Directed by Michael Haneke The Castle is a bureaucratic, alienating nightmare based on an unfinished Franz Kafka novel. In it a man named K. arrives to a wintery, barren village with the promise that he is to be made the Land Surveyor. When he arrives no one knows of such arrangements and he is instead … Continue reading The Castle (1997)
purgatory
Yella (2007)
Directed by Christian Petzold Yella takes place in some sort of limbo, much like Petzold's most recent film, Transit. These characters exist just outside of any recognizable time and place, and though there are signs indicating the existence of the real, recognizable world in Yella, our main character never feels a part of it. Yella lives in … Continue reading Yella (2007)
Kings of the Road (1976)
Directed by Wim Wenders Kings of the Road is a hangout movie, following a hermit projectionist, Bruno, and a recently divorced man named Robert. They meet when Robert interrupts Bruno's idyllic morning routine by trying to kill himself, though perhaps as a way of shying away from the darkness of a suicide attempt, his effort … Continue reading Kings of the Road (1976)
Transit (2018)
Directed by Christian Petzold Transit exists outside of time, at least any sort of familiar sense of time. It's Casablanca set in the modern day, but that blend of past and present, without getting into the more symbolic elements, makes our own social history feel so immediate. A period piece film having to do with Nazi-occupied France would … Continue reading Transit (2018)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Directed by Harold Ramis Groundhog Day is an existential comedy about a grumpy weatherman who must repeat the same unappealing day over and over again until he can figure out the right way to live. This is a premise-driven movie that never wastes time explaining why he's found himself in this time loop. Instead Phil … Continue reading Groundhog Day (1993)
Zama (2017)
Directed by Lucrecia Martel It's hard to know what to make of Zama, at least on a first glance. On the surface it reminded me of movies like A Field in England (2013) and, by the end, Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) or Fitzcarraldo (1982). These are all movies set predominantly outdoors, in some aspect of the wildness … Continue reading Zama (2017)
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