Stroszek (1977): 7/10

One of Werner Herzog's lesser known films...very odd, with real life odd-ball non actors. Good though, full of imagery only Herzog would have used

Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck. After they are harried and beaten by the thugs who have been Eva's pimps, they join Bruno's neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.

Radio On: 7.5/10

I got to watch 'Radio On' the other night. It's one of a rare breed, a truly English road movie (well, with a German in it). Not bad at all, but it's mostly of note for:

A) the Music, a nice selection from David Bowie, Ian Dury and Kraftwerk (near the beginning of the film the lead actor receives a package of 3 Kraftwerk cassettes):




B) It's one of the first appearances of Sting as an 'actor'...and strangely enough he isn't too bad.



C) Lastly it's one of the first films to use a steadi-cam

Obviously influenced by Wim Wenders (and less obviously by Fritz Lang) Radio On is visually very good, but almost ruined by some of the worst print damage I've ever seen on a DVD. Perhaps the BFI were short of money? Therefore I can't really recommend it on DVD, but keep an eye out for it on TV, it's worth a watch.

Never trust what people tell you

That reminds me...I have a film to watch:

Recommended Directors

Actually, this should be titled 'Directors who provide you with something different' (in no particular order):

Aki Kaurismaki: Where do you start? at first look there's nothing to his films, deadpan x 1000, nothing flashy, simple stories of losers and underdogs...and yet they gradually seep into your consciousness and you start to get them, the Finnish humour and I guess the truth behind the everyday emotions. Highly recommended:

La Vie De Boheme (shot in Black & White and strangely enough in French by an all Finnish cast. Classic stuff).

Calamari Union (B&W. A group of men, all called Frank, bar one, try to travel to a mythical part of the city. Not all of them make it. As mad as a box of spiders ;)



Wim Wenders: shouldn't need any introduction really:

I'd recommend The American Friend, Wings of Desire and (rather obviously) Paris, Texas



Werner Herzog: Watch everything you can by this director, even at his worst he says more about the Human condition (the Ecstatic Truth!) than Hollywood will in a 100 years:

Werner on Languages:



Rainer Werner Fassbinder: little to add really, just try some of his work. However I'd especially like to recommend the massive Berlin Alexanderplatz (although I can't stand the last hour or so...I like to pretend it didn't happen), but the rest of the huge running time more than makes up for. It can be watched on several different levels; Franz Biberkopf as a metaphor for Germany, sleep-walking into Nazi rule, the goodness in it exploited by others, giving way to madness and horror. However you look at it, it's just a brilliant film and shouldn't be missed.

Recommendations for 2008....so far

There Will be Blood

Here is DVD Times' review




No Country for old Men



The Orphanage



The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford

"I'm finished"

My 'To Watch List'

The Woody Allen Collection Vol. 1:
Bananas/Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask/Sleeper/Love And Death/Annie Hall

Radio On [1979]

The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection - 1973-1982
Fear Eats The Soul (1974)
Fontane Effi Breist (1974)
Fox And His Friends (1975)
Mother Küsters Goes To Heaven (1975)
Fear Of Fear (1975)
Satan’s Brew (1976)
Chinese Roulette (1976)
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)

The Singing Detective (BBC TV series)

Another bizarre moment for Werner Herzog

"The poet must not avert his eyes"

Probably the best film I saw last year

The Lives of Others

So Last Year

DVDs and Films seen in 2007:

1. Stalker (DVD) 7
2. Life is a Miracle (DVD) 8
3. Goodbye Lenin (DVD) 9
4. Dog Bite Dog (DVD) 7.5
5. The Story of the Weeping Camel (DVD) 7
6. The Cave of the Yellow Dog (DVD) 7.5
7. The Edukators (DVD) 8
8. Forbidden Planet (DVD) 7
9. A Scanner Darkly (DVD) 7
10. Angel A (DVD) 8
11. Children of Men (DVD) 7.5
12. Quatermass and the Pit, BBC TV series (DVD) 8
13. Casino Royale (DVD) 8
14. Beasts, ATV TV series (DVD x 2) 7-8
15. Murrain TV (DVD) 8
16. Boys from the Black Stuff TV (DVD) 10
17. The Science of Sleep (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
18. Hot Fuzz (Cineworld Glasgow) 5.5
19. Red Road (DVD) 8
20. The Host (DVD) 7
21. Inland Empire (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
22. Knife in the Water (DVD) 9
23. Repulsion (DVD) 8
24. Pans Labyrinth (DVD) 9
25. Cronos (DVD) 7.5
26. Fitzcarraldo (DVD) 8.5
27. Sunshine (Cineworld Glasgow) 6
28. Paris, Texas (DVD) 8.5
29. Head On (DVD) 8
30. This is England (Glasgow Film Theatre) 8
31. The Inheritors (DVD) 6.5
32. Eureka (DVD) 8.5
33. The Lives of Others (Grosvenor, Glasgow) 9
34. The American Friend (DVD) 7
35. Zodiac (Cineworld Glasgow) 8
36. Jindabyne (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
37. Raising Phoenix (DVD) 7
38. Bangkok Dangerous (DVD) 5
39. Night of the Sunflowers (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7
40. Operation Goodfellers (DVD) 8
41. Magnolia (DVD) 8
42. Tell No One (Cineworld Glasgow) 6.5
43. The Bad Sleep Well (DVD) 8
44. The Seventh Seal (DVD) 8
45. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7
46. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (DVD) 8
47. Private Fears, In Public Places (Glasgow Film Theatre) 7.5
48. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe (DVD) 9
49. Night of the Sunflowers (DVD) 8
50. The Legacy (L’ Héritage) (Glasgow Film Theatre) 8
51. Inland Empire (DVD) 8.5
52. The Lives of others (DVD) 9
53. Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (DVD) 7.5
54. Bugs (DVD) 6
55. Die Fälscher / The Counterfeiters (Glasgow Film Theatre) 8
56. L'Avventura (DVD) 7.5
57. London to Brighton (DVD) 7.5
58. Extras: Series 2 (DVD) 7.5
59. The Science of Sleep (DVD) 8
60. Cobra Verde (DVD) 7.5
61. The Squid and the Whale (DVD) 7
62. Bladerunner the final cut (DVD) 8.5

Lights, Camera, Action!

Yet another new blog (wake up at the back!) but this time it's on films and DVDs. Over the year I'll be reviewing and/or commenting on ALL of the ones I get to see, whether that's at home on DVD, whilst travelling or at the cinema. Wherever possible I'll be adding some screen grabs to give you an idea what the film is like