german – PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – Luz

Luz (2018)
Written and directed by Tilman Singer

I decided to do a different kind of film series for December. There were several films that I had been adding to my Watchlist based on either enjoying more recent work by the filmmakers or simply curiosity. So, for the first half of December 2024, I will give myself a Christmas present, watch through nine of these pictures, and write up reviews. The last week and a half of the month will be focused on my Favorites of 2024 lists. This first film ended up on the list due to enjoying this year’s Cuckoo, filmmaker Tilman Singer’s sophomore effort. We reviewed that film over on the podcast, and while it didn’t blow me away, I enjoyed the point of view and style and wanted to see what Luz was like.

PopCult Podcast – Kinds of Kindness/The Teachers’ Lounge

Two tense new releases are our focus in this episode. Yorgos Lanthimos delivers a triptych of tales about twisted versions of love. A teacher in Germany becomes caught in the drama of thefts in her school and decides to record who is doing it.

Movie Review – M

M (1931)
Written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
Directed by Fritz Lang

David Fincher must really love this movie. Zodiac has oddly become a comfort watch for me, mainly because of the procedural nature of the story. Something is compellingThere’s about watching the various investigators – detectives, journalists, puzzle makers – stumbling through crime scenes & strange clues, trying to make sense of things while the city of San Francisco is experiencing an increase in paranoia & tension as a killer walks among them. Having finally watched Fritz Lang’s M, it’s evident that much of what I loved about Zodiac was Fincher’s riff on this German classic.

PopCult Podcast – Perfect Days/Tokyo Story

Two quiet slice of life dramas get the spotlight this week. Wim Wenders finds poignancy in the life of a public toilet cleaner as he makes connections. Ozu delivers his humanist masterpiece with a quiet family epic.

Patron Pick – The Zone of Interest

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

The Zone of Interest (2023)
Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer

A droning echo from deep in the bowels of the underworld is the first thing you hear as the screen remains black. This is a descent into Hell. The music distorts and warps, communicating this mood of decay & rot. It is also a signal that this will not be a film about the spectacle of war or even the direct horrors of the Holocaust. Instead, this will be a story from right on the periphery. The title, The Zone of Interest, was a term Nazis used euphemistically to refer to the complex of over 40 death camps in Auschwitz, Poland. Filmmaker Jonathan Glazer uses his talents to deliver a story about genocide unlike any other I’ve seen. This is a film where the details are withheld, and it is through inference that the true horror emerges.

PopCult Podcast – Miracle on 34th Street/The Shop Around the Corner/Christmas Sitcoms

We went to court to learn if Santa was real. Then it was quick stop to pick up some things at a general store in Budapest, before heading home to watch some classic Christmas episodes.

PopCult Podcast – Passages/Cat Person

Two more 2023 releases are spotlighted in this episode. The first is a very modern love triangle centered on a filmmaker who is extremely difficult to like. The second may be one of the worst adaptations of a short story we’ve ever seen.

Movie Review – Stroszek

Stroszek (1977)
Written and directed by Werner Herzog

Bruno Schleinstein was a German artist & musician whose life was filled with struggles. He was abandoned as a baby during the Nazi regime. Bruno was mentally disabled and became one of those orphans experimented on by the fascists. He never received visits from his family despite knowing who they were and that they were ignoring his existence. Even after the war, Bruno was shuffled from one institution to the next with little regard for his humanity. Along the way, he learned the accordion, and music would become one of the few things that soothed & comforted him. He was eventually dumped onto the streets and made his way as a street performer, being spotlighted in a German documentary about this subculture. This film caused Bruno to come into the purview of Werner Herzog. The director saw great potential in Bruno as an actor and cast him in The Enigma of Kasper Hauser. He followed that up with this semi-biographical film with Bruno playing a fictional version of himself.

PopCult Podcast – Afire/Theater Camp

One of the most prominent German filmmakers today delivers his latest film which prove disappointing. Then we hop the bus to go visit the grounds of a Broadway kids camp.

Movie Review – Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas (1984)
Written by L. M. Kit Carson and Sam Shepard
Directed by Wim Wenders

By the time 1984 rolled around, New German Cinema as a formal movement was over. The directors (still with us) were still making movies, and many still are. Rainer Werner Fassbinder died from an overdose of cocaine and barbiturates in 1982, the same year this new wave of cinema is said to have ended. Germany was just five years away from reunifying its West & East fragments. The country’s fate was now tied even more closely with the rest of the continent and America. Wim Wenders’ work has always held a fascination with that link between nations, and Paris, Texas, eschews Germany to focus entirely on America. Wenders recontextualizes the Western genre, placing it in modern-day Texas and exploring the return of a “stranger” from out of the wilderness. The story is steeped in the mystery of a blazing romance that burned up everyone involved.