Fassbinder's debut feature seems to be strongly influenced by early Godard films like Breathles or Band of Outsiders in both its gritty black and white style and references to the gangster/noir genres. But where Godard's characters have a playful sense of humor, trying to act their gangster fantasies wearing fedoras and poorly executing non-thought out crimes to the tune of a swinging soundtrack and beautiful woman, Love Is Colder than Death does all with a fridgid, robotic sense of cool. Every shot is like a black and white photo where the acting is like posing in front of mirror before the action (or one of the characters)gets executed. The film is pretty avante-garde in using mostly completely static shots and the characters pretty much act "too cool". They just stare at you as you're supposed to react, then when there's an action, you get surprised and realise it's still in the movie. Forget that the plot is simple, threadbare even, this is an atmosphere piece.
Review of Love Is Colder Than Death
