Hard-working German actor Jürgen Vogel plays the serial rapist Theo in Matthias Glasner’s almost unbearably grim The Free Will (Der Freie Wille). When we meet Theo, he’s heavy-set and angry, working at the cafeteria of a seaside youth hostel. Within minutes of the film’s beginning, he spots a potential victim, knocks her off a bicycle [...]
Posts Tagged ‘belgium’
Konsum: Poodlesitting
Poodle-in-law Bo needed my loving attention and finely honed dog-walking skills last week, so I only saw three new films along with the never-ending (and frequently repeating) slew of half-watched classics that drifted by on suburban cable TV. Expect this ratio to shift dramatically when I hit the Berlinale next week.
In Bruges. Martin McDonagh, 2008. [...]
L’Iceberg
Sort of like Dead Calm, but with mimes. This twee Belgian comedy tells an absurd love story about a freezer-burnt hamburger cook who goes searching for the perfect floating piece of ice. The film’s conceived by circus performers who turn each scene into a tableau for slapsticky visual gags. Endearing and intermittently brilliant, but overlong [...]
Free Willy
It’s not that I can’t tell a killer whale from a serial rapist — it’s simply that the dumbest puns sometimes amuse most, especially when they offer mild relief for otherwise unbearibly grim tales of doomed love and ill-fated desires. Benten’s fourth DVD release Der Freie Wille (The Free Will) streeted last week (yes, it’s [...]