Captain Kidd's Kids (Hal Roach, 1919)

Many of Harold Lloyd's early short films are particularly unfunny. This one also relies on slapstick and kickass-comedy.
Lloyd play a bachelor, who had a rather wild party. His coming mother-in-law hears from this and cancels the wedding. Both mother and daughter will travel to the Canary Islands. Lloyd follows them and dreams that he is entangled in piracy.
4/10

 

海街diary ([Umimachi Diary] Our Little Sister, 2015, Hirokazu Kore-eda]

Thanks to mr. Koreeda we know Japanese everyday routines better. Our Little Sister has not much of a plot, but enjoys describing the rituals in a middleclass Japanese households. The film is about three sisters who live by themselves. Their father left them many years ago for another woman. Now he is dead and they find out that they have a little sister. They ask her, if she wants to live with them. Slowly she becomes a part of their household. We follow their lives and routines in a constant flow. Charming.
7/10

The Soul Of Youth (1920, William Desmond Taylor)

Change Before Going Productions is a channel on Youtube for hardcore fans of silent movies. Every item, I have seen on this channel was without any sound. This can be hard, but it is, of course, also a question of getting used to it. However, even in silent tines, films were never performed in silence.But sometimes we have to join the purists.
William Desmond Taylor is an interesting historical figure, as the causes of his death were never solved. He became thus a main protagonist of Hollywood Babylon. Historians say, that his output has been neglected, without justification.
I never heard of Taylor, let alone seen any of his films. The Soul Soul of Youth is somewhat sentimental social drama. Ed is an unwanted child. His mother sells the baby to Maggie. She is the mistress of  Pete Morano, a corrupt politician. Maggie tries to make him believe that he is the father of the boy. As Moranao does not accept the lie, Ed is transferred to an orphanage. - Ed has a loveless childhood. Later he flees from the orphanage. He steals food from the household of the Hamiltons. They see a potential in him and try to give him a chance in life. With the help of Ed, Hamilton can silent Moreno, his opponent for the run of the post of he mayor.
Yes, the script is the major problem of this film. The style is erratic and filled with plot holes. Another problem is the preachy tone of the tale. But nevertheless. the film is still very watchable. There is first of all the dynamic editing and - which was new for me - the proper dynamics of the intertitles which give this film a narrative drive that is enjoyable even today.
8/10

Logan Lucky (2017, Steven Soderbergh)

While I am lazy (somewhat like a world champion in procrastination) my poor blog seems to be orphaned, again - again. I have however seen plenty of films since the beginning of this year, actually already more than 100. It is just the reflection part that is dramatically behind.
Today I watched Logan Lucky by Soderbergh. After some years of self-imposed retirement from the screen, he returned with this movie. Well, there is nothing daring, maybe not even original about it. On the other hand it is pure entertainment in this hillbilly Oceans 7/11 (as it is called in the film).
The Logan brothers are not particularly lucky. Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) gets sacked from his work, because he walks with a limp. Clyde Logan (Adam Driver - marvelous) lost one hand in Iraq ans now makes a living as one-handed bartender. While Jimmy devises a scheme to rob money from the NASCAR race, this plan has only one weakness. They need Joe Bang (I liked  for once Daniel Craig - as bottle-blond bully), but he is (as he puts it) in-car-ce-rated. Jimmy invents a scheme to get him out of prison and back again. It is also a condition of Bang that his dumb-witted brothers Sam and Fish be a part of the plan.
The plan of the hillbillies meets a series of drawbacks and failures, but they manage to get out of every predicament. The end seems to confirm the New Age slogan: a defeat is turned into victory.
Soderbergh never overdoes anything.On the negative side this could be seen as "playing safe", but it doesn't really matter very much, as this is pure entertainment.
8/10

Seth McFarlane has indeed many faces

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Palermo oder Wolfsburg (Werner Schroeter, 1980)

Werner Schroeters beinah drei Stunden dauernder Film hat drei Akte und eine deutliche Absicht. Wenn man sie merkt, wird man verstimmt.
Der erste Akt spielt auf Sizilien. Das Dorf, in dem Nicola lebt, ist von schrulligen, aber liebenswerten Typen bevölkert. Sie singen innig, wenn auch ohne Talent, Arien von Bellini und Pacini. Ja, es herrscht Elend, aber es ist gewissermaßen eine malerische Armut. Ja, es gibt auch patriarchalische Strukturen, selbst Ausbeutung, doch alles wird lieblich vom Meer umspült und von der strahlenden Sonne des Südens bescheint. Nicola hat von Deutschland gehört und den Möglichkeiten, die sich den Tüchtigen dort bieten. Er trifft eine wichtige Entscheidung: er will sein Glück in Deutschland versuchen.
Im zweiten Akt trifft Nicola in Deutschland ein. Seine erste Begegnung mit einem Deutschen verläuft schroff. Ein Bahnbeamter weist ihn zurecht: "das Überschreiten" der Gleise sei verboten. Nicola versteht es nicht, er hat überhaupt Probleme, sich die deutsche deutsche Sprache anzueignen. Sein Kontakt ist mit einer Deutschen verheiratet, einem mannhaften Weib mit der Hoheit über die Wohnung. Nicola wird ein Sofa verwehrt. Auch dass der Verwandte ihm noch 20 Mark mitgibt, wird als nicht erforderliche Verschwendung angesehen. Bald trifft Nicola ein deutsches Mädchen und eine Gastwirtin aus seinem Heimatland. Die Italienerin hilft ihm, sich zurechtzufinden, das Mädchen benutzt ihn, um ihre Freunde aufzustacheln. Nicola, der naive Bube aus dem Süden, hält sie für seine Freundin, gibt in einem Brief in die Heimat an, sie sei seine Freundin. Die Taktik des Mädchens Brigitte ist erfolgreich. Nach einem Talentwettbewerb ersticht Nicola seine Nebenbuhler.
Der dritte Akt findet im Gericht statt. Der Prozess wird als sprachliche Parodie juristischer Sprachverwendung aufgezogen und hat manche surrealistische Komponenten. Anstatt Opfer wird von den "zukünftigen Toten" gesprochen. Das Opfer ist - scheint es - Nicola, der sich nicht bewusst ist, eine kriminelle Handlung begangen zu haben. In seinem Heimatland hat man eben immer ein Messer dabei. Heute würde man das Wort "multikulturell" in die Debatte werfen.
Schroeters Film gilt als Klassiker, ist aber bereits veraltet. Die Deutschen werden durchgehend als hochmütige Stinkstiefel mit rassistischen Anschauungen gezeigt. Differenzierungen finden nicht statt. Wenn man im dunklen Deutschland dann doch mal singt, dann den Schlager "Zwei kleine Italiener", der beinah zur rassistischen Hymne stilisiert wird.
Ich möchte gerne mehr deutsche Filme sehen, doch warum müssen sie entweder belanglos oder so entsetzlich langweilig sein.
4/10