A film by Lav Diaz. In phil­ip­pi­ne with ger­man subtitles.

Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, Filipino film­ma­ker Lav Diaz’s epic sto­ry of reven­ge defer­red func­tions as a tale of urban thea­ter and class war­fa­re. After 30 years in pri­son, a woman dis­co­vers that her fri­end and fel­low inma­te com­mit­ted the mur­der of which she was accu­sed. This leads to her release and sub­se­quent dis­co­very of the man who framed her. Inspired by Tolstoy, The Woman Who Left is a sen­si­ti­ve expres­si­on of fami­ly and forgiveness.

 
Ang Babaeng Humayo, Philippinen 2016, 228 min, phil­ip. OmU,
Regie, Kamera & Schnitt: Lav Diaz
Buch: Lav Diaz, nach der Erzählung von Leo Tolstoi („Gott sieht die Wahrheit, aber sagt sie nicht sogleich“)
mit: Charo Santos-Concio, John Lloyd Cruz, Michael De Mesa, Nonie Buencamino. 
 
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A film by Eliza Hittman. In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

Frankie, an aim­less teen­ager living on the outer edges of Brooklyn, is having a trou­ble­so­me sum­mer. With his father dying and his mother wan­ting him to find a girl­fri­end, he tri­es to escape the ble­ak­ne­ss of his home life by caus­ing trou­ble with his delin­quent fri­ends and flir­ting with older men online. When his chat­ting and web­camming inten­si­fy, he final­ly starts hoo­king up with guys at a near­by crui­sing beach while simul­ta­neous­ly ente­ring into a cau­tious rela­ti­onship with a young woman. As Frankie strug­gles to recon­ci­le his com­pe­ting desi­res, his decis­i­ons lea­ve him hurt­ling toward irrepa­ra­ble consequences.

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A film by Mouly Surya. In indo­ne­si­an with ger­man subtitles.

A young widow vio­lent­ly turns the tables on her would-be atta­ckers, in this powerful, pro­vo­ca­ti­ve, and visual­ly stun­ning Indonesian take on the „femi­nist wes­tern” genre.

Powerful, pro­vo­ca­ti­ve, and visual­ly stun­ning, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts is a lumi­nous new ent­ry in the femi­nist wes­tern sub­gen­re. Mouly Surya’s accom­plished third fea­ture is one of a kind: a con­tem­po­ra­ry rewor­king of the spa­ghet­ti wes­tern and smould­e­ring reven­ge movie that is deep­ly roo­ted in the cul­tu­ral and geo­po­li­ti­cal land­scapes of Indonesia.

Marlina (Marsha Timothy) is a young widow, living alo­ne in a remo­te farm­house with the embal­med corp­se of her decea­sed hus­band. When rob­bers arri­ve, entit­led by cen­tu­ries of male domi­na­ti­on, to ste­al her live­stock, sei­ze her pos­ses­si­ons, and rape her, Marlina has only her cou­ra­ge and intel­li­gence to rely on. She thinks fast and acts even fas­ter. The next day finds her on the road, hit­ching a ride to town with a sever­ed head in one hand and a sab­re in the other.

A tale of repos­s­es­sed strength and per­so­nal iden­ti­ty, the film fea­tures a com­pel­ling prot­ago­nist and intro­du­ces a gal­lery of other sple­ndid fema­le cha­rac­ters, espe­ci­al­ly „10-months” pregnant Novi (Dea Panendra).

Surya builds ten­si­on with an assu­red mise en scè­ne then dis­si­pa­tes it with bubbly bursts of cau­st­ic humour, play­ing with ove­r­used cine­ma­tic lan­guages to find a genui­ne new style. Witty and sub­ver­si­ve, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts is a bold and wel­co­me affront to the staid sen­si­bi­li­ties of male-cent­red cine­ma culture.

GIOVANNA FULVI

mit: Marsha Timothy, Dea Panendra, Yoga Pratama, Rita Matu Mona
 
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A film by Barbara Albert. In german.

Set in 1770s Vienna, LICHT fol­lows an aspi­ring young harp­s­ichor­dist who­se magi­cal play­ing has alre­a­dy gai­ned noti­ce among high socie­ty. A fly in the oint­ment: the pro­di­gy is a woman, and blind. Maria Theresia von Paradis plays by ear and instinct, with heigh­ten­ed sen­ses, yet her atten­ti­ve mother and father want not­hing more than to res­to­re her sight, by wha­te­ver means pos­si­ble. Maria Theresia and her par­ents are soon at the door­step of a phy­si­ci­an who is just begin­ning to estab­lish a repu­ta­ti­on in vien­nese socie­ty: Dr. Mesmer. LICHT revol­ves around this doc­tor-pati­ent rela­ti­onship, allo­wing Albert to del­ve into a series of the­mes: gen­der dyna­mics; sci­ence ver­sus art; age and youth. Mesmer was per­cei­ved by the non-aco­lytes as a bit of a quack, but under his gent­le care, Theresia makes see­mingly mira­cu­lous pro­gress. Meanwhile socie­ty grows sus­pi­cious, her play­ing style is affec­ted, and Theresia’s once-sup­port­i­ve fami­ly beg­ins to doubt Mesmer. (Toronto Film Festival)

Credits:
Österreich/D, 2017, 97 Min.

Regie: Barbara Albert
Drehbuch: Kathrin Resetarits
based on the novel «Mesmerized» by Alissa Walser
Kamera: Christine A. Maier
Schnitt: Niki Mossböck

mit:
Maria Dragus
Devid Striesow
Lukas Miko
Katja Kolm

A film by Fernando Pérez. In spa­nish with ger­man subtitles.

Diego and Miguel are both in their mid-for­ties. They are living in a dila­pi­da­ted apart­ment in cen­tral Havana wit­hout run­ning water or any modern amen­i­ties. Miguel ear­ns his money washing dis­hes in a pri­va­te­ly run restau­rant; he, his fami­ly and neigh­bours also care for Diego, who is bedrid­den on account of his HIV infec­tion. While Diego tri­es to main­tain his joie de viv­re, Miguel beco­mes incre­asing­ly with­drawn. Only the two of them know about Miguel’s secret: he is plan­ning to emi­gra­te to the USA and is just wai­ting for his visa. When Diego’s con­di­ti­on dete­rio­ra­tes he is forced to go into hos­pi­tal and lea­ves his room to his nie­ce Yusi. When Miguel’s visa final­ly arri­ves it’s time for some sur­pri­sing decis­i­ons – and not just for him. Writer, docu­men­ta­ry film­ma­ker and direc­tor Fernando Pérez has based his screen­play on the lives of the inha­bi­tants of a tene­ment buil­ding. The resul­ting film pres­ents a vibrant kalei­do­scope of emo­ti­ons. Unfolding in tran­quil images, this sto­ry of an unu­su­al fri­end­ship also pro­vi­des an insight into a cul­tu­re in tran­si­ti­on that requi­res con­stant fle­xi­bi­li­ty and incre­di­ble opti­mism. A decla­ra­ti­on of love to the Cuban capi­tal and its inhabitants.

A film by Martin McDonagh. In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

Mildred Hayes has lost her teenage daugh­ter who was raped and kil­led. Because the local she­riff does not put enough effort into the search for the kil­ler, Mildred is get­ting acti­ve by herself.(Viennale)

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A film by Amat Escalante. In spa­nish with ger­man subtitles.

A mete­or strikes in the moun­ta­ins of Mexico. Down below in the val­ley, Alejandra and Ángel’s mar­ria­ge is in trou­ble: road worker Ángel is having an affair with Alejandra’s brot­her Fabián, despi­te his macho deme­an­or. Then an ali­en crea­tu­re appears, spre­a­ding lust and des­truc­tion. A mix of sci-fi and social dra­ma, Amat Escalante’s film was shot in his home town of Guanajuato by Chilean-Danish DoP Alberto Claro, who also len­sed MELANCHOLIA and NYMPHOMANIAC for Lars von Trier.

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A film by Tyler Hubby. In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

A clip from the noto­rious 1963 Jack Smith nudie FLAMING CREATURES, on which Tony Conrad work­ed, segues into his own cine­ma­tic affront, a light show cal­led THE FLICKER, the bad boy of the 1966 New York Film Festival. There was vomi­ting at the pre­mie­re; the pro­jec­tion­ist suf­fe­r­ed a migrai­ne. “No LSD nee­ded!” says film­ma­ker Larry Seven, one of the on-came­ra sub­jects in this film. TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT is a sharp, sweet, elo­quent docu­men­ta­ry about the mer­riest, most artis­ti­cal­ly expan­si­ve mini­ma­list on record: musi­ci­an, edu­ca­tor, acti­vist Tony Conrad. The violinist’s tran­ce­li­ke dro­ning tech­ni­que (“the first non-bag­pi­pe Western dro­ne music,” he once cal­led it) caught hold, in its ste­alt­hy way, in the 1960’s with (among others) John Cale and Lou Reed. Conrad’s work and his life asser­ted the importance of lis­tening for the sounds nobo­dy else has heard. He died this year at the age of 76. (Michael Phillips)

• noch kei­ne / oder kei­ne mehr 

Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present (Trailer) from Salzgeber & Co. Medien GmbH on Vimeo.

A film by Hong Sang-soo. In kore­an with ger­man subtitles.

After an affair with a mar­ried man, cele­bra­ted actress Younghee deci­des to take some time out. She tra­vels to the far-off, for­eign city of Hamburg. In a con­ver­sa­ti­on with a fri­end she asks hers­elf if her lover will fol­low her and whe­ther he mis­ses her as much as she mis­ses him. During her long walks through win­try parks and along river­banks she attempts to beco­me clear about her fee­lings and desires.
The ques­ti­on about the mea­ning of love in our lives is a com­mon the­me in all the films of Hong Sangsoo, and yet the ans­wers to this ques­ti­on always appear to just slip from our grasp. Back in Korea, Younghee meets some old fri­ends in the coas­tal town of Gangneung. They eat and drink tog­e­ther and, as is so often the case in Hong Sangsoo’s films, Korea’s natio­nal drink Soju plays an important part. Under the influence of alco­hol Younghee pro­vo­kes, insults and angers the others. Their con­ver­sa­ti­ons get more and more out of hand, giving vent to minor and major rea­li­sa­ti­ons and truths. Afterwards, Younghee with­draws to a deser­ted beach. It seems as if she can only tru­ly find hers­elf in nature.
 

Sorry, this ent­ry is only available in Deutsch.

Bereits am ers­ten Tag des neu­en Jahres gibt es eine Wahl – zwei recht unter­schied­li­che Previews ste­hen bei uns auf dem Programm:

• Weltuntergang, Zukunftsvision, Familien- und Liebesgeschichte, ein letz­ter Sonnenuntergang am Schluss – DOWNSIZING, Eröffnungsfilm der Filmfestspiele in Venedig hat neben der nied­li­chen klei­nen Welt viel zu bieten.
• Cool, hef­tig und bit­ter­bö­se kommt dage­gen THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI daher, der in Venedig für sein Drehbuch aus­ge­zeich­net wurde. 

  

  

  
  

  

  Downsizing 

  

  Downsizing 

  
  

Downsizing

Ein schön pas­sen­der Neujahrsfilm, fin­det doch der Protagonist am Ende eine Art Neuanfang.

In einer nahen Zukunft: die Ressourcen auf der Erde gehen zur Neige, doch ein nor­we­gi­scher Wissenschafter hat eine Methode ent­wi­ckelt, das Problem der Überbevölkerung zu lösen: alle Lebewesen kön­nen ohne Verluste auf ein Miniformat ver­klei­nert wer­den, womit natür­lich an Land, Luft, Essen, Energie super­viel gespart wird. Wer sich frei­wil­lig „schrump­fen“ läßt, kann mit einem kom­for­ta­blen Leben rech­nen, sich ein grau­en­haf­tes Angeber-Anwesen bau­en las­sen und die Zeit mit Wellness, Sport und Sozialisieren ver­brin­gen. Für Paul und Audrey ist dies eine Option, nur kneift Audrey in letz­ter Minute, und Paul steht allei­ne da im Winzling-Reich. Doch auch hier ist mehr Schein als Sein, Drecksarbeiten müs­sen erle­digt wer­den, und Lug und Betrug sind nicht unbekannt.

USA 2017 135 Min. engl. OmU
R.: Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
D.: Matt Damon, Christoph Wltz, Hong Hau, Kristen Wiig

am 1.Januar um 20:00

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

„Anger is an ener­gy” schreibt Brian Tallerico auf rogerebert.com, und tat­säch­lich gibt es viel Wut und viel Energie in Martin McDonaghs neu­em Film. Frances MacDormand klagt als Mildred, der tief trau­ern­den Mutter der ermor­de­ten Angela die ört­li­che Polizei mit­tels der titel­ge­ben­den drei Werbetafeln an, die Ermittlungen, mil­de gesagt, zu ver­nach­läs­si­gen. Der auf­merk­sam gewor­de­nen Presse wird sie sagen, die Polizei sei mehr damit beschäf­tigt, „Schwarze zu fol­tern” als den Mörder zu suchen. Mildred ist, wie auch die gegen sie auf­ge­brach­ten ehr­ba­ren Bürger, nie um einen mar­ki­gen Spruch ver­le­gen, und es bleibt auch nicht lan­ge bei ver­ba­len Auseinandersetzungen, bei denen kei­ne Seite die ver­meint­lich ande­re schont. Wut und Schmerz, Rache und Selbstjustiz, Rassismus, Sexismus und Homophobie – alles bahnt sich sei­nen Weg nach ganz oben, und der um Ausgleich bemüh­te Sheriff Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) ist macht­los. Kaum zu glau­ben, dass wir es mit einer Komödie (eine der dunk­len Art) zu tun haben.

USA 2017 115 Min. engl. OmU
R.: Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)
D.: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell

am 1.Januar um 20:15