New German Cinema

-         films that don’t grab us immediately, that let the scars show

-         these are positive film qualities now, especially in Independent films.

Werner Herzog (most bizarre of the NGC)

-         Style and Themes

o       Location shooting

o       Realism mixed with mythic

o       Striking imagery

o       Stylized acting (incorporates classical music into soundtracks)

o       Brechtian elements (anti-film, alienation, make you think)

o       Characters on the brink

o       Madness

o       Greatness

o       Socio-political

-         Major Films

o       One For All and God Against Everyone (1974) – “nobel savage” legend

o       Woyzeck  - based on play by Buchner (murder scene viewed in class)

Wim Wenders

-         most highly regarded of new German directors

-         still making films

-         most technically/film oriented of NGC

-         talking about making of film or film industry

-         made music videos, apparent in soundtrack choices

-         Style and Themes

o       Location shooting

o       Realism

o       Self-reflexive

o       Hollywood actors/plays on their persona (cult actors, ie. Harry Dean Stanton)

o       Loose rambling narratives

o       Leisurely pacing

o       High production values

o       Focus on landscapes

o       Open (characters enter and leave shot)

o       Have to find way into film

o       Hard to find dominant

o       Relationships

o       Buddy movies

o       Seeking/searching not necessarily finding (quests)

o       Questioning: who are we? Where are we?

o       State of films/industry – the film about the making of the film we’re watching (ie. Singing in the Rain)

o       Effect of films

o       State of culture

o       Internal state of characters

-         Major films

o       The American Friend (1977)

o       Kings of the Road (1975) – buddy movie

o       Paris, Texas (1984)

o       Himmel Uber Berlin (1987) – black and white and color, Germany in 1987, still divided, living with the past, living with the wall

o       In Weiter Ferne, So Nah (1993) – sequel to Wings of Desire

o       Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

o       Million Dollar Hotel (2000) – w/ Mel Gibson

Volker Schloendorff

-         most commercially successful of NGC

-         still working

-         head of Babelsberg Studio

-         Style and Themes

o       High production values

o       Name stars

o       Literary adaptations

o       Politically engaged

o       History

o       Politics

o       Feminism

-         Major Films

o       Young Toerless (1966)

o       Michael Kohlhaas (1969)

o       Die Blechtrommel (1979)

o        The Handmaid’s Tale (1989)

o       Legend of Rita (2000) – deviated from high production style

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

-         most controversial of NGC

-         bisexual, alcoholic, drug abuser (died of drug overdose)

-         extreme leftist

-         moody, megalomaniac

-         pessimistic – films were often goodbye presents to his lovers (ie. Ali actor)

-         idiosyncratic film style

-         Style and Themes

o       Dark, underlit films

o       Mixes melodrama and distancing

o       Preference for underclass and lower middle class

o       Static (early films especially)

o       Stylized acting

o       Exaggerated emotions

o       Repulsive characters

o       Camp/Brechtian (over the top/alienating imagery)

o       The “Fassbinder doorframe”

-         Playwright

o       Anti-theater

o       Runs counter to expectations

o       Spontaneous

o       Aggressive

o       Hasty productions

o       Stark

o       Appeals to thirst for novelty

-         Major Films

o       Ali, Fear Eats the Soul (1973)

o       The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)