★ 2 / 10
Fassbinder attempts a screwball comedy and, well...let's just
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Fassbinder attempts a screwball comedy and, well...let's just pretend it never happened.
Fassbinder attempts a screwball comedy and, well...let's just pretend it never happened.
★ 8 / 10
This movie and Haneke's "The Piano Teacher" both
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This movie and Haneke's "The Piano Teacher" both mock the notion of the madness of genius, but while Haneke portrays it as a kind of horror movie filled with…
This movie and Haneke's "The Piano Teacher" both mock the notion of the madness of genius, but while Haneke portrays it as a kind of horror movie filled with dread Fassbinder approaches it as a breathlessly crazy screwball comedy.
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★ 10 / 10
This might bother some of Fassbinder's more 'serious
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This might bother some of Fassbinder's more 'serious' fans, but this is probably my favorite of all his films (that I've seen, anyway). Kurt Raab, usually…
This might bother some of Fassbinder's more 'serious' fans, but this is probably my favorite of all his films (that I've seen, anyway). Kurt Raab, usually Fassbinder's production designer, takes the lead role, giving a very Peter Lorre-ish performance as down-and-out leftist poet Walter Krantz. Unable get an advance from his publisher due to a lack of productivity, and under pressure from his unpleasant wife (Helen Vita), he struggles to make money, interviewing a prostitute for an upcoming book project which never materializes, blackmailing and murdering a variety of women, and even taking in a sycophantic female admirer (Margit Carstensen, almost unrecognizable) to get enough money to stay afloat. His murder of a masochistic mistress is under investigation by a slightly unhinged cop (Ulli Lommel, later to become a director himself), but Walter is more concerned with making money, and then later, his new obsession with the idea that he is in fact the reincarnation of homosexual German poet Stefan George. Bookended by a quote from Antonin Artaud, the film wears its Theatre of Cruelty influences on its tattered sleeve, with frenetic performances, outrageous dialogue, and bizarre, often offensive situations. I don't want to spoil too much, but if you like weird stuff, this is most definitely for you.
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seed, please!