mingus_x Reviews

Sunday (1961)

Protest for Free Folk Music on Washington Square Park

[10/10 · 21 October 2003]

Dan Drasin is a talented cameraman and director in one person. It is unbelievable that he was just 18 years old when he shot that movie. The framing under live circumstances is great as is the editing.

This movie let's you feel the energy and emotions of that moment. It is really intense and makes one wonder how he got out at the end without being harmed. An important historic document.

It is the first Social Protest Documentary Film of the 60s Movement. Dan Drasin told us at the end that he got his equipment and film stock from his collaborating friends D.A. Pennebaker and the Maysles Brothers. So this really was a time where people were able to go out and do something within a short time (with a little help from their friends).

At the Vienna International Film Festival it was shown together with his short film "X" from 1962 [a gem, which makes it even more a shame that it isn't even listed on IMDB's database](and Robert Frank's "Pull my daisy"), that shows his talent of telling a story with a "message" in an effective and amusing way.

Hopefully somebody like the Criterion Collection is able to collect them together with some other short films of that period and releases them on DVD.

Der Untertan (1951)

As great as Fritz Lang's "M"

[10/10 · 19 October 2003]

This is a must see movie. Werner Peters and all the other cast members deliver superb performances. It has got an ensemble of top german character actors playing together on the same high level as we are used to get from the best of Preston Sturges' movies.

The photography of Robert Baberske is a sheer delight, both lighting and framing are masterly done.

If you have enjoyed Fritz Lang's "M" than you certainly will enjoy this one. The appeal of the story and characters may a bit more specific german, but the moral and "message" is timeless and is true to all western societies.

Comedic film jewels like this are not made anymore - this makes it even less understandable that there is no DVD version around yet. (I know for certain that a top notch flawless negative for a digital transfer exists !!!)

This Transient Life (1970)

a visual(cinematographic) delight

[10/10 · 14 October 2003]

This movie has the best cinematography i have seen in years. It is as dense, perfect staged and lit as the opening sequence of Orson Welles' "Othello" during the whole movie. The actors are superb casted and the story resonates. -

Furthermore it has got an astonishing soundtrack: a combination of western harmony (classical music) mixed with sounds heard in the japanese No-Theater; it perfectly sets accents and structures the time and space(themes).

I was mesmerized the whole time through and am very thankful to Ronald Domenig, the initiator of the "Art Theatre Guild" retrospective at the Austrian Filmmuseum for showing and personally translating(subtitling) it.

This has been a movie experience that will stick with me.

Eros + Massacre (1969)

still fresh after 33 years

[10/10 · 14 October 2003]

The opening sequence is framed an cut in such a modern way that you would think that you are in a movie of the present. It totally graps your attention and doesn't let go till the end.

If you have any chance to see this movie in the original 202min. cut - use it !!

Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)

clean? :-) fun

[8/10 · 14 October 2003]

If you really are looking for a good time in a movie theatre - watch this movie ! It has been said that some of Kubrick's visual and sonic ideas for "Clockwork Orange" were inspired by this movie; after having seen it, i'm more than convinced that this is true.

This movie offers a lot of cinematic ideas and it uses surprising ways to make a point within a story.

What is the reason that films with a spirit and mood like that have vanished from the screen ? Have the politics in the movie industry really become so strict ? This movie watched nowadays has (but maybe had always) a subversive feel to it, why is that ?

It definitely offers something different and therefore would be very welcome in movie theatres and videostores around the world to free us from all the uninspired formula movies.

Anna ot 6 do 18 (1994)

a beautiful and touching movie

[10/10 · 21 October 2002]

in my opinion this is nikita mikhalkovs masterpiece. it is a very honest documenation of life and growing up in front of a camera. in the end there will be no one left who didn't get touched by the russian attitude towards our stay on earth.

Sans Soleil (1983)

thinking, memorizing, feeling in images

[10/10 · 28 July 2002]

a memory in pictures. everyone in the world should make such a visual personal statement/essay.

there is no better way in communication. ...and all this films should be released on DVD. let's start with Chris.Marker's "Sans Soleil".

[who ever got the rights on this one, start digitizing and polishing sound and picture and afterwards release it on DVD, everyone should get the chance to see it]

Im Spiegel der Maya Deren (2001)

looking back on VISIONARY CREATIVE cinema

[10/10 · 27 July 2002]

wonderful soundtrack by john zorn

meetings/interviews with stan brakhage, jonas mekas, ... (every time a great pleasure to see them)

[besides: we need all brakhage films out on dvd!]

a lot of original film clips of maya's movies (this is the best part, especially worth mentioning is the footage from the haitian voodoo documentary, since i had never seen it before - i love it, it is accompanied with original music from maya's magnetic tapes recorded at the time of shooting in haiti. a lot of vitality, a lot of energy - you can almost feel it !

there are also a lot of original soundclips of maya's voice used in this picture (very good sound quality, it really brings her to life for all of us)

a definite must see

[so release it on dvd for repeated viewings include all of maya's movies in an uncut version on an extra disc, PLEASE !!!]

Brakhage (1998)

an EYE opener

[10/10 · 27 July 2002]

a wonderful, honest documentary

a lot of short clips of his movies are included (a seldom chance for a fan to get a view on them on television)

spread the word: visionary, creative filmmaking is alive !

please release it on dvd!

(let's open a broader publics eyes for innovative filmmaking - in this age of dull formular cinema making, where everybody doses away and loses even the rest of his imagination)

wake up to maya deren and stan brakhage !!!

Wild at Heart (1990)

Beyond and Back

[10/10 · 21 July 2002]

Never since this movie has David Lynch created a world as emotional as this. This is his absolute masterpiece: music, casting, photography, ... everything sticks together perfectly, forming an absorbing lynchian vision in rich details. When you leave the cinema it stays with you - you are not able to forget certain images (frightening ? ;-) Like a dark power it makes you want to see it again and again - but MGM doesn't release it on DVD, although John Neff has already finished the 5.1 Surround Sound Remaster, why ? The Blue Velvet SE was a perfect first step in the right direction, do it again with >Wild at Heart< and a loyal community is going to follow in big numbers.

Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana (1994)

this movie celebrates the will to survive

[10/10 · 10 January 2002]

i really love this movie. it has so many unique and wonderful characters. every one celebrates his individuality. so many bizzare gadgets: a built in vinyl record player for cars, a coffee machine also in the car to ease one of the main characters need for the black drink (when there is no vodka around). a finnish road movie. slow pace, but lovely mood and the will to survive through the darkest night. very recommended. enjoy your life as long as you can and try to watch this movie before it ends ...

The Inner Scar (1972)

landscape of the soul and the meaning of life in celluloid

[10/10 · 10 January 2002]

one of the worlds most underrated directors and one of his early masterpieces (besides 'les hautes solitudes'(jean seberg_those wonderful eyes, those secret moments !)). i have seen those movies about ten years ago and since then desperately try to make it all happen again, but monsieur garrel hides his work in paris from the outside (video)dvd-world, why ??(why not, he may answer since his french production company has got this name) please hear(read) this and make at least one of your admirers life joyful again...

The Velvet Underground and Nico (1966)

static images that start moving in your mind (music as drug)

[10/10 · 10 January 2002]

wonderful meditative music (at the beginning a cloud of noise, after 20 minutes it gets you and suddenly(after 70 minutes) the film is stopped by the police and you don't want to leave the cinema, because you got to have more of it). a miracle has happened, you can be sure. every one in the band is sitting and playing his instrument (nico and ari play the tambourine) and seem stoic. you don't have to shake your hips like todays music industry owned clowns to capture the audience. the secret formula is in the music not in the faces or bodies. this is a movie as document, not as black and white visual masterpiece, but it works out in the best way you can imagine. try to see and hear it, as soon as you can. on all people that have got something to do with owning the rights to this movie (after the last cd-releases of early john cales dream syndicate stuff and velvet underground live-performances), please publish this on dvd and you will be honored ...

The Front Page (1974)

one of the best scripts ever

[10/10 · 4 January 2002]

one of the best examples that a good script (plus in this case a wonderful cast) makes a good movie. 2/3 of the movie plays in one room and there is not a single dull moment. this movie makes you laugh and laugh with one witty line after another. for me it is the best and funniest work of billy wilder, straight followed by 'witness for the prosecution' and 'the apartement'.

Duck Soup (1933)

marx brothers (as always:-) at their top

[10/10 · 4 January 2002]

this is really one of the best marx brother films. right there with animal crackers and a day at the races (my personal favorites). it is a shame that Universal has withdrawn their DVD license from Image Entertainment and has since then (over a year now) not released any DVD of the Marx Brother Movies under their own label. especially this movie has to be seen, for a kind of performance that is lost nowadays. there are a lot of people all over the world asking for an immediate re-release in the DVD format (i know that, because i publish a marx brother fansite)