schrifthsteller

The filmmaker made an essay film, showed it at film festivals, received positive feedback — but than didn't found any distribution for theatrical release, because there isn't any audience for these kinds of films, especially in times like these, when it's getting more and more difficult to make people spend their time and money seeing any kinds of films in cinemas anyway. But Hartmann was driven by the need to share the film with an audience on the big screen nonetheless, so he contacted cinemas all across Germany directly, asking them if they were willing to show his work in special screenings. 66 said "yes" and so Hartmann traveled around the country, equipped with a camcorder, filming the cinemas and interviewing its makers, producing a portrait of the German shrinking cinefilic landscape. Most of its few protagonists are well aware that they are most likely to disappear quite soon if they are not getting financed by communal and/or state funding, which is, of course, not very cool for a mind sets defining themselves by their independence in thinking and acting. It doesn't feel right to get money by a welfare state to offer alternative views on and about the exact same welfare state and its cultural mainstream. Either you play a part in this hypocrisy or not. Either you are dead wrong or dead. Alternatives offered by some voices in the film —, which is pleasantly easy to watch, edited with remarkably ease for rhythm and timing, by the way —, is the transformation of the cinema structure leading to multi-functional, cultural spaces (film, theater, cabaret, lectures, etc.), film museums and the complete melting of the distinct, idealistic cinematic filmmakers island into the art worlds'vast oceans and its ever changing waves. 66 KINOS is a relevant documentary and document about the state of the art.

I'd go that far as too say that ANOMALISA is almost as dense and multi layered as the E.T.A. Hoffmann classical story DER SANDMANN, also including the puppet as a major metaphorical figure, the one Sigmund Freud used to explain the Uncanny in his prominent essay. The film can be read as a story about individuality and individualism in our times and/or about a mean psychosis coming alive and/or male and female sexual longings and/or a typical mid-life crisis of a semi-famous man realizing how detached he feels to his entire life and/or a desperate, sincere prayer to a God perceived as the ultimate puppet master doubled in the puppets within the story and double doubled within the dreams of the puppets within the story etc. ANOMALISA is surely a complex little film, but luckily at the same time told very straight forwardly and laid back, almost relaxed, which makes it easy to watch it through — and just beautifully animated from the puppet faces to the lightning choreographies within the virtual, shoe-box like spaces. Sometimes it is funny and sometimes dramatically sad, often it is both at the same time. Almost always it is intellectually stimulating and a pleasure for your eyes and ears.

GET OUT manages to create a clean story line which works on at least three layers at the same time: The manifest, the obvious layer on the surface allowing you to get the „what the …"-effect just before the final act when the latent layer, the what-they-were-really-thinking-layer, gets revealed. And I think it's quite clear that their is a third, thematic layer, dealing with how deep racism sticks within the - what? soul? cultural memory? genetic code? - of these people. And it works as a cinematic experience: it's shocking, it's funny, it's ugly, there is suspense, there are well composed, symbolic pictures, clean again, with no grain and with a well figured out, mostly warm color concept. Still I wasn't very exited when I left the theater and I don't know really why. Was it the acting? No, especially Daniel Kaluuya did an impressing job. The lack of originality? No, there are references to other movies, of course, images one to one resembling the bubble with the Tree of life in space in THE FOUNTAIN, only here it sinks down, while there it's raising, but the idea to show racism as horror within the codes of the genre is actually quite unique and quite brilliant. Is it because it all nevertheless feels too constructed to touch my feelings? Yeah, I think that might be the point. The topic is dirty, but the filmmaking is just way too clean.