Date: 20 April 2008 07:25:52
Thanks to dear friends A and F who took me out for a belated birthday lunch to Georges on King Street Wharf. A wonderful meal, made all the more wonderful by the great company of two good friends. It had been far too long since we caught up: I hope we can catch up soon again.
Not sure if I am seeing really great movies or whether I am just easily pleased [or both!], but I have loved the two films I have seen so far at the Festival of German Films. Absolutely loved them.
I went in with high hopes to The Edge of Heaven [Auf der anderen Seite], which is always a bit dangerous, but they were met. If you get the chance to see this film -- please do so. I found it an emotionally exhausting film, extremely emotionally exhausting, but I loved it as I was so involved in the characters' lives. Issues of love, life, death, family, friendship, responsibility and more are tackled, successfully I think, in this film: it is truly amazing what is covered in the relatively short time. Also amazing is the way the six main characters' lives interact between events in Turkey and events in Germany. I was also impressed with the way that the future, at least for the characters who are still alive [cue emotional distress], was left open: you can wonder, and ponder, where their lives went. Exhausting emotionally, but I found it very, very satisfying.
A very different film is Reclaim Your Brain [Free Rainer - Dein Fernseher lügt]. "Your television lies" indeed, and that is a great subtitle to the film. I will admit the start of the film almost lost me -- and had me wondering if I chose the wrong film to see: fast and reckless driving, drug-taking...yes, I know it goes on but it kinds of put me off. However, once the main premise of the movie got going, I was hooked. We open with the main character [played by the fantastic Moritz Bleibtreu: he is a superb actor] who is involved in a very much shoot-for-the-bottom-of-the-barrel TV station. I won't spoil it by telling you some of the concepts for reality TV programmes -- they have to be seen to be believed, and they make you roar laughing: as well as being rather concerned that some studio exec may now want to do them! After an incident leaves him close to death, his mood changes and he sets out to both prove the ratings system is corrupt and then to actually hack into and change the ratings system to boost viewing of high quality programmes. He does this with a motley group, including the wonderful Elsa Sophie Gambar -- not sure if she is new to the acting scene: I will have to look out for more movies with her in them. It is completely absurd, yet at the same time so wonderful. And one of the premises, that if you feed people junk they will happily accept and get used to it, is explored in some depth and with some seriousness -- among the wondrous humour. I am not going to come across all high and mighty: I admit to watching junk TV at times. But perhaps this is at least question to us such, "What would we like on TV?" and "What may happen if we did change what was available?" But I was also just happy to sit back for a very enjoyable ride.