Random Thoughts

So apparently… Katzelmacher was a success? According to the Criterion DVD cover, it enabled Fassbinder to make eight (!) moies over the next twelve (!) months.

*sniff* *sniff*

This is one of those eight movies.

This is much better than the katzenjammer film, though.

Is he wearing shoes in bed? Savage!

Is this where Biba Kopf took his name?

Yes! But no! Because the character in Berlin Alexanderplatz is also called Franz Biberkopf.

Wheel upon wheels upon oh that was that Dave Sim comic. I”M NOT GOING INSANE I SWEAR upon a box of turtles.

Finally some civilisation!

All these shots and sets are great. But it is a bit hard to pay attention.

If you held a gun to my head and demanded that I tell you the plot of this movie, I think I’d be able to lie convincingly, but I honestly have no idea what’s going on.

And I like that.

But I’m starting to realise that I don’t really like watching all movies from a single box set in a row? I mean, I love not choosing movies to see, but my previous goes at this, which have been more exciting for me, have involved, like “one movie per year”, which allows a lot of surprises, even if I’m not choosing anything.

So I think I’ll start mixing things up slightly? That is, watch different Eclipse box sets in parallel.

I KNOW> SO INTERSTING

That’s cheap rotwein. Especially since it looks like 1.5l bottles?

I also love the word “tiefkühlkost”.

(Deeply frozen foods, I guess? I almost flunked German in high school.)

Gods of the Plague. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1970.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Was this shot at the same time as Liebe ist etc? Looks really similar

But a different aspect ratio. Shot on 16mm?

This feel like a very improvised, low-stakes thing? Hm… wikipedia has nothing on it… ah, he DVD cover tells the story: It was filmed over nine days and released four moths later.

I think I get the point of this movie? That Germans and Germany are really, really boring? Coming through loud and clear.

I think this was clear after about three milliseconds, but it’s been three quarters of an hour, and the movie is exemplifying what it’s making fun of.

That is: I’m bored silly.

Sillier.

I guess Fassbinder wanted to say something about parochial German attitudes towards fremdarbeitern, and mash that up into a Bresson parody? But it’s not funny and it doesn’t really… work.

Love the coffee table.

Katzelmacher. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1969.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

This is totally riveting.

I may have seen this before? But it’s been probably three decades. And I’ve seen a bunch of Fassbinder’s later movies, of course, but this feels pretty unique.

This is extremely nouvelle vague, but… later?

OK, at the start here I thought this movie was absolutely amazing. But there’s a lot of scenes that… well, they’re just not that fascinating.

I do love the cinematography and the sets and everything, but it’s just hard to pay attention after a while.

Love is Colder than Death. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1969.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Oh, this is by the same director as Goke!

Wow, this Vietnam vet is having a flashback… in 1968!1!

I’m not sure whether this is racist or not.

Poor rat.

Goke was a unique and brilliant movie, but… this isn’t Goke.

I mean, on a scale of cheap monster/horror movies from the 60s, this is pretty good. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 would have some bits to work with, but not a lot. It’s pretty good? But it’s not all that special.

Genocide. Kazui Nihonmatsu. 1968.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

After the sheer brilliant insanity of Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell, my expectations for this movie are unreasonably high.

But the first scene here is brilliant, so perhaps this is going to be another masterpiece.

OK, this isn’t Goke. I mean, it’s pretty good, but it’s… a pretty normal ghost story? It’s well made and it nice and tense…

Love the eye liner and mascara.

OK, they’re not really even trying with the special effects.

OK, I’ve just kinda lost interest now. This started off like some explosive 60s thing, and then it turned into a kinda scary ghost story, but not… it’s kinda plodding now? It’s just hard to stay interested.

This is the director’s second (and final) movie. I guess that makes sense — it’s brimming with ideas that could have really worked, and occasionally does. But like at random.

(And then he went to TV.)

Love the eye liner and mascara.

OK, this film isn’t “good” good, but there’s a number of fascinating scenes. So:

The Living Skeleton. Hiroki Matsuno. 1968.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.