O Assado de Satã

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1976 dark comedy that for all intents & purposes is not for everyone. A sardonic writer is strapped for cash & looks for any way to refill his coffers. He lives w/his dying, neglected wife & his brother, who is virtually non-communicative, loves to play w/dead flies & occasionally pinch the breasts of any strange woman who visits their apartment. Our anti-hero may not share his bed w/his hausfrau but he does invite a hooker over to the house for love-play (his wife has to foot the bill) & he tortures a number of sycophants (female of course) who fall sway to his supposed powers of verse while bilking them of any funds they have on hand. Not to mention the fact he killed a woman in the first reel & an annoying police detective keeps coming around sniffing for clues. More of an attack on creative pursuits (in this case the artistic scribe) than an out & out laugh-fest, this is an excoriation of all things literary (at one point our blocked writer declares he has broken through & begun writing again only to be found out he's merely a plagiarist) w/all the attendant lunacy & fake hosannas mere mortals thrust onto writers when in reality there may be no there, there. Not a particularly likeable fable to be sure, this film still should be screened for those Fassbinder's completists (for a man who made so much in so little time before his untimely demise) hoping to gain some insight into the man's work & his outlook on the vaulted elite.

If this film were made in English, I have no doubt it would be a cult classic. Fassbinder ups the comedic ante more-so than I've ever seen him do before. Granted it's still black humour, but its his own blend of slapstick and dark comedy. Picture a. theater of the absurd, almost put forth as a farce, but with Fassbinder's usual biting sarcasm and cynicism, and ultimately leading to an eruption of statements about the psychological limitations of admiration and desire. A familiar theme in Fassbinder's work. In fact, the whole movie plays like a joy ride through professional and relative oblivion, only the characters and the actors seem to be enjoying themselves throughout countless identity crisis, dead flies posing as relatives, simulated sexual murder and what-not. Heh.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder was one of the leaders of New German Cinema in the '70s. His movies often dealt with post-war Germany and how it sought to atone for its sins. Otherwise, he simply depicted shocking things. An example is 1976's "Satansbraten" ("Satan's Brew" in English).

This movie focuses on a writer who hasn't written anything in a while, his acquaintances, and some zany occurrences. If you think of German cinema as no-nonsense and grim, Fassbinder's comedy will show you that this is not always the case. Mind you, it's not silly comedy. More like shocking stuff with a humorous element. It certainly manages to keep the audience engaged.

Basically, Fassbinder gave us some of the best that German cinema has ever had to offer. This mix of anarchic comedy and serious drama is an experience like no other. Definitely see it.

I can't give Fassbinder less than a 6 or 7 for anything. this "screwball comedy" effort is nothing if not unique. it has a very fast "noises off" type quality and might play better on stage with lightning quick changes/entrances and exits etc.

as it is... it's not unamusing but I have to admit I was ... not any more impressed with it the 2nd time I saw it than I was the first. "mannered" would be another word to describe it. the phrase "busy busy busy" also comes to mind. it would not have suffered from having the Volker "Ficken Fliegen" character removed and the enormouos number of times people spit at one another might have been lessened to no loss of comedic effect.

for me "the bitter tears of petra von kant" is a brilliant but very black comedy. this more overt "haha" attempt to deliver laughs... falls short in a lot of ways, leaving various components with elements left to be desired shall we say... yeah I guess I feel certain that a somewhat toned down version of this film would be a superior one.

still just for originality I'll give it a 7

I had seen quite a few Fassbinders when I came across this one and was blown out the door. It is not only one of his funniest film, but a kind of humor that is really unique. Of course, being Fassbinder, it is dark, but there's also a sense of the darkness becoming comical in its haphazard unfolding. Smaller characters emerge and add depth. This isn't the usual RWF setup where one or two characters disintegrate under a microscope. This work's phenomenal density is all the more astonishing given Fassbinder's tremendous output (and ironic given the plot is about a blocked/dysfunctional writer). Don't miss this.