Tag: Berlin

SUSPIRIA (2018) – Review

Sure Halloween was a couple of days ago, but I’d wager there are still lots of film fans eager for a new scare. After all, audiences have kept the sequel/reboot of HALLOWEEN at the top of the box office for the last several weeks (probably this coming week also). This week’s new fright flick also has its roots from the same late 1970’s time frame, but it’s no follow-up. We’re talking a flat-out remake, or as the marketers like say, a “re-imagining” (fancy, schmancy I say). The original actually beat the John Carpenter classic to theatres by nearly a year. Oh, and it was made by one of Italy’s most acclaimed thriller directors, Dario Argento. Now, this new take is also by an Italian director, Luca Guadagnino, who last year at this time released the Oscar-winning, coming-of-age romance CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. Oh, that original had one English actress, while the 2018 edition features three (still a few subtitles, though). Having never seen the earlier flick, this is all new gore to me, so let’s enter the nightmare world of SUSPIRIA.

The story’s setting is Berlin, specifically East Berlin, a few years prior to the fall of that wall. A young woman makes her way past protestors to the walk-up office of an elderly psychotherapist, Dr. Josef Klemperer (Lutz Ebersdorf). Patricia (Chloe Grace Moretz) is in a panic and babbles about escaping from her tormentors. Meanwhile, way across the pond in Ohio USA, a young woman leaves her strict religious family farm home as her mother succumbs to disease. Cut to an elite dance academy back in Berlin, where that same young woman climbs the stairs to the rehearsal space. Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) has come there specifically to study with the famous Madame Blanc. Ah, but first she must audition for some of the other teachers. Blanc (Tilda Swinton) arrives near the end of her performance and is wowed. Susie is assigned a room and becomes fast friends with another student, Sara (Mia Goth). Early the next day, Susie joins the rehearsals of Blanc’s lauded ballet “Polk”. The lead actress is upset that she is replacing her friend, the missing Patricia, and leaves the hall. As she departs, she takes the wrong exit and is trapped in another dance space. As Susie performs the lead in “Polk” (she watched the videotape many times back home), the music and vibrations cause the trapped dancer on the floor below to contort, her bones twist and shatter as she literally folds in on herself. As she breathes her last, several of the teachers rush in and brutally move the body out of sight. Soon Sara’s curiosity is aroused when she sees two police detectives (investigating Patricia’s disappearance) are put in a trance by some of the dance teachers. This prompts Sara to visit Josef and eventually venture into the dank basement of the school building. Just what deadly secrets are the faculty keeping from the students? And could Susie be their next target?

As the queen choreographer Blanc, Swinton projects a cold aloofness, deftly alternating between cruel taskmaster and encouraging, sympathetic mentor. With a costume of flowing red robes, hair tightly pulled back, and always clenching a half-sized cigarette, Blanc is like a smoldering crimson manta ray, sweeping in to teach and berate her young charges. Of course, her main focus is Susie, played by Johnson as a fragile, wide-eyed innocent, though at times she seems a tad too mature for this ingenue role. But Johnson has the determined, confident body language of a gifted ballerina. Moretz in her scant screen time (much like PYSCHO’s Marion Crane she sets the events in motion, as her presence is felt long after her exit) helps establish a mood of mystery and paranoia. Goth makes a most diligent Nancy Drew-like seeker of truth, hoping to protect her new “sister” from the school’s secrets. The best work is from screen newcomer Ebersdorf who is almost a Van Helsing in a battle against forces beyond his comprehension. Though age has slowed him…I’ll stop now, since the cat has long been out of the bag. Swinton does double duty as the frail, kindly doctor with his own hidden past. Thanks to some excellent make-up, and Swinton’s skill this becomes more than a mere “stunt”.

Guadagnino envelopes the story, smothering it in gloom and shadows, The colors are muted, the lighting (save for the dance rehearsals) dimmed, often with figures emerging from deep, long shadows. “Old school” horror fans will be pleased that most of the more squeamish sequences rely more on prosthetic make-up effects and puppetry rather than CGI. This is particularly true of the film’s first big death sequence in which a young woman’s face contorts and her bones crackle while pushed against a mirror by unseen forces. For much of the second act, the threat of violence hovers, especially in the big group scenes with the unhinged unpredictable staff and faculty. Their meals and meetings tend to get ugly very quickly. The “Polk” performance is a compelling bit of dark dance with the ladies attired in red strings and strips of clothing and tassels that recall blood streaks. This is just a peaceful prelude to the “go for broke’, bonkers finale, a fever dream orgy filled with hellish deformed creatures and rivers of plasma and bile. There are attempts to explain the connections between events and characters, but we’re left with more questions than answers. Often sadistic and brutal, with haunting oddly lovely imagery, this over-stuffed (152 minutes) nightmare is for “gorehounds” who wants something beyond those lumbering masked madmen. But for the squeamish, SUSPIRIA serves up some pretty sick stuff.

2.5 Out of 5

LABYRINTH OF LIES – The Review

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Screenplays have been populated by characters trying to move forward and escape their ugly past since the creation of cinema (Mad Max may be the most recent example to come to mind, even Ant-Man). This week’s new release concerns a whole country rather than a person trying to come to grips with its history. Really not a distant past. That country is Germany, 1958. It’s just a couple of years prior to the event (the erection of the Berlin Wall) portrayed in the still-in-theatres BRIDGE OF SPIES, which itself was set a few years before the spy caper box office dud THE MAN FROM UNCLE. As you may assume from the year, this film concerns the events of the not-so-long-ago World War II. And while the man character aspires to bring buried atrocities to light, he’s up against many powerful forces trying to keep that history a secret from the masses. They are the builders of a LABYRINTH OF LIES.

The journey really begins when a Berlin artist named Simon Kirsch (Joannes Krisch) is shocked to see the malformed left hand of a schoolteacher. The sight triggers horrific memories. Across town, Johann Radmann (Alexander Fehling), an ambitious young prosecutor, yearns for more meaningful assignments, but seems to be stuck in traffic court. One afternoon the dull routine is broken up by the arrival of newspaper man Thomas Gnielka (Andre Szymanski) and the still rattled Simon. Thomas has lodged a complaint from Simon over that teacher, whom the artist recognized as one of the guards who tormented him at the infamous “death camp” Auschwitz. The newsman is furious that nobody from the prosecutor general’s office has followed up. His late father’s lectures on truth and justice still echoing through his brain, Joahnn looks into the case. Once he is called into his boss’s office, co-workers believe that Joann will be fired. But instead Fritz Bauer (Gert Voss) encourages the young man and even assigns him other lawyers and staff to assist. But the job ahead is difficult. The statute of limitations has expired on every crime save murder. Johann and his team must scour through tons of records and files for evidence while locating victims who will be willing to testify (including the now reluctant Simon). All this must be done while facing reluctance and outright hostility (even in the law office) from those wishing to forget the sins of that war and hide those evils from future generations.

Fehling perfectly captures the youthful zeal for justice as the (early on) idealistic young lawyer. It’s not until the film’s mid-point that he reveals the character’s darker side, bourne of frustration and horror, aghast at the cruelty hidden from him and his countrymen. But just as he gives in to despair, an inner strength kicks in, that fire within. One that is stoked by the passionate performance by Szymanski as the inquirer blocked too many times. He pushes Radmann, as the two actors have a great screen rapport, which gives his big third act reveal an extra power. The film’s emotional center may be Krisch who becomes a surrogate for the still-walking wounded, those few survivors. His sad, heavy eyes gives us a window into his haunted existence, dealing with ghosts that will not allow him rest. You see much of that weariness in Voss as Radmann’s boss and encouraging father figure. His belief in the still-green lad prods him toward his quest for the truth. Kudos to actress Friederike Becht for making the hero’s love interest, the seamstress Marlene a complex, conflicted character who helps propel rather than halt the plot’s momentum.

The film does move along at a brisk pace, reminding one of classic conspiracy thrillers, thanks to director Guilio Ricciarelli, who also collaborated on the screenplay with Amelie Syberberg and Elisabeth Bartel. It makes excellent use of period costumes (Marlene’s shop designs) and settings. Particularly impressive is the  towering American Embassy building where a reluctantly helpful US major wonders why the interest in ex-Nazis when the real problem is the “commies” (rumors are rumbling about the city being divided). The film’s focus does somewhat veer off in its last half hour into a hunt for two very famous war criminals who were in hiding (one of them becomes a ghostly “Moby Dick”, disappearing every time the heroes get near). This doesn’t take away from the compelling survivor stories and the country’s stern denial (“No one was a ‘party’ member”) and often plain ignorance (the twenty-somethings are blithely unaware of Auschwitz). Then there are the wrinkled faces of the men accused, some defiant, others looking down in shame. LABYRINTH OF LIES is a compelling, powerful story of how a small, determined group helped to open a nation’s eyes and hearts to acknowledge the sins of its past.

4 Out of 5

LABYRINTH OF LIES opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

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THE DEBT (2010) – The Review

This movie re-enforces the old adage “what goes around comes around.” Or more specifically that it’s always easier to tell the truth than try to keep track of a lie. With John Madden’s (SHAKESPEAARE IN LOVE) new drama/thriller based on an Israeli film from 2007, three people must deal with a ghost form the past that returns to haunt them more than thirty years later. The question becomes whether they can continue  their story and keep the past buried.

The film begins in 1997 at the release party for a book that Sarah Gold has written about the capture of the notorious Nazi Dr. Dieter Vogel (a Dr. Mengale-type) by her mother Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren), father Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson), and David Peretz (Ciaran Hinds), all former Mossad agents. A recent tragedy causes the former married couple, Rachel and Stephan, to reflect on the true events that inspired the new book. We then return to East Berlin, 1966, where young Rachel ( Jessica Chastain ) meets with fellow agents Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington). Their mission is to capture Vogel, now posing as a gynecologist named Bernhardt, smuggle him into West Berlin, and ship him to Israel where he will stand trial for his war crimes. All three suffered great losses during World War II, and while training become enmeshed in a romantic triangle. After much preparation the day of the capture arrives. And, as they say, “Even the best laid plans…” Can they now retired agents keep their pledge to each other?

For the mid-section of the film set in 1966, THE DEBT is a tense, taut edge0of your-seat thriller that reminded me of another recent film about the Mossad, MUNICH. Chastain (who’s having quite a year with great roles in THE HELP an TREE OF LIFE) shows her chops as an action hero to great effect particularly in the scenes set in Bernhardt’s examining room. Worthington has an effecting, smoldering intensity as the emotionally wounded David. I was impressed by relative screen newcomer Csokas’s cynical, world-weary portrayal of Stephan. The scenes of them dashing through the Berlin streets and hiding at a train station are very suspenseful. My problem with the film is in the return to Israel 1997. Wilkinson and Mirren are in top form as usual, but the sequences of her returning to her spying days are fairly unbelievable (she was much more convincing in the much lighter recent action flick RED). The final scenes at a medical facilities seem laughably ludicrous compared to the earlier 1966 mission set pieces. I would enjoyed the film more if it just concerned that thirty year old tale of dedicated Nazi hunters. Two thirds of THE DEBT is a terrific, first class thriller. It’s a shame the other third isn’t as compelling.

Overall Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

UNKNOWN – The Review

A popular theme of the mystery thriller film genre is the big conspiracy against one man. Sometimes the protagonist has amnesia and battles shadowy forces to find out his identity. Many times those forces are out to convince the authorities that the hero has lost his sanity. The makers of UNKNOWN twist those themes in order to add some variety to this type of action film. What if you woke up and all your loved ones did not recognize you?

As UNKNOWN begins Dr. Martin Harris ( Liam Neeson ) and his wife Elizabeth ( January Jones ) are flying into the Berlin airport. Martin is a prominent American botanist and is scheduled to present an address at an international agricultural summit. After landing, they load their bags into a taxi and head to the hotel. As Elizabeth checks in, Martin realizes that his briefcase was not in the cab. Without telling her, he hops in another taxi driven by Gina ( Diane Kruger ) and races back to the airport. Along the way they are involved in a horrific traffic accident and the taxi plunges off a bridge into an icy river. After pulling Martin out of the sinking car, Gina leaves him to the paramedics. A few days later, Martin wakes up in a hospital. He’s told that Elizabeth has not been in to see him. Against his doctor’s wishes, Martin races back to the hotel and spots her at a reception. With hotel security surrounding him, Martin confronts her. But she does not know him and is joined by her husband Dr. Martin Harris ( Aidan Quinn ) ! Martin #1 has no ID on him ( it was in that darn briefcase ) and is escorted out by security. Has he lost his mind? Maybe if he can find the cab driver and retrieve that case he’ll be able to prove his identity and get his life back. But those shadowy forces are not going to make it that easy for him.

UNKNOWN has a lot of things going for it that elevates it from the usual man on the run thriller. First off is the cast headed by the always interesting Liam Neeson. Here he’s somewhere in-between the tough guy from TAKEN and the cerebral scholar from KINSEY. He really has to use his brain and brawn fending off those conspirators all the while frustrated and sorrowful at the turn his life has taken. He’s got to return things back to normal. January Jones plays another variation of the icy blond that was a staple of Hitchcock film and injects a bit of her Betty Draper Mad Men TV persona. Aidan Quinn plays the second Martin with equal parts bewilderment and cold-bloodiness. Frank Langella sweeps in during the last act as a colleague that may be the real Martin’s salvation. Or is he? Diane Kruger brings great energy to her role as the somewhat, shady, feisty fraulein Gina, who wants nothing to do with Martin at first. The best support is given by veteran German film star Bruno Ganz as private detective Ernst Jurgen who’s an ex-officer of an elite East German secret police force. You might recognize Ganz from his performance as Hitler in DOWNFALL-footage of him ranting has been re-subtitled and purloined by many You Tube posters. He gives the world-weary old detective a quiet dignity and commands the screen in every scene he appears. Another thing going for this film is the Berlin locations. This is a locale we don’t get to see much in current films unlike LA or Toronto. Director Jaume Collet-Serra keeps things movingly along. There’s a couple of well executed car chases through crowded Berlin streets and some brutal hand-to-hand combat sequences. He wrings a lot of suspense from a drugged-up Martin trying to reach for a pair of scissors in one sequence. I wish the script would’ve offered up a few more surprises. I was able to figure out the big plan about a third of the way through. However the film’s strong cast, locations, and pacing set it above the typical crash-crash-explosion actioners that fill up the multiplex. Not anything groundbreaking , but a diverting couple of hours at the movies.

Overall Rating : Three and a Half Out of Five Stars

Biopic of Berlin ‘Bushido’ Rapper in the works

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Before you get the wrong idea, no… this isn’t a new comedy from Sacha Baron Cohen, making a play on Eminem. Producer Bernd Eichinger and director Uli Edel (The Baader Meinhof Complex) are developing a biopic of the controversial Berlin rap star Bushido.

The script will be written by Bernd Eichinger and is based on Bushido’s recently published autobiography which details his career starting as a high school drop out to becoming Germany’s biggest hip-hop star. Bushido also talks about time spent dealing drugs before making it big.

Bushido’s original name was Anis Mohamed Ferchichi. He became a huge success in Europe, winning several awards despite the controversy surrounding his lyrics, which some critics have called sexist, nationalist and racist. Constantin Films is backing the project and plans to release it in Germany this year.

[source: Variety]