Happy Xmas!

This is the last screening of this year! UUuu....we managed to get that far, it kinda' amazing! Thank you, let's thank the GSN for supporting this event!

So, tomorrow - a rather unexpected title... Very controversial, but DEFINITELY funny! And all of that just because of Christmas: let's start that year's holiday laughin'. It may be seen as edgy, but I can assure you that that film smashes each and every canon. It's absurd and maybe grotesque humor, a genre that may remind of the rather now-silent DADA. You may also think of it as a post-modern version of Ionesco's plays - all wrapped together and stripped of the great weight of post-war Europe. It's art, just from another angle.

Here's a nice description I found while looking for some materials: "There's no such thing as wallowing in cliche for this movie of Tom Green. It's all about playing with many intangible imagination. Trying to do something both hilarious and shocking (even repulsive) all at the same time and then... Tom just tried to best (or worst depending on your taste) his previous efforts with something even more unimaginable, unpredictable and even unacceptable in ethical norms."

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When: Tuesday, 20th of December, 19:00
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Where: LMU, Biocenter, GSN-Seminar Room, ground floor.
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Freddy got fingered

Starring: Tom Green

Year: 2001

Holy

This is the greatest. Movie. There. Is!
It's definitely my favorite all-time shot: philosophical; very surrealistic; dark humor and extremely critical. And as you can imagine, such a film was truly controversial - from cheap flick to rare masterpiece it covered the entire scale. Jodorowsky is one of a kind and I can't think of any other director that comes even close to his vision. Maybe Dali, Gaudi or Zappa - but none of them has done any films (-ish).

So yeah, I hope I didn't scare you off, or anything. :D

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When: 8th of December, 19:00
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Where: GSN Seminar Room, Ground Floor, Biocenter
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Holy Mountain

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Year: 1973

The Legend

This time, a proposal which came from Jörg. It's of course one of the finest shots of maybe the greatest Japanese directors of all times: Kurosawa.
I asked Jörg to write a short description to the film, here is what he sent me:

Japan in 16. Jahrhundert: Der greise Fürst Hidetora, einst ein mächtiger und grausamer Feldherr, überträgt sein Reich dem ältesten seiner drei Söhne. Blind gegenüber der aufrichtigen Liebe seines jüngsten Sohnes und unfähig, die Verschlagenheit der beiden anderen zu sehen, kommt seine Einsicht zu spät: Ausgestoßen und geistig umnachtet wandert er ziellos umher und muss erleben, wie die Söhne Reich und Erbe ins Chaos und Verderben apokalyptischer Schlachten stürzen.
Akira Kurosawas Werk ist inspiriert von William Shakespeares Tragödie "King Lear", von den aktuellen Traditionen Japans und von aktuellen Endzeitvisionen.
(it's German, so for those of you who don't understand it, be convinced it's definitely worth coming by!)

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When: Tuesday, 22nd of November, 19:00
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Where: GSN Seminar Room, Ground floor, Biocenter
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Ran

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Year: 1985

2!

After the last couple of pretty heavy wight movies that we screened, it's time to return to something more edible. And this doesn't imply by any means a 2nd hand movie.

This one is actually a pretty neat film, with the right amount between dark humor and adventure, packed into a not that common environment: a train.
After a family scandal which almost tore the family apart, one of the three brothers decides to reunite the siblings and thus he organizes a round trip though India. A small mafia subplot accompanied by very brief love affairs help to create a perfect frame towards destroying this mystical plan. To get an understanding of the type of ridiculous geniality which soars though this story, at some point, the train gets lost. Yes!

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When: Tuesday, 15th of November, 19:00
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Where: GSN Seminar Room, ground floor, Biocenter
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The Darjeeling Limited

Year: 2007

Director: Wes Anderson

Wander. Quietly.

A place full of dangers. Unexpected events, mysterious shortcuts and strange vibes. And at the other end, there is the long awaited reward, a holy grail of a very real feel - the only thing one would in the first instance adventure into this realm.

It is a very rich movie, one of the few that require almost mathematical attention to details. But once you'll leave the "zona" many things will bear a completely different light.

Tarkovsky, one of most intense directors that the 20th century was able to breed, was criticized as well as praised for this masterpiece. It relentlessly inspired generation after generation and after more than 30 years it is probably more actual than ever.

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When: Thursday, 3rd of November, 19:00
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Where: GSN Seminar room, ground floor, Biocenter
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Stalker

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Year: 1979

Beauty

The next film is yet another classic, Desire - Wings of.
Because it's my favorite band and because I happen to think that these lyrics are a museful interpretation of the plot, I will paste them here and postpone any other discussion until the closing scene of this masterpiece.

You see half the moon, its crescent, and one of the planets,
maybe Saturn, maybe Jupiter, in the early night sky over Berlin,
through the windows of a taxicab, near Potsdamer Platz

You think: Beauty!
No, this is not beauty, maybe not, maybe, this is the rest of it,
maybe not, maybe, the rest of beauty,
maybe not, maybe, what remains of beauty, maybe not,
maybe, what is visible, certainly, uncertain.
Your arms would not be able to stretch as far as necessary to form an
adequate gesture for beauty
(You know that, don't you?)

So, beauty remains in the impossibilities of the body.


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When: Tuesday, 25th of October, 19:00
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Where: Biocenter, GSN Seminar Room, ground floor
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Der Himmel über Berlin

Year: 1987

Director: Wim Wenders

IMDB: here

The crisis.

For the start of the new semester I propose a very special cine, both hilarious and tragic - a perfect combination of first class acting and detailed directing. Shot in the midst of the cold war, it manages to capture in a most schematic but nonetheless vivid form the ridiculous tensions present throughout the political landscape of that era. Yet, turning on any TV-set and waiting for the news, the same absurdities seem live on disguised as important facts people should be concerned about.

Kubrick, one of my favorite directors, is the master-mind behind this cinematographic landmark, and because he succeeds to artfully decorate every frame I hope we'll have plenty of things to discuss afterwards.

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When: Wed, 19th of October, 19:00

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Where: Biocenter, GSN Seminar room, ground floor

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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Year: 1964