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anybody know this film?
Afire
Directed by Christian Petzold • 2023 • Germany
Starring Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel
While vacationing by the Baltic Sea, writer Leon (Thomas Schubert) and photographer Felix (Langston Uibel) are surprised to encounter Nadja (Paula Beer), a mysterious young woman staying as a guest at Felix’s family’s holiday home. Nadja soon distracts Leon from finishing his latest novel, not only because of her passionate liaison with lifeguard Devid (Enno Trebs) but also because her brutal honesty forces Leon to confront his artistic inadequacies. As Nadja and Leon grow closer, an encroaching forest fire threatens the group and pushes the writer to discover whether he can truly care for anything beyond himself. Christian Petzold’s acclaimed latest was the winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
just stumbled on this old hal ashby movie on the tcm app.
tried to get back into watching the criterion collection. went with a rewatch of matchstick men which is in the november conmen collection. remember thinking the girl that played cages daughter was cute. then was a little creeped out that the character was 14 but i looked and the actress, alison lohman was 24 and now im creeped out by that age differential instead.
as it is i got weighed down by my carby dinner and couldnt make it very far. havent looked at ridley scotts entire body of work but seems like an odd turn for him from his more epic endeavors. interesting to note he did not direct a movie til age 40, the duellist, set in the napoleonic wars. his next movie at age 85, napoleon, set to come out any day now. with that kind of symmetry he ought to call it a day. alas he already has gladiator 2 on the agenda for 2024 which seems like kind of a joke but aint.
from killers of the flower moon to the killer today. scorcese to fincher. out now on netflix. made me think of the hit which i watched over the summer. another knight errant. just went back to look at the article i linked to about that and it itself was inspired by hemingways the killers.
did i like this movie, yes? was it a great movie? probably not. some suggest its a satire of the omnipresent revenge porn assassin movies like john wick or even a self mocking of a fight club ethos that has come to be fetishized by a certain cringe element of the proud boy type christofascists among us. theres not a lot to point to politics in this tho. and the comedy may be derived from the over indulgent self certain voice-over that is undermined by the actions of the protagonist. maybe its a bit of both or maybe its just a more realistic portrayal of revenge not set in some video game killzone thats more about the coreography of endless action sequences. still we dont get much of the inner working of the clock only that its a few seconds off.
i dont really know. im just a watcher. maybe its about the myths we keep telling ourselves to build ourselves up to keep moving forward and how we deal with the consequences when theres a glitch in the matrix. in this case the facade held together and few consequences were paid which maybe felt cheap though in keeping with the genre. at least john wicks dog was killed for his sins.
ooh, and the smiths. love letter or hate mail? the answer may surprise you!