Solo Sunny review – a rueful East German gem of ambition, loneliness and faded dreams

-
Konrad Wolf’s 1980 drama follows a singer trying to escape the drab compromises of GDR life, capturing the melancholy of thwarted ambition with warmth and wit The terrible sadness, tattiness and poisoned idealism of the old GDR is preserved as if in a time capsule in this East German film from 1980; it could be a kind of B-side to Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. The heroine, would-be solo pop singer Sunny, is told by her ungallant MC that she is no Liza Minnelli; Cabaret fans might well incidentally recognise here the brusque German word “bumsen”. Solo Sunny is the work of Konrad “Koni” Wolf, a director with an impressive and strange pedigree: he was a garlanded state-sanctioned artist in East Germany, much admired at the Berlin film festival, whose older brother Markus happened to be one of the highest-ranking officials in the Stasi. It makes Wolf the second most politically compromised German film-maker in history. (The disillusioned communist East German character in Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Ka...
Post a Comment

Unclenching the Fists review – claustrophobic drama full of trauma and tenderness

-

A quietly phenomenal performance by Milana Aguzarova as a young woman trying to break free from the unsettling relationships within her stifling family

Like her partner Kantemir Balagov’s 2019 film Beanpole, there’s an uncanny claustrophobic charge to Kira Kovalenko’s family drama, though it finally exhales an equally powerful sigh of self-redemption. Milana Aguzarova stars as Ada, a young woman in a North Ossetian mining town trapped by her ailing and possessive father Zaur (Alik Karaev). He guards the only front door key, letting her and her siblings out when he chooses, and refuses to let her have an operation to correct injuries sustained during a school hostage-taking that mean she has to wear an incontinence nappy.

Ada’s brother Akim (Soslan Khugaev) comes home from the city of Rostov and seems to have the self-possession and moral compass Zaur does not. He promises to get her the treatment she needs – and a shot at romance with local chancer Tamik (Arsen Khetagurov), who has been hovering. But there’s an unsettling ambivalence to his help, expressed in their fraught confrontations and intense embraces; an incestuous undertone that younger brother Dakko (Khetag Bibilov), who tries to climb into Ada’s bed like a small child, is also subject to.

Continue reading...

from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/RA2kmKM
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Miracle Club review – Maggie Smith can’t save this rocky road trip to Lourdes

-
Laura Linney is upstaged by older co-stars Smith and Kathy Bates in this sentimental tale about a group of Dublin women who go on a spiritual journey together Who’s up for a golden-hued heartwarmer set in 60s Ireland starring Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith about women with secret fears and dreams going on a church trip to Lourdes and finally finding the real miracle is their new compassion for each other? The answer to this question could well have been … me. I have a liking for a gentle tale and there is nothing necessarily wrong with, just occasionally, showing Ireland and the church of this period with something other than outrage and horror. But The Miracle Club does not at any time, to use a discredited metaphor, throw away its crutches and walk. And it’s painful to note that this is largely because of the way film can’t convincingly use that estimable actor Laura Linney in a central role. She is upstaged by the older, fruitier performances and doesn’t hold her own with a more seri...
Read more

‘I lost a friend of almost 40 years’: Nancy Meyers pays tribute to Diane Keaton

-
Film-maker who directed Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give, and wrote Baby Boom and Father of the Bride, says ‘we have lost a giant’ Film-maker Nancy Meyers has paid tribute to the late Diane Keaton, her “friend of almost 40 years” and collaborator on celebrated comedies Something’s Gotta Give, Baby Boom and Father of the Bride. On Monday, Meyers wrote on Instagram that she’d had a difficult 48 hours since Keaton’s death was announced on Saturday, but “seeing all of your tributes to Diane has been a comfort.” Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/TFc820j via IFTTT
Read more

Malaika Arora scolds 16-year-old dancer for inappropriate gestures: “He is winking, giving flying kisses”

-
Bollywood diva Malaika Arora found herself at the center of an unexpected controversy during the filming of Hip Hop India Season 2. The popular dance reality show, judged by Arora alongside choreographer-director Remo D’Souza, took an awkward turn when a 16-year-old contestant made suggestive gestures toward her during his performance. The incident, which left Malaika visibly uncomfortable, was captured on video and has since gone viral. What Happened on Hip Hop India Season 2? The incident unfolded during a recent episode of Hip Hop India Season 2, which streams on Amazon MX Player and showcases India’s top hip-hop talent. While judging a contestant’s performance, Malaika noticed the young dancer directing inappropriate gestures her way, including winking and blowing flying kisses. Clearly taken aback, the actress and fitness icon didn’t hold back her disapproval. In the now-viral footage, she can be heard reprimanding the teenager, sternly demanding, “Mummy ka phone number do!” (Giv...
Read more