Saw an excellent movie tonight from Criterion : "Phoenix" (2014) directed by a guy named Christian Petzold. He is a German filmmaker who I think is one of the best currently working out of Europe. I've seen several of his films, including "Barbara", "Jerichow" and "The State I Am In", all top notch. Petzold has an identifiable style : he chooses simple but unique stories about human relationships and the way that a crisis situation can affect the people involved. His films are spare : few actors, little to no action, dialogue that informs the story but nothing extraneous. His pacing is slow but constantly moving forward - hypnotic is a good word - and he pulls you inside every film he directs. You can't stop watching a Petzold film, and his photography and sense of color is exquisite. He reminds me of Krzysztof Kieslowski ("Three Colors Trilogy") in his technical perfection. I won't go into too much detail about "Phoenix", because it is so good that I don't want to give any spoilers or even make headway. It is the story of an Auschwitz survivor who is brought back home to Germany by a Jewish woman friend who hid in Switzerland during the war. She sets the Auschwitz victim up for facial reconstruction surgery, which when completed leaves the woman looking somewhat like she used to, but not quite.
The woman then wants to see if she can find her husband, a Gentile who is a pianist. She was a nightclub singer before the war, and they had an act together. She being Jewish was arrested, while he went free.
This is a big part of the plot, so I'll tell you no more, except to say that she does find him, and he does not recognise her. However, he is interested in her due to what he perceives as a slight resemblance to his "late" wife (who he believes has died), and he enlists her in a scheme to impersonate his wife to collect money that was stolen from the family bank account by the Nazis. But she really is his wife, and he does not know this.
Man, it is one hell of a set-up, storywise, and director Petzold plays it out for all it is worth. The other thing about Petzold that makes him great is that he gets it about movie length. Most of his films are right around the 90 minute mark, my ideal length for a film (in most cases). "Phoenix" runs 98 minutes, never drags, and every scene counts. It's a love story more than anything, but laced with possible betrayal and the hope of redemption. I give it a 10, and two big thumbs up.
Well, Elizabeth, I don't know if you are still reading, but it was nice to see you post something on FB, even if it didn't have anything to do with me. That was a great photo (as usual) and I am glad to see that you are enjoying your Summer. I keep hoping that you don't wanna throw this whole thing away, our communication over the past five years, because I have thought we made a good team and I have hoped you got something out of it. If you remember, when I met you, you were planning on getting your degree in linguistics, a worthwhile pursuit but your heart wasn't in it.
Well look what has happened instead! I know that I didn't "do anything" to make that happen; it was all your hard work and initiative, and talent. But I hope I provided some of the inspiration. :)
I won't bug ya anymore about it, but I just hope you'll consider that some good things have happened since 2012. And also, I still don't know what the problem is. If you wanna tell me, I'm all ears.
Other than that : mega-tired as usual; trying not to be depressed. It's not easy. I am a believer that communication can solve all problems, or at the very least bring understanding to all problems.
Communication opens things up; people speak about what they feel, and in doing so they are unburdened, because they are releasing something that is bothering them, i.e. getting rid of negative energy. Sometimes, a person will hold in such a problem because they might feel it won't be understood or cared about. And that causes communication to stop. But when trust is in place, there is no need for this to happen. That's why I say "you can tell me anything".
I will write more tomorrow, maybe more rock concert stories. It was Super Hot today : 111 degrees! And in the old days, say 2014-15, that would have meant exploration and hiking, today it just wipes me out because I don't want to have depression at my age. I have said, for many years and because of our age difference, that if anything ever happened and you didn't want to communicate any more, to just please let me know. That was all I ever asked, nothing more.
To be cut off without a reason given is what hurts, and at my age, after all I have written to you, it's causing a lot of depression. Communication is better.
I hope I deserve at least a send off, if that is to be the case.
But if it's just a communication problem, something that is bothering you, just let me know so that I can understand.
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