Celeste Cid in "El amigo alemán" [2012 Germany, Argentina]

Jeanine Meerapfel's "El amigo Alemán" [English Title: The German Friend] is a romantic drama centred around the daughter of German émigrés, and set against the backdrop of some turbulent decades of Argentina's recent history.

Storyline:
Young Sulamit's Jewish parents are concerned about her growing friendship with their neighbour Friedrich, also from Germany, owing to his father's secret Nazi-past. But despite their objections, Sulamit (Celeste Cid) and Friedrich (Max Riemelt) will fall in love. When Friedrich learns about his father, he disowns him and travels to Germany, hoping to unearth his father's misdeeds. Sulamit follows him shortly after, but is disappointed to see that Friedrich had become a prominent member of a left wing student group, affording little time for their relationship to grow. When Argentina comes under dictatorship, Friedrich travels home to join the insurgents, and is promptly taken prisoner by authorities after a bungled operation. Sulamit had tried to move on with life, but realises that she couldn't love anyone the way she does Friedrich, and waits...

The film is reasonably well-made, and even though there have been several memorable films made about the dictatorship years, what sets this apart is the Jewish émigré angle - and their point of view.

 

The Nudity: Celeste Cid and Max Riemelt
There is brief nudity from Celeste Cid and Max Riemelt in a couple of scenes, and one more of Sulamit when she befriends German lecturer Michael (Benjamin Sadler).



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Marika Lagercrantz in "Lust och fägring stor" [1995 Sweden, Denmark]

Coming of age is a bankable subject for cinema, and even mediocre productions tend to fare well at the box office. But just occasionally, a film comes along to delve deeper than the customary hormonal overflows and infatuations. Bo Widerberg, a film critic turned master filmmaker, takes the genre to a different level with his Academy Award nominated drama, "Lust och fägring stor" [Eng. Title: All Things Fair].

Storyline:
It's war-time Sweden, and fifteen year old Stig (Johan Widerberg) is a keen student at school and dutiful son to a working class family in Malmö. Apart from the household chores, he also helps his family by working at the local cinema after school. When Viola (Marika Lagercrantz) arrives from Stockholm to take charge as his new class teacher, Stig finds himself attracted to her elegance and charm, despite also being aware that she's more than twice his age, and is already married. Viola too likes the attention she's getting from a handsome young man, and before long they embark on a passionate affair, due to which he becomes a regular visitor to her house, and even befriends her melancholic husband Kjell (Tomas von Brömssen). Stig will grow increasingly uneasy with the illicit arrangement due to various factors, and tries to build more 'normal' relationships, with his beloved soldier-brother Sigge (Björn Kjellman), and his slightly younger neighbour Lisbet (Karin Huldt). Viola isn't too pleased with the changes in Stig, and it becomes clear that there is only one way for their relationship to go - downwards...

This was not only Bo Widerberg's last film, it was also one of his personal films, drawing some of the events from his own childhood. He even cast his young son Johan to play the lead. The film not only explores sexuality, but also the nature of lust, friendship, family values, moral dilemmas, war, and above all else, love - not as such the teenager's crush on his teacher, but a husband's unconditional love for his wife. Widerberg had studiously avoided being compared to his country's more illustrious film maker, but Bergman's influence can nevertheless be felt, particularly in the details and formal compositions. But Widerberg comes into his own in the manner in which he portrays his characters during different stages of the film.

The film's cinematography and production design is exquisite, as is the classical soundtrack, but special mention should be made for the performances of the main actors, particularly that of Tomas von Brömssen who plays Kjell, the drunk husband of Viola. "All Things Fair" could so easily have degenerated into a torrid exploitation film in the hands of an ordinary director, but in Widerberg's hands, has turned into something altogether sublime. Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Marika Lagercrantz, Johan Widerberg, and Karin Huldt
While there are several instances of nudity in the film, none of them are gratuitous, and they're mostly relevant in telling the story.




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In a world without love - "Mala" [2013 Argentina]

s a screenwriter and director, Adrián Caetano has made some fine and memorable films in Argentina, but his latest crime-fantasy drama "Mala" [Eng. Title: Evil Woman] is likely to be remembered more as an oddity...

It begins with the words, "Once upon a time, in a world without love..." and proceeds to tell the story of a professional female assassin - Rosario, who caters to a clientèle made exclusively of scorned housewives. A paraplegic divorcee (Ana Celentano) hires Rosario to 'slowly' kill her former rancher-husband Rodrigo (Rafael Ferro), now happily married to a younger, prettier woman, and about to become a father. Rosario joins the ranch as a vet to try and get closer to Rodrigo, before the storyline veers off at a tangent...

I'd tried to make sense of the incoherent film but have since given up. For a start, we have no less than four different actresses playing the assassin Rosario - Liz Solari, Florencia Raggi, María Dupláa, and Brenda Gandini. I'm all for surrealism, but this isn't Caetano following on the footsteps of Buñuel's That Obscure Object of Desire. It isn't even tongue-in-cheek humour, but perhaps intended to signify the psychosis of both the Ana Celentano character and her former husband Rodrigo. But I doubt the director has pulled it off satisfactorily, due to factors like patchy performances, average cinematography, and more specifically the unconvincing screenplay. I wouldn't want to go into detailed analysis as I could be here all day; suffice to say that this is certainly not the best work from this otherwise fine director. I'd however heartily recommend his earlier films like Bolivia and Pizza, birra, faso...

 

The Nudity: María Duplaa and Florencia Raggi
There is brief nudity during a shower scene of Rosario where you have a braces-clad María Dupláa turn into a super-athletic Florencia Raggi. The film also features implied sex scenes like masturbation and female-on-male rape.


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Sexual repression and defiance in post-revolution Hungary - Egymásra nézve [1982]

Among Eastern European directors, Hungarian Károly Makk has been a favourite in western film festivals over the years, for his elegantly subdued direction, and the haunting atmospheric images that he uses to reflect the politics and circumstances of his characters. His drama "Egymásra nézve" [Eng. Title: Another Way] is set against the backdrop of a recently crushed 1956 Revolution, and concerns a lesbian affair between colleagues at a Budapest-based news magazine.

Storyline:
The film starts with the discovery of the body of Eva (Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak) in the woods - she had been shot in the head. Meanwhile, at a hospital, Livia (Grazyna Szopolowska) is recuperating after a near-fatal injury - we're told that she'll never be able to walk again.

The film rewinds to a year earlier, and we see Eva, arriving for her new job as an investigative journalist at a news magazine. She will share her office with Livia, an attractive, married young woman, who also works for the publication. Eva had made no secret of the fact that she is lesbian, and has been attracted to Livia the moment she set eyes on her. Livia likes Eva too - she admires Eva's skill, intellect, and integrity, but is hesitant to reciprocate Eva's desires - understandable, considering that Livia has a lot to loose, and that's not only her marriage. But they do fall in love, and before long, Livia decides to end the marriage and tells husband Donci (Péter Andorai) about her affair. Unable to accept the separation, he shoots Livia in the bath.

The husband is taken into custody, and a bitter Livia will reject Eva too, who by now has already got herself fired from her job for refusing to alter some facts from an article she'd recently written. While travelling through the countryside during the night, she's hailed by border guards from a distance and asked to stop, but is shot when she fails to do so.

Based on a novel by Erzsébet Galgóczi, this was the first film in communist Eastern Europe to openly deal with homosexuality, so one can guess the controversy the film must have courted during its release. Makk makes a succinct, but nuanced comment on the after effects that the brutally put-down revolution has continued to cast on its people. I find the Palme d'Or nominated film - both in terms of artistry and technical merit, to be just as accomplished as the finest from the French New Wave. Needless to say, this slightly obscure little gem from a director of repute is Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

 

The Nudity: Grazyna Szapolowska and Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak
There are three scenes of nudity from the beautiful and young Grazyna Szapolowska who plays Livia, and one of these is a lesbian scene with Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak (as Jadwiga Jankowska), who plays Eva.



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Greisy Mena in "La vida precoz y breve de Sabina Rivas" [2012 Mexico]

Mexican filmmakers never seem to grow tired of their country's infamous gangs - Luis Mandoki's crime drama "La vida precoz y breve de Sabina Rivas" [Eng. Trans: The Precocious and Brief Life of Sabina Rivas] is set in towns bordering Mexico and Guatemala, where a young Honduran girl with dreams of becoming a pop star after making it to the United states gets caught up in a vicious circle of exploitation, and slavery.

Sabina Rivas (Greisy Mena) has stars in her eyes, and a local club in the border town offers her the opportunity to perform before an audience. The only catch is that she will need to take her kit off while singing. She nevertheless agrees, and for her services, is given a manufactured Mexican passport by the club's owner Doña Lita (Angelina Peláez). But at the border, she attracts attention from immigration officials - Burrona (Joaquín Cosio), and Patrick (Nick Chinlund) - an American. After Patrick has his way with her, she's allowed to return back to club Tijuanita, and Doña Lita. Jovany (Fernando Moreno), a Honduran migrant too, fresh from being initiated into one of the prominent gangs operating in the area, sees Sabina perform at the club and tries to approach her. We'll learn that they know each other very well, and are both running away from a common dark past. But their individual circumstances don't allow them to get back together, and Burrano and Patrick continue to make Sabina's life a misery...

The film has connotations of an earlier Mexican classic named Sin Nombre in as far as the protagonists' nationality and migratory path is concerned, but this is a different beast altogether, especially with its incestuous undertones and bleak outlook. It is nevertheless well made, and I was particularly impressed by the film's sound design. The performances by the main cast are also sincere, and Greisy Mena as Sabina gives it her all. The film appear at times to be slow-moving, but it certainly pays dividends in terms of the characterisation. Recommended Viewing..!

 

The Nudity: Greisy Mena and others
The film inevitably features several instances of nudity from the titular character Sabina Rivas, unflinchingly played by Greisy Mena. Additional supporting cast also appear topless in a couple of scenes.



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