Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

  We're moving back in time a little bit and over the Berlin Wall to examine a piece from the Western part of Germany.

Emmi (Brigitte Mira) is a widowed cleaning lady of a certain age.  One night, during a downpour, she takes refuge inside a bar frequented by guest workers.  As a joke, one barfly dares Ali (El Hedi Ben Salim), a much younger Moroccan,  to ask the older lady to dance.  This sparks a romance that leads to marriage.  Although happy with each other, Emmi and Ali face criticism and social ostracization for their relationship on all sides.

Watching this film, the obvious parallel is Harold and Maude, but I couldn't help but be struck by how similar it was to Loving.  I don't know if Germany (East or West) had miscegenation laws, but they don't exactly have a good track record of welcoming others who do not fit the categories of White and German.

1974 was only about a generation and a half past the second world war and Hitler's regime.   The building of the wall caused a massive shortage of labor for West Germany.  Labor that had to be imported, which then caused resentment and fear over the sudden influx of culturally different guest workers, many of whom stayed long past the date on their work visas.  You can see the parallels now with countries arguing over refugees amid fears of terrorism and blaming the collective because of the actions of a few.  Fear eats the soul.  And the only way to combat fear is through knowledge.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

  I think you could make a strong case for this being a better film than its predecessor.

In the future, mankind has still been hunted almost to extinction, even though the original plan to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) failed.  Another attempt is made, sending a more advanced Terminator, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), back to the time line when John Connor (Edward Furlong) is a kid.  Future John manages to also send a reprogrammed older model of Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to protect himself.

I don't know what to tell you people that have never seen this, except that you have done yourself a grave disservice.  Everyone needs more of this movie in their lives.

Sadly, the copy I have on the server looked like it had been spliced together from separate clips so there were these weird overlap points of repeated scenes.  It just means that I have to buy another copy.  No big deal but it did detract a little from the experience.

Loving (2016)

  This was nominated for Best Actress at this year's Oscars. 

In 1958, Virginia still had miscegenation laws that prohibited marriage between races.  Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton), a white dude, married Mildred Jeter (Ruth Negga), a black woman, in Washington, DC, before returning to their home in Virginia.  They were subsequently arrested and jailed, then sentenced to exile.

Yes, really.  Exile.  Like the middle ages.

Fast forward eight years and three children.  The Lovings are living in a cramped row house in DC.  They are approached by a young lawyer from the ACLU named Bernard Cohen (Nick Kroll) after Mildred wrote a letter to Bobby Kennedy, who championed Civil Rights causes.  Cohen wanted to use the Lovings as a landmark case to push to the Supreme Court in order to overturn miscegenation laws across the country.

And that's it.  There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about them as a couple.  They certainly weren't the first mixed race couple in America, or even the first to get married.  They happened to be married at a crucial junction in American history, and held up as an example to force legislation.  I don't know that it was necessarily fair to the Lovings as a couple.  They had to go through a lot of ostracization and fear, both from institutions like the state and local government and law enforcement, and from fellow citizens.  That kind of (justified) paranoia destroys your peace of mind.

As a piece of legislation and history, the importance of Loving v. Virginia can't be overstated.  As a movie, however, ehhhhh.  It is glacially paced, with quiet, subtle performances from its lead actors.  Important?  Yes.  Accurate?  Probably.  Fun to watch?  No.  So don't go in expecting big, dynamic, tension-filled moments of high drama.  That is not what this movie is about.  But if you want to see some beautifully restrained performances from Edgerton and especially Negga, by all means.

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

  We're moving into more recognizable names now as we hit the end of the original quadrilogy.  I think I'll categorize Prometheus and its follow-ups as a separate series.  What do you guys think?  Continued lineage or cadet branch?  Tell me in the comments.

Weyland-Yutani may have knuckled under, but evil scientists remain evil.  Aboard a military vessel coasting outside the legal boundaries of space, General Perez (Dan Hedaya) accepts a shipment of very special cargo from the pirate crew of the Betty, in exchange for a hefty fee and some R&R.  On-board, however, the crew discover that Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been recreated from DNA particles recovered from Fiorina 161 and used to harvest a queen alien.  Call (Winona Ryder), the newest addition to the Betty's crew, knows that where Ripley goes, death follows.  But of course it's too late.

This was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and written by Joss Whedon, already marking a departure from the three previous films in the series.  Jeunet is known for The City of Lost Children, Amelie, and Delicatessen, while Whedon is best known for Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Avengers.  Jeunet brought several of his go-to actors, including Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon.  Whedon brought his space pirates.  Together, they created an Alien film that is totally different from any other Alien film.  Whether that is good or bad is strictly up to you.

Personally, I like this combo.  I have liked every Jeunet film I've seen, Ripley is at her most badass, and most of Whedon's work is absolutely top-notch for creativity.  (I have issues with BtVS.  Sue me.)  There are some pacing issues for sure, especially if you watch the 2006 extended edition, which you shouldn't.  Seriously, even the director was like "IDK why this exists."  Just watch the regular theatrical release.  It's fine.

Solo Sunny (1980)

  I didn't get a chance to watch any other movies this last week except for my German class curriculum, so you're getting a twofer.

We're still in East Berlin, except now we've moved to the glam rock decade.  This film was not penalized like Trace of Stones and was actually a huge crossover hit.  The film's star won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in West Germany for her performance.

Sunny (Renate Krossner) is a singer trying to make it big in the East German pop scene but just can't seem to break out of her rut touring with more traditional variety acts.

As a character, Sunny is a total badass, determined to live life on her own terms and to hell with anyone else.  Naturally, this puts her at odds with the socialist lifestyle, which emphasizes collectivism.  Everyone is equal, which means no one is a star.  She's also sexually liberated, which is constantly under threat from various men, from the guy desperately trying to claw his way out of the friend zone, the bandmate that just won't take no for an answer, and randos at every bar who think that "musician" equals "easy".  It's little wonder that she comes off as abrasive.

The film suffers from some pacing issues and some fairly cringeworthy editing.  I don't necessarily recommend it based on those flaws but it is an interesting portrait of a woman trying to break free of traditional gender expectations in order to express herself as a totality, instead of a collection of parts.

Trace of Stones (1966)

  Our continued tour of German films takes us to East Germany in the mid-60s.  This film was one of twelve (an entire year's output) that were banned by East German authorities as critical of the socialist regime.  It had an eight-day theatrical run because they had already spent the money to advertise for it, and then was promptly shelved until the Berlin Wall came down.

Told in a series of flashbacks, the story concerns the punishment of Werner Horrath (Eberhard Esche), the Communist Party leader of a struggling petrochemical plant.  Horrath had come on board to deal with the many issues, including material shortages, lack of communication between departments, and a rogue group of carpenters led by Hannes Balla (Manfred Krug).  What Horrath didn't count on was falling for Kati Klee (Krystyna Stypulkowska), the lead engineer.  Klee, Balla, and Horrath circle each other in an ever more destructive pattern, leading to the foregone conclusion of the frame story.

This movie was incredibly frustrating to watch.  The filmmakers were heavily constrained in what they could say and show, so a lot is alluded to but never makes an appearance.  Not that it made a damn bit of difference because the government shelved it anyway.  I'd like to think that if they knew that's what would happen, the writer and director would have just swung for the fences, but movies are as much about politics as they are about stories and that kind of thing just didn't fly at the time.

This is an interesting film in the context of expressions of German cinema and reflections of life at the time but not on its own merits.  Avoid unless you're taking a class.

The Terminator (1984)

It's time to work my way through another franchise!  Hopefully.  I haven't had a lot of luck recently with finishing things.  I'm still not through all the Alien movies and I haven't finished any of the TV shows I was watching.  It's been a rough week.  Like an "I almost walked off my job and had to file and HR complaint against my management" kind of rough.  So I'm sorry I didn't get to post anything yesterday.

Honestly, I had kind of forgotten that I already reviewed this but it's always worth it to go back and shame Christy for never having seen this film until 2012.  Originally posted 24 Jul 2012.    Christy had never seen the original Terminator.  Apparently, she's been watching T2:  Judgment Day for years convinced that it was the first one.  The "2" in the title was some affectation, presumably.  After making fun of her for a while (you can't lob a softball like that at me and expect me to NOT swing), Rob and I got her a blu-ray of it and settled down to watch some glorious 80's sci-fi.

Mom jeans were not your friend, Linda Hamilton!



Anyway, if you haven't seen the original Terminator you should be mocked as thoroughly as those jeans.  But just in case you've been living in an Amish community for the last 30 years:

A killer cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back through time to 1984 from the future in order to kill the mother of the human resistance fighters before he can be born.  To prevent this, a freedom fighter named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is also sent back to find and protect Sarah Connors (Linda Hamilton) so she can fulfill her destiny and become the mother to the savior of humanity. 

That's really all there is to it.  You can get it on blu-ray from Target for about $10 so there's really no reason to not see it.  The effects don't hold up as well as some of the other films from the time but they're good enough to get the job done.