New German Cinema arrives in New York as KINO! 2016 hits town at the Cinema Village

A festival of new German cinema that looks special enough to make TrustMovies want to move back to New York City, this third annual edition of the KINO! fest -- KINO! 2016 -- looks very nearly as good -- diverse, entertaining and timely -- as the yearly Rendez-vous With French Cinema series from the Film Society of Lincoln Center usually is. As of now -- the festival begins this coming Thursday, April 7, and runs through the 14 -- I have viewed only two of the eleven features in  the program, but both were films I would not have wanted to miss. If I have time to cover the other two screeners sent me, I will add them to this post at a later date.

New German cinema seems to get better all the time, and we don't see nearly enough of it here in the USA. Consequently, this yearly series offers an opportunity to catch up, at least somewhat, with what Germany has on offer these days. SUMMERS DOWNSTAIRS (Im sommer wohnt er unten) written and directed by first-time full-length filmmaker, Tom Sommerlatte, is a good example of a very smart, singularly Germanic approach to the age-old feuding brothers-cum-family-reunion comedy drama. If the subject matter seems somewhat old hat, its execution proves a hell of a lot more than that.

The location is actually France, where a clearly quite successful German family has a summer house, in which one brother, Matthias, a charming ne'er-do-well played by Sebastian Fräsdorf (above, left), is vacationing with his French girlfriend (Alice Pehlivanyan, above, right) and her seven-year-old son (an excellent debut by young William Peiro, below).

These three are suddenly and unexpectedly joined by very different brother, David (Godehard Giese, below, left), and his wife Lena (Karin Hanczewski, below, right), and very soon tempers and much else are flaring out of hand. But wait: The film is full of small surprises and unexpected turns. By the end of its 98 minutes, actual change has occurred, and in believably small increments. Characters we expected to dislike intensely have become instead very flawed human beings worth consideration, even love.

The movie is a model of its kind: effective, never pushy, and beautifully written, directed and acted. Catch it if you can. It plays the festival at NYC's Cinema Village on Tuesday, April 10 at 1pm, with director Sommerlatte in attendance for a Q&A.

Few filmmakers in my lifetime have made such an immediate and semi-lasting international impression as Germany's Rainer Werner Fassbinder. If many of his films have not stood the test of time particularly well (a few certainly have), his reputation as a bad boy who made some good films has endured, and this new documentary about the man and his work will be a must-see for those of us who remember his movies and his relatively short time in the sun (he died in 1982 at age 37).

Nowhere near the rank of Welles, Hitchcock or any of the "greats," his oeuvre, I suspect, will take a permanent place somewhere closer to the echelon of, say, Woody Allen, though the two filmmakers have little in common except their secondary (but that's still pretty high-level) rank.

The excellent documentary, FASSBINDER, by writer/director Annekatrin Hendel, shown at left (from an idea by Juliane Lorenz), tries and very often succeeds at giving us a relatively intimate look into this transgressive-for-his-day artist, along with some of his interesting work.

It will help immensely if you've seen many of his films -- which I suspect will be the case for the older audience who seeks out this movie. The documentary shows us the filmmaker back in the day, along with interviews with many of those people -- actors, producers, lovers and the like -- who worked with him and were also responsible for much of his films' success.

These would include his leading ladies like Hannah Schygulla (above), Irm Hermann (below) and Margit Carstensen, and filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff, Their words and remembrances keep the film frolicking along, despite the often sad and angry life led by Herr Fassbinder, who was not, as this warts-and-all documentary shows, what anyone would call a "nice" man.

How Fassbinder treated his various lovers -- he was a homosexual who married two different women and fucked (and fucked over) a number of male companions along the way -- as well as from where the inspiration for much of his work came (the absence of central figures in the filmmaker's life is one of these) are made clear. Most interesting perhaps will be the tales told here of his earliest work -- Love Is Colder Than Death and Katzelmacher -- which are lesser known to many of us than his later films. Also of interest is his workplace style: "Praise, humiliation; humiliation, praise," as one actor puts it. His feverish pace -- 44 films for theaters and TV in some 16 years -- was achieved in part by having one project in production even as another was being filmed.

The documentary, more personal and rich than anything else I've seen about this fellow, also has a lovely beginning and ending in what looks like some kind of magically lit studio where the man and his movies might have taken shape. It is difficult to imagine that this film will not get some kind of at least limited theatrical release. Just in case, however, anyone in the New York City area should hightail it to the Cinema Village on April 8 at 6pm and/or April 9 at 2pm, where the doc's director will appear at both screenings for a Q & A.

You can find the complete roster of movies in the KINO! 2016 festival, along with a description of each, by clicking here, while the the time and location schedule can be found here. Note that the opening night film will screen at NYC's Landmark Sunshine Cinema, while the all others will be shown at the Cinema Village -- with the exception of the recently restored version of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which will screen at Manhattan's new Metrograph Cinema, and Decoder, which will screen at Goethe Institute.

HAMMER OF THE GODS: Matthew Read/Farren Blackburn's naughty Norsemen saga surprises

Warning: TrustMovies was ready to hit the STOP button on this film after the first scene -- in which a young boy on a cliff above the sea notices a Norse ship arriving, runs to warn his Saxon people, after which the occupants of that ship decimate the menfolk of the village and then one of them cavalierly says, "They were just fucking farmers" or something of that ilk. Ah, the entitlement of the Vikings! Still, we haven't had a decent Viking saga in a long while, so if you are in the mood for some-thing a bit Beowulfy (but without any Grendel, not to mention his dam), HAMMER OF THE GODS, now available via Netflix streaming, just might do the trick.

Did I say no Viking sagas? Well, there was Valhalla Rising, in which, as he most often does, Nicolas Winding Refn sacrifices his movie on the altar of style and violence. Hammer of the Gods certainly has plenty of the latter, but fortunately it doesn't shove the former so fully in our faces. (Scenery-wise, it's quite nice to look at, though.) The movie also has a pretty good plot, which unveils itself quickly and proceeds along at a sprightly pace, as directed by Farren Blackburn (above), from a screenplay by Matthew Read.

The story here is simple but effective: Old King (James Cosmo, above, right) is having trouble keeping his subjects, not to mention his conquered, in tow, so he sends son #2, called Steinar (played by Charlie Bewley, above, left, and below, right), to find his previously banished son #1 (Hakan, played by Elliot Cowan, below, left), taking along son #2's little band of stalwarts, along with the frightened and somewhat groveling bastard-son of the king (Theo Barklem-Biggs).

Along the way, adventures occur, usually of the clanking-swords and spurting-blood variety. A young woman (Alexandra Dowling, below) is added into the mix -- surprise! -- then later an older, sexier one (blond oomph-babe, Glynnis Barber) arrives on the scene.

The most fun, however, is provided by an actor named Francis Magee (below), playing a fellow named Ulric, whom our little band needs to direct it toward son #1. On the IMDB description of Hammer..., there's a mention of a gay slur used in the film. Well, all right, but since Ulric himself appears to be gay and proud of it -- he arm-wrestles son #2, whom he calls "Princess," telling him that, should he win, he'll bed down "Princess" for the night and show him a real good time -- I  think we can forgive that slur. As Ulric puts it, or something to this effect, "Doesn't matter how great a fighter you are, you play around with a couple of boys, and your reputation goes south!"  Mr. Magee has a grand time in this role, and so do we, watching him.

In terms of plot surprises, Hammer saves its best for the last -- always wise -- and its best is pretty damned good. The finale is creepy in a whole new manner, and I'll say no more so you'll just have to view the movie to feel those "creeps" coming on.

Hammer of the Gods is available now via Netflix streaming, Amazon Instant Video, and perhaps elsewhere -- as well as on DVD & Blu-ray.

All photos are from the film itself, save that of Mr. Blackburn, 

which comes courtesy of Robert Viglasky. 

Avi Angel's HERE I LEARNED TO LOVE: two brothers' Holocaust history explored tardily

They're arriving weekly now, these remembrances of horror and hope. The latest is another family journey made by brothers, now in their 70s, as they track their own history in the 1940s from Poland and the Jewish ghetto through escape, fleeing through local fields, impri-sonment again, and on to Hun-gary, Germany, Switzerland and finally Israel. One brother, Izhak, is much more familiar with the tale than his younger sibling, Avner, who has long preferred humor/avoidance as a means of getting by.

As written and directed by Avi Angel, shown at left, HERE I LEARNED TO LOVE is short (just 60 minutes) and to the point. Almost at the beginning we hear someone (I am guessing it's the filmma-ker) explain, "Avner Kerem (shown below, foreground), my sister-in-law's father, never spoke about his experience in the Holocaust as a child. When he turned 70, he accepted my offer to set out with his older brother Izhak (below and behind Avner) on a journey that would trace their survival route and perhaps, on the way, important insights would be gained."

The above is pretty close to exactly what the film achieves. From an early scene in which the brothers spar lightly about their various medicines (and end up toasting by clicking their pill boxes) through the journey they take, the facts that come to light, along with the feelings they engender, turn this short film into yet another unusual and moving Holocaust story.

The film is based on a memoir written by Izhak called Three Mothers for Two Brothers, and the heart of the tale involves the three women who acted as mother and protector to the siblings: their birth mother, her sister (or perhaps sister-in-law) into whose care the children were given when their parents were taken to the concentration camp, and finally another young woman, Naomi, who became their protector in one of the camps.

The details of the story are full of the kind of specificity that startles and moves, and their effect on Avner (above, who has, up to now, kept himself from leaning of them) is major. For Izhak, who already knew all this, the goal is to finally share this with his brother.

Of all the specifics we learn, probably the most moving and awful is that of the aunt who took the children from their birth mother. Already herself pregnant, how she saves the brothers and then is herself made childless, is as horrible as it is memorable.

One thing I would have liked to know, as the film moved along, was who these brother are now -- who they had become. At movie's end, the filmmaker gives us this via still photos and written information. This is a quick and efficient way to manage this; adding it into the film itself would probably have increased the running time to that of a full-length documentary.

Here I Learned to Love (that title and where it comes from is probably worth an entire film unto itself) opens this Friday in New York City at the Quad Cinema, where the filmmaker is said to be making some personal appearances during the run.  Check the Quad's website (above) as the opening nears....

Duplass brothers' short, smart DO-DECA-PENTATHLON brings mumblecore full circle

Like The Puffy Chair on steroids, the newest film from those ubiquitous Duplass brothers, Jay and Mark, seems in one sense to have brought their mumblecore experience full circle. In the decade since the arrival of m'core (and the few months since its critically-declared demise), these two brothers have gone on to make several more m'core movies and then bring their own distinctive brand of it to (or near) mainstream with films such as Cyrus and Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Not to mention the burgeoning acting career of Mark, who has graced a number of films of late -- from Darling Companion to Your Sister's Sister and Safety Not Guaranteed with perfor-mances good enough to indicate a possible second large career.

Now, with the advent of THE DO-DECA-PENTATHLON, the two film-making brothers -- shown above, with Mark on the left (and, look, there room for you to squeeze in between them!) -- are back at the mumblecore spring. And rather than showing it to be dry, they prove it's bubbling up a gusher of fresh water. Instead of the often passive protagonists found in so much of the m'core genre, these writers/directors give us a pair of brothers (nothing autobiographical here, I am sure), who, since childhood, have not stopped competing -- their most recent foray into the fray having led to an estrangement that has gone on for some time.

Now, during a birthday-centered family reunion (to which one brother has noticeably been uninvited but shows up anyway), this competition flares again -- with results that are funny, sad and, yes, sentimental, but, thank goodness, also short and sweet.

What makes this movie so much different from so much else in the m'core archive is its fraught situation (time is very limited) and the utter insistence of the two guys that they will/must finish this com-petition. All this gives the movie a forward thrust unlike any other m'core I can remember. (Even the in bro's would-be mystery thriller Baghead, there was quite a sense of dawdling to be observed.)

These filmmakers have clearly been learning on the job, for they now waste no time before pushing us into the midst of things and getting their very capable cast cracking with more than able performances. The roles of the brother are of course key here, and as Mark, the one who is now married and gone somewhat to seed (and fat), Steve Zissis, above, is a consistent delight.

As his also seedy, but a lot sexier, brother Jeremy, Mark Kelly (above) proves a perfect foil for Zissis, and together they make the film consistently enjoyable. Supporting roles are just that, but the rest of the cast does a bang-up job of providing that support -- especially Jennifer Lafleur (below, right) as the wife, Julie Vorus as the pair's mother, and newcomer Reid Williams (evidently not on the IMDB yet) as son and nephew to the bros.

As filmmakers, the Duplass brothers keep growing. Their choice of incident and how to frame same grows ever smarter (their Jeff, Who Lives at Home, is also terrific in this regard -- despite the additional task of having to keep several plot balls in the air simultaneously). They still feel the necessity to do that odd zoom-in thing, with the camera sort of hiccuping as it moves. This loony zoom is strange, calling undue attention to itself, but it's no deal-breaker. (Maybe they see this camera move as some kind of signature? Or perhaps it's just an accident?) If I ever get the chance to interview the pair, that'll be my first topic of discussion.

Meanwhile, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, 78 minutes, from Red Flag Releasing and Fox Searchlight, opens this coming Friday, July 6, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, and in Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Pasadena Playhouse 7.

On-Demand: Bryan Poyser's LOVERS OF HATE via SXSW and IFC

Mumblecore starts screaming in LOVERS OF HATE, a movie executive-produced by (among others) the Duplass brothers. The arguments arrive pretty much non-stop and often occur with the volume raised. And yet the film is a rather genre-less type. You could call it a dark comedy, but it's also a non-love story, as its three lead characters, however much they try, seem nearly incapable of any real amour. Too light-
weight for a drama, the movie certainly has elements of a mystery thriller, and you'll be amused by some of the clever changes it rings on the old scenario of the "secret intruder in the house."

Written and directed by Bryan Poyser (shown at left, who also made Dear Pillow), the movie -- painless to watch and relatively short -- is most of all about brotherly hate, which is here raised a notch or two above what you may yet have encountered. Jealousy that spikes during a visit of one brother (a highly successful writer of boys' fantasy/
adventure books who's pretty much a loner) to the other (the forever unsuccessful sibling who, at least, is married to an attractive women) sets off the latest competition.

The film moves from the flatlands to a gated resort area of Park City, where the wealthier bro has a mountain home. Here, we're treated to some low high-jinks involving two people who do not realize that a third is on the premises -- leading to some weighty question such as, What do you do when you can't flush the toilet because someone might hear? The ensuing complications are pretty funny-- if a little gross.

Zach Green is charming in the small role of a guard at the gated community. Otherwise the movie is completely dominated by its three leads, and quite good each one proves to be. Chris Doubek (seen on the poster at top and two photos up) plays the harried and harassing failure, Heather Kafka (above, right) is his none-too-faithful wife, and Alex Karpovsky (above, left) is the successful and pompous brother.  Mr Karpovsky, who can also be seen in the just-released-to-DVD Beeswax, appears to be quite good at staying just this side of sleazy in his semi-romantic roles.

Lovers of Hate, which made its debut at the recent SXSW fest, is available now On-Demand via IFC's Festival Direct program. Click here for the how and where to get it.