Serenus_Zeitblom Reviews

The Zone of Interest (2023)

Quite special: horror ingredients, and the evil is the camp

[8/10 · 23 March 2024]

The plot is generally known: Rudolf Höß running the extermination camp Auschwitz, "hart wie Kruppstahl", at least on the surface. His family has lived adjacent to the camp, with his wife being even more ambitious than her husband for a "happy" family life, garden pleasures, ... This film is based on accounts of eye witnesses, on research.

Media has reported sufficiently on how Glazer had the original house rebuilt, a cornucopia of built-in cameras therein to create and sustain atmosphere.

And besides Sandra Hüller's incredible performance as Mrs Höß, it is the atmosphere that carries the movie: the sound, the visual and other impressions of Auschwitz. That's why I see it as a horror movie with the harmless in front, people trying to exclude the obvious, but the evil already and always present.

A start, maybe, to read books by Friedländer, Kogon, ... on the NS system, by the way. A difficult movie but worth making and seeing.

Arthur & Claire (2017)

A good comedy is serious in its core

[9/10 · 23 March 2024]

And so is Arthur & Claire, about death & life, about what makes life what it is, about guilt, solace, relations, emotions.

Based on a theatre play, Arthur & Claire is set in Amsterdam. An Austrian egocentric and grumpy square meets an emotional and open young Dutch woman; both share irony and the same idea: to terminate one's life.

And they are quite different at the same time. The rest and how the story progresses, that you have to see for yourself.

It's in German, Dutch, English. Hoekstra's German might be better to grasp than the Viennois of Hader's. Both play their parts well, with Hader being the favourite of mine. This 'Grantler' role, similar to his 'Indien', fits him well. The Amsterdam locations seemed alive and shot from real life, they contribute to a fine film with dry humour within the dialogues. 8-9 stars.

Le Havre (2011)

Simple story, maybe too simple

[7/10 · 21 August 2023]

A poor outcast and shoeshiner within the grey area of Le Havre brings light and colour into his life and that of one very young man. Which role do others play? And what is going on with his wife?

Btw: Kati Outinen does not fit in at all there. Her 'suffering' as well as overhuge Baltic Sea face is supposed to convey emotion, but her personal role is too obvious artificially-inserted. It diminishes and obfuscates the role of the hero, too.

It is the camera that supports the movie, the colours of the harbour, the frames. Apart from that, it's an oversimple fairy tale story, heard and seen a bit often, even though Kaurismäki places it before the background of the migration.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

(Apocalypse Redux): Antiwar movie, for better understanding of Vietnam

[10/10 · 17 August 2023]

The additional "French" scene therein helps with historical facts on Vietnam, explaining why the Vietminh never were "Communists" or Soviet vasals, but plain anticolonial nationalists posing no real threat whatsoever. The futility of the Vietnam War gets more exposure for those who did not know these data points beforehand.

The longer version of 3 hours ist dense enough to be followed. Who likes it much should peek into "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, too, or read Congo by D. Van Reybrouck - This colonialism cum madness in Africa is the pattern recurring here in 'nam.

The film is still not naturalistic, in spite of all extensive effects. It just gives a lasting impression which kind of war better to avoid and what the slope is.

One film to be seen, and I would pick the Redux version if I were you.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Fine plot, good cast: yet too much sound/music effect

[9/10 · 23 July 2023]

The plot is fine both for insiders who roughly know the story of Oppenheimer's and some physics as well for others who just might enjoy the drama(s) evolving in a fine visual way with strong dialogues.

Oppenheimer's an independent mind, thus not fit for the "normal" world. But his academic brillance and courage gains him trust and support within his peers, so that this Jewish Lefty gets the task of organizing the atomic bomb for Roosevelt and the United States against Hitler, one of the first mega-projects in modern times ...

Hence, we have a hero's journey here, especially as some "normal" people might try things (no details, sorry, you have to see for yourself).

Recommendation? Yes, this movie does not feel180 min. The only sad thing that it relies on music and sound too heavily for that, a distraction and disturbance not appreciated by me in general.

Wonder Wheel (2017)

Maybe Allen's quite personal film

[8/10 · 22 July 2023]

I like Kate Winslet in the female lead. A brillant actrice playing a mediocre one, this is high art. Her last scene is already worth seeing.

Justin Timberlake is, hmm, fine as his character has not to be profound anyways.

I appreciate the plot. It's situated on Coney Island already in decay and takes in different perspective from different persons. There is family, marriage drama, Mffia und much more. If you see it from another angle, find out who plays parts of Allen und who those of MIa Farrow.

As in a deep-going psycho-analysis, the cast unfolds these facets of both, Allen and Farrow, in many characters on the background of the 1950s, if you happen to spot the obvious parallels.

8 stars plus.

The West Wing (1999–2006)

Ingenious, at least the first seasons

[10/10 · 6 January 2023]

Background of this series is the Clinton Administration. And you will find extremely many points thereof barely disguised within the intricate plot.

The camera is swift, the dialogues precise (Aaron Sorkin made an early masterpiece). Furthermore, the actors form a good crew. Like, perhaps, the real staff (Clinton reportedly used PCM communicatios methods).

Luckily, an early focus on Lowe shifts later.

The last seasons could be skipped. Relationship problems, exaggerated fictionality, mediocre dialogues, and inadequate casting (Alba as serious contender? Malina anywhere?).

But do everything in oder to have a look into the first years!

Sonntag, Büscherhöfchen 2 (2014)

A sober documentary on a special place to live

[10/10 · 21 March 2020]

Amidst the no-nonsense Oberbergisches Land east of Cologne, a day is portrayed, a day in a luxurious house with some international splendour. Büscherhöfchen 2. Its inhabitants (i.e. mostly: a couple and a dog) sometimes enter the picture, yet mostly it's the house's lavish gimmicks and features that are portrayed. How you are interpreting/evaluating all this - your decision. Without a word spoken, the impression of this documentary by Lina Sieckmann and Miriam Gossing is strong, keeping focus and rhythm.