Mysterious Dude
02-03-2008, 07:54 PM
In a Year of 13 Moons
(1978, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
This is a film made by a man who is much smarter than me. I am sure that every detail of the screenplay has a significance, right down to the fairy tale about a brother and sister who get turned into a mushroom and a snail. I am sure that when the characters reenact a musical number from a Jerry Lewis film, that there is significance to that, as well. I don't know what the significance is, but I'm sure there is. I have no doubt that Fassbinder knows what he is doing. But do I care?
This is the fourth Fassbinder film that I have seen. I have not truly disliked any of the ones I have seen, but I have not particularly liked them, either. I cannot seem to stop watching his movies. There is enough about the ones I have seen that I liked, that I feel sure that he must have made at least one movie that will amaze me. But now I am beginning to think that will never happen. I choose to watch these movies, and then I struggle to come up with anything meaningful to say about them.
Perhaps I should tell you a little about the film. It is about a man (Volker Spengler) who had a sex change operation some years ago in Morocco (and if you're going to get a sex change operation, what better place than Morocco?) and now lives as a woman. She is a parody of a woman, though -- the kind of woman who should never be allowed to stand next to other women, because she'll always look worse by comparison. This is her tragedy, I guess, because she got the sex change for love, and it didn't really work out the way she hoped it would.
I cannot find fault with this movie. (That does not mean there are not faults in this movie; merely that I cannot identify them.) In fact, I like the film, sort of. There are very interesting scenes and moments. I love the scene where a nun describes Erwin's childhood. And Fassbinder does some very interesting scenes with voiceover narration. But for me, it never comes together into something truly amazing.
Anyway, I apologize for wasting your time with all this rambling gibberish.
(1978, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
This is a film made by a man who is much smarter than me. I am sure that every detail of the screenplay has a significance, right down to the fairy tale about a brother and sister who get turned into a mushroom and a snail. I am sure that when the characters reenact a musical number from a Jerry Lewis film, that there is significance to that, as well. I don't know what the significance is, but I'm sure there is. I have no doubt that Fassbinder knows what he is doing. But do I care?
This is the fourth Fassbinder film that I have seen. I have not truly disliked any of the ones I have seen, but I have not particularly liked them, either. I cannot seem to stop watching his movies. There is enough about the ones I have seen that I liked, that I feel sure that he must have made at least one movie that will amaze me. But now I am beginning to think that will never happen. I choose to watch these movies, and then I struggle to come up with anything meaningful to say about them.
Perhaps I should tell you a little about the film. It is about a man (Volker Spengler) who had a sex change operation some years ago in Morocco (and if you're going to get a sex change operation, what better place than Morocco?) and now lives as a woman. She is a parody of a woman, though -- the kind of woman who should never be allowed to stand next to other women, because she'll always look worse by comparison. This is her tragedy, I guess, because she got the sex change for love, and it didn't really work out the way she hoped it would.
I cannot find fault with this movie. (That does not mean there are not faults in this movie; merely that I cannot identify them.) In fact, I like the film, sort of. There are very interesting scenes and moments. I love the scene where a nun describes Erwin's childhood. And Fassbinder does some very interesting scenes with voiceover narration. But for me, it never comes together into something truly amazing.
Anyway, I apologize for wasting your time with all this rambling gibberish.