In Ulrike Ottinger’s contemporary reinvention of the famous morality tale, fin de siècle dandy Dorian Gray is reimagined as a drag role, played without comment on the switch by Veruschka von Lehndorff in the male lead. Ottinger’s collision of Oscar Wilde and Fritz Lang features Delphine Seyrig as one “Dr. Mabuse,” the head of a sinister multinational newspaper agency that conspires to create, control, and destroy celebrity figure Dorian Gray. The film is an odyssey through eye-popping tableaux, including a trip to an unforgettable underworld.
Tag: WEST GERMANY
In Layaly Badr’s documentary short, Road to Palestine, seven-year-old Layla – who has been badly injured in an air raid – lives in a refugee camp outside Palestine. Layla and her friends describe how they imagine Palestine, despite never having seen it.
This off-beat psychological drama by Sohrab Shahid Saless dissects German post-war society with a cutting edge. Herbert is a solid, middle-class engineer who one day quits his job and ensconces himself at home (preferably in the bathroom), refusing to say very much to anyone. His wife is all the more upset at his behavior because on Sunday mornings he goes out into the street and yells at the top of his lungs for everyone to “get up.” Eventually, the hard-working wife who is also earning their support convinces Herbert to go to a clinic for treatment, but will it change him?
The young advertising manager Igor is surprised in his studio apartment by his beloved wife Hanna with his mistress Christine. Hanna forces the two with a gun to repeat the act in front of her. The two women come to terms with Igor and get the idea to realize a ménage à trois…
A landmark in African cinema, Souleymane Cissé’s film is set in the Malian empire of the 13th century and depicts the quest of a young son across the West African landscape to confront his father, a tyrannical magician. Although the film’s mythic narrative and arresting visual style lend it universal appeal, Yeelen’s use of Bambara, Fulani, and Dogon languages and its representation of power struggles across generations have been interpreted as a commentary on Malian politics of the postcolonial era.
On a cloudy day in a small-town carnival, an unattended three-year-old boy with a small note in his hand cries inconsolably. As the years pass by, the same boy will start a career as an intrepid trapeze acrobat–and before long–he will reach the peak by being the biggest in his trade. Accomplished, with kids, wealth, and recognition, the man will quit the firm and his current lifestyle to set off on a solitary voyage of self-awareness in the vast landscapes of Africa, never to return. There, the most improbable friendship will start–and after two years of being presumed dead–a spark will rekindle, making him realise, that even if one has done and seen it all, he can be surprised by what life still has to offer.
A student helps a perplexed woman in the hallway of a medical clinic. Having learned about her difficult life situation, he decides to help her. He involves his mother and all his strength. It turns out that love is not enough to help the other person.
After letting in an easy goal, the experienced German goalkeeper, Josef Bloch, believing it is offside, engages in a loud and fierce argument with the referee. Moments later, Josef is sent off, then, packs his things in a small bag, and catches the first tram into Vienna, to wander aimlessly from his cheap hotel to the local cinema. Before long, Gloria, the movie theatre’s polite cashier, catches Josef’s eye. She seems willing to hear him; however, can she provide a cathartic means of escape?