Taxi zum Klo

I just watched the DVD of Taxi Zum Klo, some 25+ years after seeing the original in first release. I had forgotten how graphic and explicit the movie is. I almost wonder if the version I first saw (in the U.S.) was released intact. I didn't remember gay sex scenes clearly showing b/j's and penetration. Maybe I blocked them out.

The overall quality of the DVD is lacking. It's definitely a transfer from video, fuzzy and jumpy. The dim, white subtitles are an exercise in frustration. This groundbreaking film deserves better. I wonder if Criterion would have the balls to tackle it?

It's a good movie, clearly autobiographical. The story is a gay relationship in late 1970s Berlin. The main character, a teacher, struggles to reconcile his political conviction of sexual liberty and promiscuity with the more traditional lifestyle of his lover.

The style of the film is Cassavetes-like. We get the sense that the director--who is also the lead actor-- used his friends and lovers from "true life" to act along with him. Transitions are abrupt, and not always logical. The cinematography is literal and conventional, if not downright crude, but somehow it still manages to yield a couple of shots that are beautiful. The ending feels hurried and unfinished. And it's hard to escape the suspicion that the explicit sex is used primarily for shock value.

Nevertheless, this is an important film in gay cinema and one that anyone interested in the genre's development and history should see. The story line is the essential, if now stereotypical, dilemma of the modern gay male: do we emulate hetero straight values, or invent a new socio-political lifestyle for ourselves? It is a theme repeated in countless other gay films, but never as directly or as raw as it was here, just as a gay cinema was beginning.

"Taxi zum Klo" does not enjoy that great a reputation, due to its explicitness and "amoral" (some would say "immoral") values. Yet, I have the feeling that this film, while by no means great, is not all that bad either. The director-star chose to bare his sentiments in this public forum, and has done so with forthrightness. I picked this film in video form from the shelves of a public library. This suggests that given the passing of time, it will be even more readily available, and that viewers will take it all rather routinely. The film has a point of view and an honesty to it. The leading character may not be one's personal choice for a "hero," yet the fact that this is reportedly autobiographical allows the viewer individual options. As for the film's being "banned," this promises to be yet another futile effort in censorship, which seems largely based on the personal fears of the censors. One thing is for sure, once one sees "Taxi zum Ko," one never quite forgets it.

We checked this film again decades after most of us had seen it first time around. @ Ritzy in Brixton which was bad and independent back in the day. What hit us all, is a moment in the movie where our guy shows his involved in international politics, meeting about Chile etc. He like many gay men is involved in the socialist politics and yet.. and yet where is his moves for individual sexual politics? This really was true back in the day where gay men would be involved in the great left vs right debate but keep their sexual life was a don't ask don't tell and don't expect any gay civil rights involvement from me! This wasn't a myth as Peter Tatchell was an active socialist in the labour part but once his gay lifestyle hit the media, well even the his Party's Leader had to denounce him as a 'poofta'. Political Young folk should watch Taxi Zum Klo to realize how good they have it now.

I watched 'Taxi Zum Klo' in 1985, at my Uni times, at age of 18. That version was a wildly mutilated one, but I had the option of getting the complete version of it much later. Back in 1985, it was the first time I realized I could live a regular life being gay, enjoying it, sharing it. After watching it i told my friends, family and people I loved. Never regretted it. So, this film made a huge impact in my life. I guess there is a small chance of anybody who toke part in the making of this film to read this comment (sadly, not it's director) .If yes, thanks for this film. Twenty years later, I'm more a Frank than a Bernd (LOL), but... thanks anyway.

I guess it doesn't hurt, 'tho. 'Taxi Zum Klo' is an unflinching tale of a Berlin school teacher (played by the film's writer/director,Frank Ripploh)who lives a highly promiscuous life of (gay)sex,drugs,but no rock & roll,however. I admired the film's honesty & bravado in depicting the central protagonist as an irresponsible,immature person, who has no problem cheating on his lovers. I actually felt a wave of sadness when his live in lover finds Ripploh cheating on him behind his back. This film has a kitchen sink,do it yourself look to it that I admired (it was filmed in 16mm & blown up to 35mm). Be warned:Although this film currently carries no MPAA rating,this is a VERY sexually graphic & explicit film that doesn't flinch in it's depiction of gay sexuality (it landed a self contained 'X' rating,when originally released in the U.S.),so only the most open minded of audiences should approach this one