Hundstage (2001, Ulrich Seidl)

Die Filme von Seidl sind wie Vergrößerungsgläser, die auf die kleinbürgerliche Befindlichkeit gerichtet werden. Ich habe vorher von ihm Paradies: Hoffnung gesehen, der den Fokus auf fette Kinder richtet, während sich die Mutter auf Sextourismus nach Afrika begibt.
Verglichen mit dem Film haben wir hier eine Menagerie von Seltsamkeiten. Da ist der Rentner, der Dosen abwiegt und bei Unstimmigkeiten im Supermarkt Stunk macht. Mit seiner Haushälterin, die ihm Schweinsbraten zubereitet und auch als Objekt der Begierde fungiert,
Da ist die offenbar geistesgestörte Anhalterin, die ziellos darum bittet, ein Stück mitgenommen zu werden und dann ihre Fahrer mit grenzüberschreitenden Fragen zutextet (die großartige Maria Hofstätter).
Da ist der Verkäufer von Alarmanlagen, der Häuser sichern will, wo es ohnehin nichts zu stehlen gibt.
Da ist das Mädchen, das vom Freund geprügelt wird, weil sich in der Diskothek die Männer nach ihr umdrehen.
Da ist Grauheit, Tristesse, Schollenbindung. Die Städte sind selbst bei hellstem Sonnenschein wie bewölkt. Da sind Straßen, aber kein Ausweg. Da sind Autobahnen ohne Abfahrt. Leben knapp oberhalb der vegetativen Grenze, ohne auch nur einen Funken auf Hoffnung. Und das Ganze ist auch noch unterhaltsam.
8/10

Der Anhalterin ist nie fad.

Sommerfrische in Osterreich

Auch im hohen Alter ist die Erotik noch wichtig im Leben.

Die Anhalterin redet gerne, viel, zusammenhanglos und vor allem hemmungslos.

Vororte der Hölle

Klovn (2010, Mikkel Nørgaard)

Nu forstår jeg, hvorfor Danmark har brug for minus 3 på sin karakterskala. Det er for at vurdere film som disse på retfærdig vis, fordi 'nul' er allerede en overvurdering.
Det er en lang, klam pinlig affære med vulgære vittigheder om alt under og over bæltestedet. Frank og Caspar skal på "tour de fisse" i det jyske. Mest Caspar, men han overvurderer sit erotiske potentiale. Frank tager med drengen Bo - fordi han vil bevise sit farpotentiale - på sexturisme i Jylland. Det med fisse kommer ikke rigtig i gang, men derimod står pinligheder i kø.
Det er provokerende eller grænseoverskridende at grine af små tissemænd - det er ligegyldigt og banal og lige så udfordrende som en 4-årig som siger 'prut' ved middagsbordet.
Det er heller ikke morsomt at se  Caspar flygte nøgent fra en vild gymnasieklasse eller overvære Frank tulle rundt i sine underhylere.  Dette ækle makværk blev nomineret til at være Danmarks bedste film. Dette lort blev en af de mest sete danske film ... tankevækkende...
 0.125 for at holde den lastrinære  tone hele vejen igennnen.

Caspars flugt over Juelsø i bare røv --bunden er endnu ikke nået

Enden er slet ikke nået endnu -- det kan altid blive være.

Frank skal løbe omkring i underbukser - formentligt endnu en humørbombe. Filmen kender ingen bundgrænse; det kan altid blive værre.

Lemming (2005, Dominik Moll)

When reading reviews one thin strikes me: the intellectuals are at a dead end when they don't know which label to put on a film. This one could fit in the drawer psycho-thriller.
Lemming is a bit like Ozon's Sitcom, where a rodent triggers the events that are about to follow. But maybe it is also a horror movie, since some of the trickier points of the plot can be explained by introduc9ng possession or metempsychosis.
So what is going on:
Alain is an engineer for home equipment. One evening his boss and his wife invite themselves to their new home. The boss' wife, Bénédicte, is behaving rather strangely and the evening ends in a fiasco. Alain later repairs  a tube and finds a strange rodent.
At work Bénédicte tries to seduce Alain, but he refuses. Bénédicte then again shows up at Alain's home and talks some rubbish to Alain's wife, Alice, and then commits suicide.
It seems that Bénédicte's spirit is haunting Alice and seeking revenge on her husband. When the revenge is done, the idyll and marital bliss returns to the life of Alain and Alice.
This is a psychological thriller. There is a flowing border between reality and fantasy, but I never got really captivated. There are great performances, but the script   remains basically uninteresting.
6/10

Alain agt work

Bénédicte is behaving likea sociopath.

A lemming in the pipe

Bénédicte as seducer? Or is ot Alice?

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

となりのトトロ (1988, My Neighbor Totoro, Hayao Miyazaki)

This is a film full of poetry. I didn't know before that Totoro is a favorite creature of Japanese children. This film is purely in the romantic mood, when the realm of fantasy is mingling with the realm of reality. Children can live in both realms, but this world is locked for those who have barred the immediate access to poetry with intellect.
Satsuki and Mei are daughters  of a university professor.  They move to a place in the country side to be closer to the hospital where mother is recovering. At that place strange creatures are dwelling everywhere.  Among them is Totoro. The little girl can see, but he remains invisible to those who have barred their access to poetry. The film ends in a vision with Totoro present, although invible.
Yes, this film is nice, but I still like the late Miyazaki better - maybe in alter films he drifts more to realism?
6/10

Dad in bath tub with under age daughters - our Freudian dirty minds are alarmed

Fun trip with daddy

Totoro seems to be sleepy

The Cat Bus is reliabe

Cat Bus -- what a brilliany invention!

Fair Game (2010, Doug Liman)

The presidency of Bush fils was probably the most incompetent government the USA ever has seen. And while even bigger nincompoops are waiting in the backdrop, waiting to be elected by intellectually under-exposed Yankees,  the Americans and even more the rest of the world are still licking the wounds after that major desaster.
This film puts a mosaic brick to that enormous web of lies that to the invasion of Iraq. Somebody claims that tubes have been transported from Niger to Iraq and that these tubes are fit for nuclear weapons. This claim cannot be affirmed, even experts say that those tubes, if they ever existed, wouldn't be suitable for nuclear weapons. But - Goebbels already taught this - a lie needs to be restated many times and then eventually it will be the truth. Same in this case: they believe what they want to believe.
In Fair Game a diplomat who knows that the claims about nuclear weapons are wrong, publishes his knowledge in the New York Times. The White House discredits him as busybody and declares that his wife is a second-rate agent for the CIA. This disclosure has, of course, personal and professional consequences. Her contacts in Iraq are in danger; she is fired from the Agency. This part of the movie works less convincingly, at least for me.
Even though details of the actual incidents (Plame Affair, the convicted criminal Scotter Libby, Chief of Staff to Dickhead Cheney etc.) are irrelevant, as this movie can serve as a  lesson of what might happen, when politicians get too drunk with their power).
6/10

Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) in a reflective mood

Valerie Plame (Naomie Watts) doing agent's work

And why are Bush II, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and the rest of the bunch still in freedom?

Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu? (2014, Philippe de Chauveron)

This harmless comedy has been the victim of censorship, could anyone believe it? The politburo of the intellectuals has spoken and it was not amused. Those dumb asses declared that this film "celebrates" racial stereotypes -- nothing could be more far away from the truth. Can't those people see? What have they seen?
This film makes fun of stereotypes. There is no good race or bad race in this movie. Everybody gets their share, nobody is left out. I am flabbergasted - how can anybody think that  anybody would identify with any of the various prejudices that are thrown into the debate and dismantled right away? The target of this movie is to make you laugh (or at least smile) at all those preconceptions.
Actually this is a charming movie and it deals with the person beyond the skin and beyond one's origin.  This is achieved in elegant French style (with a pinch of Ozon). The only weak point is the lack of surprising turns and twists in the plot.

The USA had the series outsourced (2010/11). This series had a similar conception: make fun of any preconceived idea and show that basically all humans are alike. The arbiters of good taste managed to take it off the screen after one season. Protests from viewers didn't help: NBC gave in to PC dictatorship.
Ideologists with their heads full of cement unfortunately have the power to dictate their tastes on the community. Good Bye to Free Speech, Good Bye to Freedom of Art.

If I would judge it as film only, I might give it a 6/10, but as this is a case of censorship, I have to give it a full 10/10.

The three sons in law have individual characteristics; it's difficult to see individual traces in the daughters. Is this racist? Bullshit!

Post-colonial rage in the 21st century

The daughters of Monsieur Verneuil are at best pretty decorations

The spirit of Christmas arrives late.

Letters to Juliet (2010, Gary Winick)

I heard somewhere about this film and  so I started to watch without checking anything before - a major error. Or maybe I saw this because I try to watch everything that has Gael Gabriel Benal in it.
A couple travels to Italy - yes, to Italy and that is already a topos. Something will happen. If they are distant, they  may get close. If they are, they may find another love object.
The couple is Sophie and Victor. Once in Italy they spend a lot of time for themselves. Then we need Fate or Chance. Sophie finds a letter from 1957, written to the fictional Juliet of Verona. Yes, the one with Romeo. Appears Clair who wrote that letter and who now wants to find the lover she left 5o years ago. There are many people by the name of Lorenzo Bartolini and so we spend a lot of time looking for Mister Right. Claire brought Charlie, Claire's handsome grandson. At first it appears  that they don't get along well, but of course viewers of romantic fiction know that this will change: Victor gets married to his restaurant, Sophie and Charlie become a couple, and of course, they find the right Lorenzo Bartokini. And also they find their happiness at  last.
All this is so conventional that you can tell the story line instantly. No surprises, no twists, no turns. Even more disappointing is that the director decided to reduce the male protagonists to pretty faces. Chick flick at its worst.
1,5/10

In this case the way to Victor's heart doesn't go through his stomach.

Victor is alowed to have ambition, but must rest conventionally emotionless

There is more life in grandmother than grandson

Meet Mister Lorenzo Bartolini, grandson

Accepts at last that he has a heart and love interest - he could have given a convincing performance in a vampire saga.

悪の教典 (2012, Lesson of the Evil, Takashi Miike)

I have written about another film by this director before. Gozu was a strange movie with disgusting, disturbing, at times surrealist pictures. Compared with that story, this film starts quite realistically. A new teacher arrives at school. It seems to be my fate to see movies with the same plot situation at the same time (thus same as Monsieur Lazhar or Fack ju Göthe).  Everybody loves this new teacher. The girls have a crush on him. But then strange things happen. The physics teacher finds out that at the former school of this teacher have been several strnge suicides. They were labelled as the Werther-Effect, thus copycat suicides.
Then the body of that teacher is found. He has chosen to take his life. Another boy is missing. In the end we find out that friendly Mister Hasumi is a sociopath killer. He ends to slaughter everybody in school. This slasher part is less successful than the first part and far too long for my liking. Hasumi is quite systematic and has a tally procedure for his shootings. It surprises me that he kills everybody with just one shotgun without reloading.
Twice Miike leaves the level realism when he lets the teacher talk to the shotgun. The gun is lacking more enthusiasm from the teacher's side.
The director tries to give the film greater depth by interweaving some references to Norse mythology, particularly Odin's ravens. Hasumi will then say that God ordered him to exterminate Evil. And a pupil will say that he is preparing his next "game", thus giving a reference to Haneke.
What is the point of this? Nothing. Those who want shooting will hate the first part, those who like character development and a good plot will hate the second part. I hated the second part.
4/10

Hasumi has an eye on everything

Hasumi has also admireers

Westwind (2011, Robert Thalheim)

Ich wohne also nicht mehr in Deutschland und deshalb ist es nicht immer leicht herauszufinden, was ein Kinofilm und was "bloß" Fernsehfilm war. Dieser lief also in den Kinos und deshalb will ich ihn hier erwähnen.
Dies ist ein eindringlicher Film, weil er von Politik und der deutschen Teilung handelt ohne politisch zu sein. Das Drama spielt ausschließlich auf der persönlichen Ebene.
Doreen und Isabel sind Spitzensportlerinnen der DDR, Arne und Nico Touristen aus dem Westen. Sie sind einfach nur sie selbst und nicht Vertreter eines Blocks. Sie begegnen einander auf menschlicher Ebene, auf gleicher Aughenhöhe. Das muß diesen Film auch für Jugendliche attraktiv machen, die diese Zeit aktiv nicht mehr miterlebt haben.
Gelungene Vergegenwärtigung der deutschen Geschichte.
8/10

Unautorisierte Westkontakte von Spitzensportlerinnen sind unerwünscht

Spitzelsystem in Funktion - so perfekt wie die Wärter es wünschen

Fri os fra det onde (2009, Ole Bornedal)

En dansk film giver mig lejlighed til at skrive noget på dansk.
Hvad kan man sige om denne film? På den ene side er den imponerende, på den anden side er det også en forfærdelig hetsfilm. Lad os tage den forfra.
Der er Johannes som flytter tilbage til sin landsby og sine forældrenes gård. Der er meget der skal laves og Alain, en flygtning from den bosniske borgerkrig hjælper ham. Lars er en dygtig sagfører, men nu søger han altså tilbage til rødderne. Han har en bror som er en født loser, permanent alkoholiseret, men med stærke meninger om sig selv. Han han lige gjort sin kæreste gravid, men det gør hans fremtid heller ikke lysere. Og så boller hans kæreste udenom. Han er lastbilchauffør og begår lige i staren af filmen et trafikdrab. Det lykkes ham at skubbe skylden over på Alain. Den drabtes mand har været i militæret og nu slår det klik for ham: ondskaben bryder løs. Lynchstemning. Johannes, det eneste gode menneske tilbage, prøver at beskytte Alain, men det bliver vanskeligt, når der er alle mod en. Ja, det bliver et blodbad.
Ja, filmen har altså to dele: eksposition og eksplosion. Jeg kunne lide første del så nogenlunde. Her er der gode karaktertegninger, men allerede med en tendens til at blive karikatur. En landsby på den jyske vestkyst, med "indestængt vrede" og konflikter som ridser i landsbyens idyl. - Anden del giver endeligt foder til dem der kom for at se en horrorfilm. Ingvar bliver for hurtigt en dæmonisk figur. Og medens vi ikke have grund til at tro at Alain ikke er velintegreret i landsbysamfundet, så kipper stemningen lynhurtigt. Hvorfor skal vi pludseligt acceptere at Alain bliver opfattet som neger for at understrege at han er anderledes?
Det onde er selvfølgeligt indeboende i landsbyboerne. Og dets udbrud er rent ud sagt latterligt, iscenesat som det var Night od the Living Dead. Ikke én eneste siger imod, alle falder for dæmonens stemme. Alle vil øve selvtægt. Det er en del af Bornedals dagsorden, at vise hvor racistisk dette samfund i bund og grund er. Og her bliver Fri os fra det onde en diffamerende hetsfilm. Det hjælper heller ikke at Bornedal instruerer den som en slags zombiefilm.
Også Johannes opdager bæstet i sin egen bryst, men i hans tilfælde blive aggressionen kanaliseret til det godes kamp mod det onde. Lasse Rimmer spiller dette skift ganske glimrende. Det var modig, men alligevel passende i hele konceptet, at undermåleren Lars bliver spillet af Jens Andersen, som var helten i dette årtusinds værste danske film Polle Fiction. Det er nok med vilje at Bornedal skaber en krydsreference til dette univers.
Kameraet er tildels godt nok, men landsbyen er aldelse drænet for farver. Jeg bryder mig ikke om landsbyer, men sådan noget har de stakkels mennesker der heller ikke fortjent.
4/10

Lars bliver meget tørstig på landevejen

Johannes og Alain graver sammen

Lars trænger til at få vasket hår