anymore", you have nowhere to go but into a downward spiral of repetitious dialogue, bitter recriminations and abject misery. Even festival directors will shy away from booking this house-emptier.
A young couple lives in Berlin's Mitte district, where old and new collide in a postmodern hodgepodge. The woman (newcomer Anne Ratte-Polle) has just had a baby but still wants to go nightclubbing, see friends and enjoy life. The man (Frank Giering, a dynamic actor handcuffed here by a role of complete inertia) lies on a sofa and reads all day. Depressed by continual rejections of his writing from publishers, he has retreated into an agoraphobic stupor.
She harangues him, and he answers in monosyllables. You get the feeling they have this fight daily. He only displays energy when he suspects her of infidelity. He turns out not to be wrong as a third-act entrance by one Baste (Sebastian Schipper) makes clear. ("You're still probably the father," Baste comforts the husband.)
Ultimately, the woman can't bring herself to leave. She says she will miss her kitchen pots. Yes, she actually says that.
Some in the film's festival debut audience took much of this to be an intentional comedy. But director Karmakar (who adapted by play with Martin Rosenfeldt) and his cast lay too much stress on the angst-ridden drama and bitter words for this notion to be fully persuasive. Celebrated cinematographer Fred Schuler's camera glares steadily at the forlorn characters, as even the walls appear to close in on them, driving them further into despair.
Marthe Keller, always a welcome presence onscreen, turns up briefly as the man's mother in a sequence designed to drive home the point that even his parents can barely stand him. Long before the end, one has grown convinced that these two deserve one another.
BERLIN -- "Nightsongs" (Die Nacht Singt Ihre Lieder) is a spectacularly bad movie. Based on a Norwegian play by Jon Fosse that seldom leaves an apartment living room, Romuald Karmakar's film is essentially a 95-minute quarrel between a young couple in a disintegrating marriage. When the movie's first line is "I can't take it anymore", you have nowhere to go but into a downward spiral of repetitious dialogue, bitter recriminations and abject misery. Even festival directors will shy away from booking this house-emptier.
A young couple lives in Berlin's Mitte district, where old and new collide in a postmodern hodgepodge. The woman (newcomer Anne Ratte-Polle) has just had a baby but still wants to go nightclubbing, see friends and enjoy life. The man (Frank Giering, a dynamic actor handcuffed here by a role of complete inertia) lies on a sofa and reads all day. Depressed by continual rejections of his writing from publishers, he has retreated into an agoraphobic stupor.
She harangues him, and he answers in monosyllables. You get the feeling they have this fight daily. He only displays energy when he suspects her of infidelity. He turns out not to be wrong as a third-act entrance by one Baste (Sebastian Schipper) makes clear. ("You're still probably the father," Baste comforts the husband.)
Ultimately, the woman can't bring herself to leave. She says she will miss her kitchen pots. Yes, she actually says that.
Some in the film's festival debut audience took much of this to be an intentional comedy. But director Karmakar (who adapted by play with Martin Rosenfeldt) and his cast lay too much stress on the angst-ridden drama and bitter words for this notion to be fully persuasive. Celebrated cinematographer Fred Schuler's camera glares steadily at the forlorn characters, as even the walls appear to close in on them, driving them further into despair.
Marthe Keller, always a welcome presence onscreen, turns up briefly as the man's mother in a sequence designed to drive home the point that even his parents can barely stand him. Long before the end, one has grown convinced that these two deserve one another.
COLOGNE, Germany -- Peter Herrmann, one of the producers behind Caroline Link's Oscar-winning "Nowhere in Africa", said Friday that he has resigned from "Nowhere" production house MTM to set up his own company -- Peter Herrmann Filmproduktion. Herrmann, together with producers Andreas Bareiss and Gloria Burkert, set up MTM in 1994 and quickly established the company as one of Germany's leading art house movie production houses. In addition to "Nowhere", which won the best foreign film Oscar in 2003, Herrmann co-produced such high-profile German titles as Romuald Karmakar's "Deathmaker", Roland Suso Richter's "A Handful of Grass" and "Fat World" from Jan Schutte.
- 3/27/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Nightsongs" (Die Nacht Singt Ihre Lieder) is a spectacularly bad movie. Based on a Norwegian play by Jon Fosse that seldom leaves an apartment living room, Romuald Karmakar's film is essentially a 95-minute quarrel between a young couple in a disintegrating marriage. When the movie's first line is "I can't take it anymore", you have nowhere to go but into a downward spiral of repetitious dialogue, bitter recriminations and abject misery. Even festival directors will shy away from booking this house-emptier.
A young couple lives in Berlin's Mitte district, where old and new collide in a postmodern hodgepodge. The woman (newcomer Anne Ratte-Polle) has just had a baby but still wants to go nightclubbing, see friends and enjoy life. The man (Frank Giering, a dynamic actor handcuffed here by a role of complete inertia) lies on a sofa and reads all day. Depressed by continual rejections of his writing from publishers, he has retreated into an agoraphobic stupor.
She harangues him, and he answers in monosyllables. You get the feeling they have this fight daily. He only displays energy when he suspects her of infidelity. He turns out not to be wrong as a third-act entrance by one Baste (Sebastian Schipper) makes clear. ("You're still probably the father," Baste comforts the husband.)
Ultimately, the woman can't bring herself to leave. She says she will miss her kitchen pots. Yes, she actually says that.
Some in the film's festival debut audience took much of this to be an intentional comedy. But director Karmakar (who adapted by play with Martin Rosenfeldt) and his cast lay too much stress on the angst-ridden drama and bitter words for this notion to be fully persuasive. Celebrated cinematographer Fred Schuler's camera glares steadily at the forlorn characters, as even the walls appear to close in on them, driving them further into despair.
Marthe Keller, always a welcome presence onscreen, turns up briefly as the man's mother in a sequence designed to drive home the point that even his parents can barely stand him. Long before the end, one has grown convinced that these two deserve one another.
BERLIN -- "Nightsongs" (Die Nacht Singt Ihre Lieder) is a spectacularly bad movie. Based on a Norwegian play by Jon Fosse that seldom leaves an apartment living room, Romuald Karmakar's film is essentially a 95-minute quarrel between a young couple in a disintegrating marriage. When the movie's first line is "I can't take it anymore", you have nowhere to go but into a downward spiral of repetitious dialogue, bitter recriminations and abject misery. Even festival directors will shy away from booking this house-emptier.
A young couple lives in Berlin's Mitte district, where old and new collide in a postmodern hodgepodge. The woman (newcomer Anne Ratte-Polle) has just had a baby but still wants to go nightclubbing, see friends and enjoy life. The man (Frank Giering, a dynamic actor handcuffed here by a role of complete inertia) lies on a sofa and reads all day. Depressed by continual rejections of his writing from publishers, he has retreated into an agoraphobic stupor.
She harangues him, and he answers in monosyllables. You get the feeling they have this fight daily. He only displays energy when he suspects her of infidelity. He turns out not to be wrong as a third-act entrance by one Baste (Sebastian Schipper) makes clear. ("You're still probably the father," Baste comforts the husband.)
Ultimately, the woman can't bring herself to leave. She says she will miss her kitchen pots. Yes, she actually says that.
Some in the film's festival debut audience took much of this to be an intentional comedy. But director Karmakar (who adapted by play with Martin Rosenfeldt) and his cast lay too much stress on the angst-ridden drama and bitter words for this notion to be fully persuasive. Celebrated cinematographer Fred Schuler's camera glares steadily at the forlorn characters, as even the walls appear to close in on them, driving them further into despair.
Marthe Keller, always a welcome presence onscreen, turns up briefly as the man's mother in a sequence designed to drive home the point that even his parents can barely stand him. Long before the end, one has grown convinced that these two deserve one another.
- 2/12/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- International politics and local social issues dominate the lineup at this year's Dokumente, the nonfiction section of the Berlin International Film Festival's Panorama sidebar, organizers said Thursday. The Dokumente slate touches on issues from the homeless in Los Angeles (Madeleine Farley's Trollywood) and political and religious transformation in Iran (Mitra Farahani's Zohre & Manouchehr) to German director Romuald Karmakar's visit to a forgotten Nazi concentration camp in Poland in Land of Annihilation. Karmakar's latest feature film, Nightsongs, will screen in competition in Berlin. The war in Iraq, a front-and-center issue at last year's Berlin festival, gave birth to Freedom2Speak, an organization of German filmmakers who recorded public protests and private opposition to the conflict. The movement went on the road to the Istanbul and Cannes film festivals, documenting the war's aftermath. The result, Freedom2Speak V.2.0, will screen in the Panorama's Dokumente this year.
- 1/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE -- Ron Howard's dark western The Missing is one of the early selections for competition at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival, scheduled to kick off in February next year, organizers said Monday. The film, which stars Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones, was one of five competition entries announced by Berlin Festival director Dieter Kosslick. Also in the running for the 2004 Golden Bear will be Nightsongs, from German director Romuald Karmakar; Your Next Life, from Spain's Manuel Gutierrez; Croatian entry Witnesses, directed by Vinko Bresan; and In Your Hands from Danish helmer Annette K. Olesen. "[The entries] range from tragic love story to political psychodrama, from historical thriller to intimate family saga," Kosslick said, adding that the combination of Oscar-winning director Howard and art house favorites such as Gutierrez and Karmakar were a guarantee for "a versatile program, both in theme and style."...
- 12/1/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Financially troubled Studio Babelsberg has secured a new lease on life, revealing Tuesday that the German film studio has signed contracts for the production of three new feature films at its Potsdam-based complex. Babelsberg said the films shooting at the studio will be Herr Lehmann, a new comedy from Sun Alley director Leander Haussmann; Die Frauen von der Rosenstrasse (The Woman From Rosenstrasse), Margarethe von Trotta's 1940s period piece; and Die Nacht Singt Ihre Lieder (The Night Sings Their Songs), a new drama from director Romuald Karmakar (Manila, Deathmaker). The news comes as Babelsberg parent Vivendi Universal signaled that it intends to keep the German studio running despite rumors that Vivendi Uni is considering selling off Babelsberg to pay down debt.
- 10/2/2002
- 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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