!!TORONTO PEOPLE - FASSBINDER GALORE!!
bassie
11,710 Posts
Presented by the Goethe-Institut Toronto and Stephen Bulger Gallery @ CAMERA, 1028 Queen Street West, Toronto, 416 530 0011, www.camerabar.ca Film series in 7 nights: MON-WED: Feb 11-13, 2008, 7 pmTUE-WED: Feb 19-20, 2008, 7 pmMON-TUE: Feb 25-26, 2008, 7 pm $5 series membership plus $5 per evening, 18 yrs + German with English subtitles, large screen projections Tickets at the door or for advanced tickets please call the Stephen Bulger Gallery at 416 504 0575 or at [email]info@bulgergallery.com[/email] Mon Feb 11, Double Feature 7pm + 8:45pm : Katzelmacher (with Hanna Schygulla, Lilith Ungerer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder) A Greek guest worker suddenly appears in the lives of a bored group of young people. Through an affair he attracts their envy and jealousy which leads to aggression, violence and xenophobia. The film???s static images portray a stifling, stagnant milieu and a crippled society. 1968, 86 min., b&w Fear Eats the Soul (with Brigitte Mira, El Hedi Ben Salem, Barbara Valentin) Emmi, an older cleaning lady, meets the considerably younger Moroccan guest worker Ali in a bar. When they marry Emmi???s family and neighbours react with a lack of understanding and utter disapproval until they realize that they and the couple can profit from this relationship. Their solidarity overcomes both fear and prejudice, but in the end the pressure is too much for both of them.1973/74, 93 min., colour Tue Feb 12, 7pm: Effie Briest (with Hanna Schygulla, Wolfgang Schenk, Karlheinz B??hm) The young Effi Briest is caught in a loveless marriage to the considerably older Baron von Instetten, who is mainly interested in his career. An encounter with Major Crampas temporarily brings change and passion into her life. Years later the Baron accidentally finds out about the long since ended affair of his wife, which leads to catastrophe. Fassbinder stays true to Theodor Fontane???s novel while creating his own unique cinematic perspectives and imagery. 1972/74, 140 min., b&w Wed Feb 13, 7pm: Martha (with Margit Carstensen, Karlheinz B??hm, Peter Chatel) Martha is in her early thirties when she visits Rome with her father, who collapses and dies on the Spanish Stairs. At the German Embassy she encounters Helmut Salomon, whom she later marries, thus moving from the previously experienced constraints of family control to the confinement of an extra-ordinary marriage. Martha suffers under her husband???s dominance and her isolation from the outside world. Finally, after an accident, she becomes helplessly dependent on a wheelchair. Now her husband has the chance not only to care for her but also to have ultimate power over her every move, a situation which, in an intriguingly ambivalent way, she seems to relish. 1973/74, 116 min., colour Tue Feb 19, 7pm: Satan???s Brew (with Kurt Raab, Margit Carstensen, Helen Vita) A film about identity crisis, about the life and creativity of writer Walter Kranz, who started out as a left wing poet, but since two years has produced not a word of text. After tragically murdering his concubine his creativity begins to flow again. His work turns out to have been plagiarized from that of Stefan George. Kranz ultimately succumbs to the illusion that he himself is Stefan George. One of Fassbinder???s more bitter and despairing works. 1975/76, 112 min., colour Wed Feb 20, 7pm: The Marriage of Maria Braun (with Hanna Schygulla, Klaus L??witsch, Ivan Desny) Germany during the years of reconstruction after World War II. Hermann Braun remains untraceable after the end of the war. Maria, his wife, begins an affair with an American GI named Bill. When Hermann suddenly returns and surprises the couple, Maria kills her lover, and Hermann, who takes the blame upon himself, goes to prison. During that time Maria manages to climb the social ladder wanting desperately to build a new existence for herself and her husband, however she ends up paying a very high price for the choices she has made. 1978, 120 min., colour Mon Feb 25, 7pm: Lili Marleen (with Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, Mel Ferrer) Zurich 1938: In Switzerland German singer ???Wilkie??? falls in love with Jewish composer Robert who is helping refugees escape from Nazi Germany. Robert???s family fears that Wilkie may pose a danger to their underground resistance work and does everything to keep Robert away from this nightclub singer. The outbreak of war makes their relationship still more difficult. In 1941 Wilkie feels she is given the chance of a lifetime: her song ???Lili Marleen??? is played on the radio and loved by every soldier throughout the German Reich. Thanks to her influence she can save Robert from the Gestapo, enabling him to flee back to Switzerland. Despite her public success Wilkie faces a shattered existence in the end. 1980, 120 min., colour Tue Feb 26, Double Feature 7pm + 9pm: Veronika Voss (with Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate, Cornelia Froboess) Munich 1955: Fassbinder tells a melancholy tale inspired by former UFA star Sybille Schmitz???s life in post-war Germany. Drug-addicted actress Veronika Voss is unable to repeat her earlier big-screen success. Exasperated, she commits suicide while the Pope???s Easter blessing is broadcast in the background. In this film Fassbinder masterfully employs the stylistic devices of the long gone UFA melodrama. 1981, 104 min., b&w Lola (with Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf) Coburg 1957: Building commissioner von Bohm takes office in a provincial town, where he quickly becomes unpopular among members of the corrupt society. Building tycoon Schuckert rules the town and owns the meeting place for local movers and shakers, a brothel named ???Villa Fink???. Star of the brothel is the wonderful Lola. Von Bohm falls in love with her and only realizes later that Schuckert regularly employs her as his mistress. Von Bohm wants to publicly unearth the truth about Schuckert???s shady life. To protect himself Schuckert promises Lola to von Bohm??? 1981, 113 min., colour For more information contact the Goethe-Institut Toronto at 416 593 5257-16, [email]arts1@toronto.goethe.org[/email] or see www.goethe.de/toronto
Comments
Can't misses are...
...IMO. don't care as much for Katzelmacher and Lili Marleen.
I'm also showing Veronica Voss in Bmore in a few months, that's a classy Fassbinder (if that's not an oxy moron).
You, my friend, are a bon vivant. Just kidding, I like Fassbinder, but he is to be taken in moderation. There is only so much of the dark side of human nature one can take! I watched Katzelmacher with my two roommates and it was a miracle they made it through the film.
I also found Katzelmacher hard to watch, largely because of its relatively crude technique (mostly static camera, poor lighting, poor sound). at the time it made a film-festival splash and they claimed it was an intentional aesthetic -- and then later as his reputation became established, Fassbinder went back and admitted the early films were crude because it was the best technique they could muster.
I gotta say, tho, I generally do find Fassbinder very entertaining. Wicked sense of humor. And he's not just relentlessly dark -- some of his titles have tenderness and glimmers of hope.
most definitely.
he is in my top ten of all time.
that sounds right -- neither Katzelmacher nor GotP are top-tier Fassbinder IMO.
It is an overwhelming catalog -- 40+ films in 15 years. :sweetjesus
yeah, surprisingly good film.
I guess I only say "surprisingly" cuz I went into it not knowing what to expect... and generally see the 80s as a low point for french film.
Anyone seen Third Generation? Only came out on DVD in the US a year or so back... damn, I thought I knew Fassbinder -- what he was capable of, the breadth of his catalog, etc -- until I saw that one, which made me rethink the whole kit and caboodle.
Wouldn't necessarily cataplult it to the top of anyone's "to watch" fassbinder list given how disorienting and atypical it is, but definitely a singular film.