Reviews

I've been watching a lot of Fassbinder recently and this one feels to be lacking something - at least for the first hour or so.

I was, as always, greatly pleased to have my emotions manipulated in an obvious manner, and felt really angry about the racism in German during the 1970s, just as I was meant to. I felt contempt for the 70s clothes everyone was wearing, too. (I feel we have come a long way in both areas). But the film woke up for me when suddenly the racism of the people vanished, and it solved nothing: we were faced instead with the Turkish man's inability to adapt to German culture. I was so expecting a pessimistic ending (with which I felt I was going to vehemently disagree), yet instead there was optimism.

Nonetheless, I would still recommend The Marriage of Maria Braun and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant ahead of this.

(Watch out also for Fassbinder showing once more that he is at least Tarentino's equal in the acting department.)

I watched exactly 19min 26sec of this film, and I don't think I shall ever come to terms with the waste of my life that it constituted. I am in general of a persevering character and I've sat through some boring films in my time, but after watching the start of this film I feel I just can't take it any more.

I say above that this comment contains a spoiler because I think I'm right in saying that nothing happens - and I really don't want to spoil it for you if you're intending to watch this film under the belief that something probably will happen, even if it only happens after a long time.

Goddamn it, you've got to entertain your audience with something!! I don't care what it is: a plot, cinematography, acting, profundity, dialogue - anything. Why is this even shown anywhere? Why has anyone paid this man anything to make this unspeakable work? What gets me too, reading the highly-rated comments here, is that anyone should compare this to the sublime film-making of Bela Tarr. Have they not noticed that every shot in Bela Tarr's films is a vision of composed beauty, whereas this man seems deliberately to have set out to point his camera at the dullest scene he could find? This is like nothing on earth. (Yeah, I agree, it reminds me of Zabriskie Point, but only insofar as it's shot in the desert in California and there's some people having sex on the mountainside).

Please, do not watch this film - you will only encourage such people to make them. But, of course, if you're reading this, you probably have just watched it - and I take pity on you.