The All Purpose Rainer Werner Fassbinder thread

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Solaris, Jul 2, 2018.

  1. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    You should take a look at Arrow. They have a sale on at the moment:

    Search | Arrow Films
     
    LeBon Bush likes this.
  2. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Ooh, nice! Maria Braun and Chinese Roulette are very tempting... :D:edthumbs:
     
    stepeanut likes this.
  3. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    Chinese Roulette is a twofer with Fox and His Friends. If you’ve never seen the latter, you’re in for a treat; one of Fassbinder’s most devastating character studies, IMO.
     
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  4. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Actually, I've been meaning to check out "Fox and His Friends". Thanks, I think I will order this the next couple of days :goodie:
     
    baconbadge, 93curr and stepeanut like this.
  5. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    This is a great one, and a textbook example of how to make a single set work cinematically/dramatically. I was absorbed from start to finish.
     
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  6. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    @stepeanut My Arrow order just arrived - thanks again for this amazing tip :edthumbs:

    [​IMG]

    Paid 46€ shipped for everything. Can't beat that!
     
    jwoverho, baconbadge, Solaris and 2 others like this.
  7. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    A little update from my side: first, I'm starting work on my bachelor's thesis about "World On A Wire" and its depiction of fake realities :goodie:

    Second, I just finished Lili Marleen. Unpopular opinion, but to me it's even better than The Marriage Of Maria Braun because I loved how well Fassbinder handled the suspenseful, thriller-like elements of the plot. Oh, and Hanna Schygulla probably never looked better than here, except maybe in Wim Wenders' "Wrong Move" (1975). A very powerful film which, for some reason, is deemed one of his lesser works in german-speaking countries.
     
    stepeanut, Solaris and trumpet sounds like this.
  8. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    So guys, this was included in a stack of records I received in the mail today:

    [​IMG]

    I was baffled to find this, to be honest. Peer Raben's original score for Berlin Alexanderplatz on vinyl. Sounds very good so far!
     
  9. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Only just started BRD but am admiring the musical touches in those films.
     
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  10. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Watching this just now, and I keep hearing Cream's "White Room" and seeing Veronika on Sunset Boulevard....
     
    LeBon Bush likes this.
  11. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    :agree:
     
  12. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Watched Merchant of Four Seasons last weekend. What I liked about the film was
    how Hans came off as a no-good violator and drinker at first before it was slowly revealed how his fair share of bad decisions and wrong friends, amped by his family's low opinion of him, have turned him into this difficult, often incomprehensible and ambiguous character. The only ones who really seem to have stood beside him are his wife and daughter (although that is a bit contradicted in the final scenes) and Hanna Schygulla's Anna, Hans's sister, who calls out her family for their hypocrisy and unfaithfulness.
    I really enjoyed this film a lot and think it's a shame that it's so rarely seen here in the german-speaking countries these days. Heck, we never even got the blu ray release, so I had to import it last year.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2021
  13. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I really liked his use of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" as the credits music for World on a Wire. He had great taste and his own unique sense of how to use music in his films.
     
  14. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Yup. And that was already very noticeable in his first shorts. The Godard-inspired "The Little Chaos" features a great scene in which "I Can't Control Myself" by The Troggs can be heard. He definitely liked his films to have some great music :righton:
     
    stepeanut, trumpet sounds and Solaris like this.
  15. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Just received the Berlin Alexanderplatz box set. It will take me awhile to get to watch it, but will look forward to listening closely to the music.
     
  16. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I'm trying to divest myself of "stuff" and yet I feel compelled to get this box set so I can finally watch Berlin. This thread (which I admittedly started) may push me over the edge...
     
  17. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    My family and me totally fell for the series when watching it last year. Eventually, I would even grab my copy of the original novel just to observe how detailed Fassbinder sometimes followed the plot and where he took his liberties. It's a glorious work, culminating in a breathtaking final episode that truly must have been a shock to german TV audiences in 1980.
     
  18. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    It's on the Criterion Channel, which may be the cheaper route since there's so much else on there I want to see as it is!
     
    LeBon Bush and trumpet sounds like this.
  19. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Oh yes, that's definitely a great way to catch it! A shame there's no legal way to get the channel here, I'd love to have that :sigh::agree:
     
  20. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    A quick heads up that Arrow Video will be issuing a third volume in their Fassbinder collection next year (volumes one and two were reissues of material already available from the label).

    Volume three is set to include the following films:

    Gods of the Plague
    The American Soldier
    The Niklashausen Journey
    Rio das Mortes
    Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
    Fear of Fear
    Satan's Brew


    [​IMG]
     
  21. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Wow, awesome! Guess I'll jump for the third set, as I already have most of the films from the other two. Most of the films in volume 3 should be blu ray premieres, if I am correct.
     
    stepeanut likes this.
  22. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Watched two new-to-me Fassbinders this weekend:

    Lola (1981): One of Fassbinder's most artificially shot films, almost too Sirkian for Sirk, this features what could very well be called an ensemble cast of german cinema led by the extravagant Barbara Sukowa. A strangely humorous look at the bigotry of german post-war society, when everyone was proud of the "economic miracle" and tried to forget the very recent past. Excellent, if not perfect.

    Love Is Colder Than Death (1969): Meh. A so-so full-length debut by Fassbinder who clearly tried to channel Godard, Melville and probably some others I haven't checked out yet. Okay-ish, featuring a nude Hanna Schygulla is always a plus for me, but mostly unconvincing and eventually boring. Interesting watch, but nothing I'm likely to revisit soon. Except that scene where the three protagonists are off to the mall and Fassbinder's character wants to buy the ones that "that cop from Psycho" wore. Brilliant :unhunh: oh, and that long supermarket sequence. Beautifully done.

    Probably gonna do Fox and his Friends next as well as a revisit of Maria Braun.
     
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  23. Jamsterdammer

    Jamsterdammer The Great CD in the Sky

    Location:
    Málaga, Spain
    I love watching the "BRD Trilogy" in order of release. They really belong together, each focusing on a different aspect of post-war Germany with a female character at the center and shot in a different styles: The brown and dark color scheme of "Maria Braun", the black and white of "Veronika Voss" and the garish candy colored "Lola". The "BRD Trilogy" and "Berlin Alexanderplatz" are his masterpieces imo.
     
  24. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    I'm still missing Veronika Voss, gonna have to watch it soon.
     
  25. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    I also love Fox and His Friends, Martha, In A Year With 13 Moons, Bitter tears of Petra Van Kant, Gods of The Plague, Merchant Of Four Seasons, Ali Fear Eats The Soul... long list of faves.:)
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2021

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