pei_yin_lin

Die Welle details how a project on autocracy gradually leads to disastrous results. Initially without enthusiasm to teach the topic, Rainer Wegner conducts an unorthodox experiment to demonstrate to his students (equally lukewarm to start with) what life would be like under fascism. Neatly structured by days, the experiment begins with simple disciplines and grows to become an exclusive cult named "the wave" with its own uniform and salute.

Similar to his 2004 film "Before the Fall" which concerns the Nazi's seduction of youth, Dennis Gansel probes the individual psychologies that bring about uncontrollable collective movement, and how personal life is transformed by it. It offers a balanced view on an organisation like "The Wave" by enquiring whether it is a crystallisation of the students' class-free utopia (at the cost of losing individuality) or a community for those in need of belonging and empowerment.

What is frightening is that many (though not all) of them voluntarily follow the conformity through reasoning. Ironically, the mob mentality engulfing the students is what they condemn formerly; even the "anarchist" Rainer finds himself intoxicated with his increasingly idolised status.

An engaging and powerful film with a sense of humour, suspension (terror arises when the light goes off during Karo's anti-Wave poster distribution), twist (Rainer's concluding speech), believable characterisation and excellent acting (Jürgen Vogel, Max Riemelt, and Frederick Lau). Inspired by a true event in California , this intelligent film merits attention particularly because of its non-preaching and humanistic treatment of a heavy subject.

Premiered in 2002, Philippe Grandrieux's controversial second feature film La Vie Nouvelle opens a new type of experimentation with form while at the same time challenging the viewer's tolerance. This film is not used as a means to reflect, but a device probing deeply into the desires and states of mind of the characters. Grandrieux's usual styles - shaky images, techno music, and impulsive camera position (for viewers to approximate the characters' complex and intense emotions) remain. Sex scenes are often shown in darkness and even infra-red, leading the viewer to ponder upon the suggested but unseen violence.

Contrary to the forward-looking title, the new life is a bleak one. At a brothel-like hotel in an East European city, the young American soldier Seymour (Zach Knighton) encounters and becomes obsessed with the prostitute Mélania (Anna Mouglalis). After an initiatory traumatic hair cutting scene, the human trafficker Boyan transforms Mélania into a commodity (she is carried around like a piece of weightless luggage). In this degraded urban space, men's bestiality merges with that of dogs. It is the disfigured bodies and gestures, instead of usual conversation or screams, that depicts the horror. The sensitive Seymour eventually attempts to purchase Mélania outright. Signing a pact with Mélania's infamous master, Seymour is left with a handsome price to pay.

This is a love it or hate it auteur film about control, evilness, objectified bodies, internalised fear, and extreme cinematic expression, with morally-suspect moments bound by Grandrieux's highly perceptive vision and atmospheric images.

CAFÉ DE LOS MAESTROS is not simply a live performance given by the veteran tango masters at the sumptuous Teatro Colón. It is an introduction to the once globally-popular form of music and dance, and an account of its impacts on the emotions of the remaining Argentinean tango stars of the golden age (the 1940s and 1950s). Contrasting Buenos Aries' past (through archive footage) and present (young couple kissing and tourists on the crowded streets), this film yields a sense of nostalgia. The ending in which a musician plays alone amid the vastness of the Teatro Colón, in stark contrast to the earlier festive boisterousness, makes the film a poignant one with similarities to Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club. The music gives us access to solitary artists' thoughts. The frequent jump-cuts between the musicians' on-stage performance and off-stage studio scenes, linked by the tango melody, paint a humorous and amiable picture of these extraordinary artists. But more context (the Montevideo part, and the dance element, is neglected) would help connect the fragmentary narrative of this music-driven documentary.

This film, however, is entertaining and is for everyone, as those uninterested in the musicians will quickly be captivated by their legendary performance at the Teatro Colón. The transcending power of the concert itself makes this documentary a must-see. It is also a valuable cultural project initiated by the Argentinean-American Gustavo Santaolalla and touching testament to the resilience of the human spirit of which tango is an indispensable constituent. Vive la música!