š„š®
We all bow down to Fassbinderās āBRD Trilogy.ā Obviously. But I only recently learned of a filmmaker who also made a trilogy of films dealing with postwar German history from an equally singular, provocative, and entertaining place, Christoph Schlingensief. The two wild man auteurs even share many of the same actors; Margit Carstensen, Irm Hermann, Volker Spengler, Peter Kern, etc.Ā Aided by Udo Kier (who appears in all three films), Schlingensief was unafraid to tackle explosively sensitive material in recklessly exciting and absurdist ways. 100 Years of Adolf Hitler (1989), The German Chainsaw Massacre (1990), and Terror 2000 (1992) make up the Germany Trilogy. The German Chainsaw Massacreās my personal fave of the lot. It was quickly written in a few days after the Berlin Wall all came down and was shot in a mere two weeks immediately after. Heavily inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which he was a huge fan of, it follows a group of East Germans who wind up entangled with a psychotic West German family looking to turn them into wurst for their butcher shop. In a Year of 13 Moonsā Volker Spengler steals the show in a yellow raincoat and metal helmet (with sausages attached to it), drooling on himself, and flailing a chainsaw around. Like Fassbinder, Schlingensief died way too young. And also like him, thankfully, thereās a seemingly endless amount of material to sift through.
Apr 7, 2022
Related Recs
š½
Iāll watch anything by Werner Herzog and his documentaries are especially great. But this feature starring Klaus Kinski is my favorite thing heās ever made, and one of my favorite movies period. Like most Herzog the whole project is seriously demented and thereās anĀ *Apocalypse-Now-*like doubling thing going on, where the making of the film was almost as insane as the story he was dramatizing. I just saw Herzog has a new memoir out calledĀ Every Man for Himself and God Against All.Ā I mean come on, I canāt wait to read that.
Feb 27, 2024
š©
Just watched it for a class. Thought it was good but the score was terribleā really schlocky mid-2000s dramatic orchestration action movie fodder. It also felt five million hours long. I like Bruno Ganz very much and I like that he is in every German movie ever made.
Feb 21, 2025
š
Imagining him reacting to the clip of a live chicken being released in a movie theater with the same gravity as the Grizzly Man footage
Stroszek is also a relevant text here, if you know you know
Apr 18, 2025
Top Recs from @michael-m.
š
Is this currently my favorite movie theater in NYC because they premiered my new film and hosted a complete retrospective of my work? Duh! But itās deeper than that. Two years ago I was convinced the arthouse theatrical experience was doomed and that the future was ramshackle cine-clubs for a handful of scorched psychos. Turns out I was wrong. Things are back to normal and on any given night now thereās a surplus of amazing programming all across the city again. The biggest plot twist, though, was the rise of this posh, art deco, single screen theater beneath a fancy hotel in the heart of Tribeca as the new epicenter for contemporary indie cinema. While other venues floundered at first, the Roxy reopened with a bang, finally giving a theatrical run to Eugene Kotlyarenkoās Spree (which never got a proper theatrical release due to covid). Next thing I knew they gave Project Space 13 a run there too, despite not having played any festivals or any of that shitā¦ and it was selling out! Theyāre doing the same for Betsey Brownās Actors right now, which keeps getting extended. Itās been a while since Iāve seen a theater tap in this hard. Recent events with Abel Ferrara, the Ion Pack, Alex Ross Perry, and more have been unforgettable. Seeing ASAP Rocky hop on stage to freestyle with Abel after the Siberia premiere is one of my all time fondest memories there. Itās tight being able to see new films like The Scary of Sixty-First, Zola, or El Planeta balanced perfectly with rep fare like Screen Slateās Bad Habits nun series and Sean Price Williams and Nick Pinkertonās monthly āCity Dudes.ā Head programmer Illyse Singer and her cohort Mitchell are heroes. Bonus points for being walking distance to the best new record store in town, Paradise of Replica.
Apr 7, 2022
š²
Itās not just the most GOATED tree in Washington Square Park, itās the single oldest tree in all of Manhattan! For over 300 years itās been posted up on the corner of Waverly Place and MacDougal Street in the northwest region of the park. On any given morning, afternoon, or evening you can find throngs of wack jobs enthusiastically ingesting every type of narcotic while acting shady af around it. When the city was in lockdown Iād have all my āimportantā meetings there. The bulk of Project Space 13ās pre-production was hatched out under its shade. In the last few years alone itās been privy to crazy all night raves, historic protests, Van Damme level fight clubs, and bizarro performances (from every end of the spectrum). The most outrĆ© shit you can think of is just another day at the office for this towering Ulmus procera. It even beat the murder allegations! People love to claim it was used for hangings in the American Revolution, but thereās little to no evidence supporting this. Thereās no plaque or anything drawing attention to it either. Salute this OG tree when you see it.
Apr 7, 2022
š“
Shout out to everyone racing around on electric unicycles, drinking bubble tea (or White Claw), yapping into selfie sticks, blasting un-Shazamable dubstep, and weaving through oncoming traffic. While face masks and plywood dining shacks have completely altered the contemporary urban landscape, this sceneās the cherry on top in our journey (descent?) into some kinda cyberpunk meets Burning Man future. I never thought vape pens or Bluetooth headsets would catch on because they looked so ridiculous and shamelessly sci-fiā¦ But they did. Donāt wanna be wrong side of history again, so Iām all in on the e-scooter renaissance!
Apr 7, 2022