Werk ohne Autor

I had time to check out this film yesterday and decided to go for it despite its 3 hour and 9 minute running length. I have seen von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others and The Tourist (the latter of which was awful). The Lives of Others was great though, so I was in anticipation to see what he would see next. Pay no mind to the running length of this film, its an astounding and really fantastically gripping film that is actually quite inspiring.

The film is about the life of an artist named Kurt from his childhood to adulthood and the events in his life that inspire him to become the artist that he is. Early in his life his aunt is euthanized during Nazi, Germany because of suspicions that she may be schizophrenic. Growing up he struggles to find his calling in life but little does he know that the events of his past are what are present in his current day life, unbeknownst to him. I know this wasn't a really in depth summary but that is intentional as I want you to go see this film and experience it for yourself.

From the opening moments in the museums art gallery to the closing moment of Kurt staring at the camera, this is an alluring viewing. Its beautifully shot and is inclusive of a wide range of emotions and life processes including love, hate, death, despair, ambition, and determination. I liked the love story in the film as well. Normally you would see couples in films bicker but in this film its pure love, passion, and support throughout.

Apparently the film is loosely based on the life of Gerhard Richter. I can't really comment on that accuracy but I will say that the blurred paintings of photographs that Kurt paints are absolutely wonderful. Its so nice to see him finally have that moment and find his true calling and his real motivation for painting. I was actually inspired by Kurt's journey in his life and finale finding that recipe for success. In many ways I can relate.

I was a huge fan of the moving score for this film. Especially in latter stages of the film where it was so effective and just so perfect fit. The acting is good all around and at times the film utilizes subtle humor. I could have actually sat through another hour of this film because it embodies so much of what I wish films would these days.

I'm not often really moved by pictures like I was with this. Every scene in this long film is important as it comes back later. Its just pure art in cinematic form. I rarely ever hand out ratings this high but I really feel like Never Look Away is very deserving of that honor. Indeed, its hard to look away from the beauty on display in this film. Just a truly moving experience that I recommend to everyone.

9/10

This is a fantastic movie, historical drama and philosophical essey on art at the same time. The runtime might seem a bit long, but once the movie gets your attention, it never lets you go. The well-written charcters are full of life, which delivers a complex yet relatable story throughout the history of XX. century Germany. The film is also beautiful, awesome cinematography. And an inevitable piece if you want to understand the thouhts behind modern art. While the english title is good (Never look away - the primary thesis of the movie), please also notice the original title (Art without author). Recommend 10/10

I watched this at home on BluRay from my public library. My wife skipped, she doesn't like to see movies with subtitles.

I studied German for two years in college, while I can't converse in it anymore I was able to fit the German dialog with the English subtitles.

While there are several intersecting stories the main thread is Kurt, a boy of 8 in 1937 Nazi Germany, being exposed to various forms of art by his 20-something aunt. As he grows, and WW2 comes and goes, he develops into a quite good painter. He eventually has to escape to West Berlin to be free to develop his talents. The story extends through the 1960s.

Part of the overlapping story is of the Nazi programs to purify their race, to see to it that even Germans who had some sort of affliction were terminated, and this was the fate of his aunt who had the occasional emotional malfunction. As it turns out Kurt unwittingly marries the daughter of one of the evil doctors who it seems had named his daughter Elizabeth, the same as Kurt's aunt.

This is a really good movie and at just over 3 hours didn't seem overly long, I can't think of any scene that I would cut. However I watched it over three different sessions with some overlap each time. In the extra on the disc the writer/director explains, in English, how he modeled his story off a real German artist who developed through this same period.

I am reluctant to write my review of this film, only because I fear I won't do it justice. This film is a masterpiece of the first order. According to Wikipedia, it received a 14-minute standing ovation when it was first shown at a European film festive. I can testify that it received a 14-minute standing ovation in my living room.

We follow a small circle of characters through approximately 30 years of tumultuous history. We are intensely interested in the fate of each of them. There is humor, pathos, agony, exhilaration, discovery, closure, wonder, and astonishment in every scene. The acting is astounding, as is every other aspect of movie making. Bach's beautiful "Sheep May Safely Graze" is used throughout the movie; ironically, of course, because in Hitler's Germany, the sheep were not safe.

My life has rarely been changed, set on a new path, by a film, but I can say this one has done it. I wish the same for you. Watch it over a period of two days, because you probably won't be able to take it all in in only one.

"Never Look Away" is a seriously good movie. It tells the life of Kurt, a German artist born just before the Nazis took power, who survives the war and studies in East Germany under the Communists, eventually ending up in West Germany and trying to find his own style. The story is engrossing, the acting is good, there are some beautiful nude scenes, excellent camera work, interesting characters, and the insight that all totalitarian societies treat their artists as means to an end. What stops it getting a rating of 10/10 is that everything is just a bit too much. Kurt's beloved aunt Elizabeth, an early victim of the Nazis, is heartbreakingly, almost inhumanly, beautiful. Perhaps she is seen that way by her 8-year-old nephew; but he already shows the precocious artistic talent to see things as they really are. There is a Bad Guy in the film, and he is unremittingly, almost inhumanly, bad. This is not just an artistic failing. By having the Bad Guy so evil, it tends to distract the viewer from the fact that the Holocaust was conducted by ordinary people, not super-villains. The film is long, at 3 hours and 8 minutes. It doesn't feel like that, and I didn't find myself looking at my watch. But it could have lost, say, half an hour, and would have been better for it. And the music is a bit overdone, a bit too emphatic. "Never Look Away" is a very good film that could have been better.