dottorepaulo

Although the actors are big names in German and Austrian cinema, the movie itself turned out to be not even suitable for TV. The actors do not act but stay in there everyday routine with a few eclectic gags added that will suit for provincial theaters but not for a piece from Friedrich Schiller that was written under pressing and awful social circumstances and certainly wanted to move its audience - a goal which this ??? clearly misses. The production design is desperately trying to be historic and therefore made up of a few old streets, candles and rags. This is simply not enough today. Kubrick would rotate in his grave. The photography exhausts itself in blue-moon-nights and a greasy warm candle light. It has no character and does not make up any atmosphere. It looks like a wannabe film student short movie. The sound design seems to be unable to work with nuances and sounds like a fifties-musketeer-drama. You can feel the Foley artist standing next to your ear. Leander Hausmann's previous film NVA was foreshadowing this piece of lame, unprepared and loveless theater adaption. Unfortunately, Hausmann doesn't seem to find his ability again and SONNENALLEE will stay his best movie so far. Especially painful is the sung soundtrack of Kim Franck and Hans Wader. It's a deep dig into the grave of seventies German "Liedermacher" (song maker) tradition which has no link to the topic of KABALE UND LIEBE and doesn't support anything in this movie. Leander, thanks for wasting a lot money and having fun for a few weeks.

I recently watched this movie in a newly made print with German subtitles. It has a brilliant photography that grasps the rotten streets of Newcastle, the seventies-style-drunken gangster's paradise and the well-curved bodies of the then state-of-the-art maidens. The D.O.P. Wolf Suschitzky sometimes completely shot with available light - this contributes very much to the qualities of this picture. It has an overall pale and unhealthy look along with deep and rich black due to the low-sensitive stock. Along with BULLITT which used the same techniques three years earlier, GET CARTER brought a new realistic and very violent approach to mafia movies. It completely skips all romanticism and Sicilian family kitsch. The protagonist is unlikeable and sleeps with virtually every woman appearing like drinking a cup of coffee. Bystanders get killed by him with astonishing and unnecessary consequence. Hughes uses advanced cutting techniques: to foreshadow a sex scene he inter-cuts the movement of a gear stick by a nice lady who is driving like a crazy race car driver with the following sex scene of Caine and her. He finishes the sequence with both sitting in the bed and smoking. Here the late sixties and their lust for such experiments come in. Therefore GET CARTER is a fine-balanced mixture between a violent worn out suburban realistic mood and the elegant and sexy elegance that is crucial for films like BULLITT or THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.

I recently watched this movie in a newly made print with German subtitles during an Austrian film festival which showed a retrospective of the work of Wolf Suschitzky, the D.O.P. of this movie. Though 95 years old, he was present and I asked him afterward about the superb quality of the picture with "the blacks as real blacks and the whites glaringly white". It was probably shot with English Ilford stock of low sensitivity. Suschitzky pointed out that the most important thing is the quality of the print material and how experienced labs can handle this. I recommend this movie for anyone seriously interested in black and white film work and for getting moody, well-lit images in a real naturalistic location. Suschitzky tried to avoid bare grays so the grain won't show and even under night conditions there are parts overexposed and therefore white. Overall this movie has a great speed made-up of daring images, a superb jazz soundtrack and fast editing. Fortunately, it doesn't have a hand-held look, every image is carefully lit and composed. It is an enjoyable journey into the live of a very nervous and hasty man who doesn't seem to get anything right and instead is digging into trouble deeper and deeper. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available on DVD right now so watch out for the cinema experience.

I don't like to add much to the comment of my predecessor. This movie is interesting because it features a very well made and elaborated cinematography which contributes much to overcome the script and acting shortages. The colors are well picked, the night exterior and interior scenes are unusually subtle lit for this time. The camera always gives room to the actors and dives into the action if necessary. The wheelchair camera in the hospital is something new for that time alongside the short lens action when the killer advances at the hospital stairs. Very contrasty and very colorful pictures that don't look like the usual big lamp lighting that was usual for the 70ies in Italy. The framing in the car-motorcycle-chasing scene is also far above what was state-of-the-art. Long lenses, big contrast variations and focus shifting give it the edge. Another HURRAY for the soundtrack: Stelvio Cipriani varies only one theme (schoolgirl variation, police/chasing variation) with great effect to it. This soundtrack is very typical for Cipriani and almost as masterful as the one for "Mark Il Poliziotto".

I spent much time in studying Italian police films of this era - and this one sticks out as one of the best. Unlike other Di Leo flicks - this one has a decent story, features B+ actors like Mario Adorf and Adolfo Celli (Mr. Largo in OO7's Thunderball), the editing is fast and rhythmic and it contains only one car chase but this one has it. The films owes its quality largely to the German-Italian actor Mario Adorf (already playing in one other Di Leo Film "Milano Calibro 9") - Adorf is witty, has a face with a thousand expressions and perfectly impersonates the change of small-town-pimp into a revenge-driven killing machine - without overdoing it. Unlike other films of this genre this one is tightly bound by a reasonable script, logical development of the characters and a rough, greasy camera-style. Editing is superb in timing, no frame is wasted for stupid dialogues or the typical 70ies mood shots (you see a scenery with someone walking and nothing happens). This film is perfect for exploring this genre.

The script is twisted and not exactly what you consider state-of-the-art in terms of European or American cinema. But it's Johnny To, so you know what you'll get. The cinematography is brilliant, the acting unfortunately mediocre, it isn't as intense as in Johnny To's last movie "Throwdown". But still I like this one better, for the Honk Kong pictures and the astonishing opening scene which was filmed uninterrupted for just about five minutes including camera elevations, camera entering appartments, a decent shoot out and a lot of 180° turns without any single cut. The staging of the action in the giant apartment building is tense and gives a disorientation that prepares you for any surprise. Gangsters on floor 9/C. Police on floor 8/B. But they need minutes to clash and one never knows what comes next. After short shootings everyone spreads in another direction and the situation is anything but clear. This is big cinema and gives a new idea how action and tension can be staged besides boring Hollywood standards. This movie owes greatly to the atmosphere of Hong Kong. Crowded streets, huge apartment blocks with the air conditions sticking out like giant bee hives, big limos... and not to forget all the different branches of HK police that always seem to quarrel with each other rather than fighting criminals. If anyone could explain the different branches of HK police and how they interact, feel free to send me an e-mail. There is no good and bad in this movie as the gangsters reveal sympathetic traits of character while cooking for the family taken hostage - they would have become rather cooks and own a restaurant than being "uncle killer" and "uncle bandit". The police appears to be completely disoriented and rather eager to get publicity than fighting the "bad" guys who are especially clever to use the media in their favor. The movie is probably ment as a satire on public organs such as the police and the manipulation of today's mass media to influence public opinion. As I'm no big philosopher I'm gonna stop evaluating right here. For all HK fans and everyone that enjoys a nice camera work including some shoot outs - you definitely have to watch this movie. I had the honor to attend a screening of this movie during the VIENNALE in Vienna on the giant "Gartenbau Kino" Screen.

This movie is a bit overrated right now but certainly one of the best movies of the year 2000. Ang Lee's technique may seem odd to our western minds - to combine chinese fairy tale elements and a tragical lovestory. But I was surprised by the good acting that left away all unnecessarities and distinguished itself by its high grade of stylization - a bit like Kurosawa. The action scenes were very well made and always had a funny touch by their exaggeration. The difficult task of retaining enough seriosity to make the lovestory emotionally touching was accomplished by the good camera and the acting. So this film should be credited for astonishing and funny action scenes as well as giving the viewer a glance in his eyes when the protagonists are entangled in love. Additionally, this movie contains a grade of poetry and philosophy that is often missing in mainstream productions - if you like it you will watch it again. To enjoy this movie you have to have an affinity for martial arts, a little knowledge of chinese culture and a sensitivity for big emotions.

Ang Lee is fresh blood in the overaged and unspirited mainstream and hopefully will make more movies of this kind.

One of the better Mabuse-films of post-war West-Germany. Of course, none of these films came even close to the famous Mabuse original from the 20-ies. Dr. Mabuse is a mad scientist who uses his power to control and manipulate other minds. He is difficult to track and has the unpleasant feature of killing someone or lancing a coup in the most unexpected places and times. Usually, he uses devices as electronic mind-manipulators or hypnosis and has a gang of criminals at his disposal who carry out his orders and usually don't even know that their leader is the feared Mabuse. In the Dr.-Mabuse-sequels he was killed or hunted down several times but only to escape with mad genius and to appear another time. What makes this film interesting is the style and the scenic decoration with which the dark emotion and the mysteriousness are displayed that Dr. Mabuse implies. Supporting the mysterious atmosphere is that the film is made in black-and-white and the use of light has more effect on the atmosphere, although it is sometimes to theatralic. Some creepy details are remarkable for example masks or busts standing in a psychiatrist's office that contribute to the morbide background. Mabuse should be perceived like an unstoppable ghost - a task that has been very well accomplished. It has some kind of psycho-atmosphere - you can trust no one (maybe Mabuse has just manipulated your girlfriend's mind or a bling beggar is killing you on the street). The actors of this film are fairly unimpressive especially the unbearable Lex Barker who doesn't fit in this movie at all. The sole exception is the grummy Gert Froebe who plays the commissar once again and (for native-germans) can work with his saxonian dialect as well as putting his large body in police-like behaviour that is fun for anyone to watch as he is the only serious actor in this movie. Measured with international standards this film is a mediocre and unimpressive work and certainly not remarkable. But for german cinema it has a traditional connection with the Edgar-Wallace-movies that appeared at the same time. The Doktor-Mabuse-films use the same methods to create mystery, crime and psychological fear. Almost all of them are made in black-and-white and share the same pool of german actors that emerged in the 50-ies and 60-ies. This film is more interesting for someone who likes these pseudo-thrillers (as me) as for someone who wants to watch a serious movie. This film distinguishes itself as it is one of the more serious of the Mabuse-series with the plot being more conclusive and the solution of the case being more believable. And Gert Froebe's acting is noteworthy as it enriches this more or less pale movie.

This film is one of Kurosawa's masterpieces and gives an profound insight in the pre-Tokugawa period of Japan. Especially remarkable is the very elaborated atmosphere of this film to which contribute the pure and simple dialogues and the use of very well-made sceneries. Kurosawa's favorite actor Tatsuya Nakadai is here at his best. Although the atmosphere is very elaborated and almost perfectly historic; tension of the viewer is heightened by the simplicity of the scenes. Kurosawa leaves certain parts to the viewer's imagination rather than showing it. The movie is highly philosophical as well as emotionally touching and presents the soul of the way of samurai and Japan's old samurai system much better and more serious than countless cheap- and bad-made martial arts movies about samurai. This is a warning to all who expect fast martial arts action and blood covered katana. This film is a Kurosawa-style mixture between opulent costume- drama, a philosophic and tragic story and the sensitivity only Kurosawa has displaying Japan's traditional way-of-life.