Schramm Film
Christian Petzold continues the exploration of his favorite theme – doubles – with “Miroirs No. 3.” Named after a Maurice Ravel composition, the film is apparently a modern Brothers Grimm fairytale per the German auteur during a post-screening Q&A at the film’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight world premiere. He’s surprisingly frazzled in person, polar opposite of the clinical precision his work projects. This is a story about doppelgängers, but with a twist.
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Christian Schulz/Schramm Film
MOVIE REVIEW
Afire (2023)
He wears all black to the beach, so you know without being told that he’s a writer. An insufferable one at that, too. His name is Leon (Thomas Schubert) and he is beside himself with anxiety about his new book, which is expressed through childish sulking and rudeness, as well as an irritating tendency to see the worst in everything. Over the course of the movie – the German title of which literally translates to “red sky” – Leon learns the hard way about the importance of the social graces and the value of human kindness. But the way in which these lessons are taught leave a great deal to be desired.
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Christian Schulz/IFC Films
MOVIE REVIEW
Undine (2020)
There is a crucial scene about halfway through “Undine” that makes it obvious this is a movie made by men. In this scene, Undine (Paula Beer) is working on a new presentation she must give while her boyfriend Christoph (Franz Rogowski) sleeps. He wakes up, pulls the duvet around himself, and asks to hear her work. She tries to fob him off, but he insists, and as she begins her speech – she is a historian of Berlin, who gives lectures to tourists and other interested parties about the architecture of the city and what it represents – he gives her his entire attention. It is meltingly attractive, how entranced by Undine Christoph is. There is not a woman in the world who would prevaricate over a good and decent man who feels this strongly about her and demonstrates it by taking an interest in her work. And yet. It’s the movie’s major mistake.
Continue reading “Nymphal Leper” »