Reviews (11)

Excellent cinematography, photography and lyrical music...!
The STORY of an aging writer, his encounter with a young boy, and memories of the past which this encounter evokes, An Eternity And A Day stars Bruno Ganz as the writer, with supporting roles filled by Isabelle Renaud (France), Fabrizio Bentivoglio (Italy), and from Greece Despina Bebedeli, Achileas Skevis, Alexandra Ladikou, Alekos Oudinotis , and Nikos Kouros. Making a special guest appearance in the film is Greek actress Tania Paleologou, who as a young girl played the leading role in Angelopoulos' Landscape In The Mist.

Veteran Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra, together with Greek writer Petros Markaris collaborated with Angelopoulos on the script. The production reunites Angelopoulos' Ulysses' Gaze team -- coproducers are Eric Heumann's Paradis Film (France), Giorgio Silvani's Intermedia Films (France), and Amedeo Pagani's Classic Films (Italy); producer is Phoebe Economopoulos.

Theo Angelopoulos creates a stunningly haunting, seamless fusion of reality, nostalgia, and dreams in Eternity and a Day. Using long takes and reverse tracking, Angelopoulos creates a visual metaphor for the isolation of the soul: the hallway shot of Alexandre after Urania's departure; a team of window washers descending on cars at a stop light; the framed shot of Anna by the gate of the summer house. Moreover, recurrent images of abandoned buildings, repeated flights of Albanian refugees across the border, and the unfinished poem, reflect Alexandre's regret over his own unresolved actions. Figuratively, Alexandre, too, is a stranger - longing to recapture an irretrievable past -unable to return home. The unique point of that film is the poetic dialogues, the excellent soundtrack and the photography that really captures another color of Greece and the Greek world. So good, masterpiece.

..."Alexandre..." After this movie this name with always reminds you poetry... L'éternité et un jour

angelopoulos wins the palme
A dying author spends his final days reminiscing on what he sees as a failed life. His time spent wandering the gloom of Thessoloniki is interspersed with flashbacks of his wife and their home near the sea. In his wanderings around the city he meets an Albanian refugee child and the two share a few moments of friendship before each goes on to his destiny.
Seen by many as Anglopoulos' reward for the tantrum he threw when "Ulysses Gaze" lost to Kuristica's "Underground" a couple of years before, the Cannes critics finally decided to give the director the Palme d'or for this film. Angelopoulos was right to be upset, his very flawed masterpiece was a much better movie than "Underground," and it is also a better movie than "Eternity and a Day." "Eternity and a Day" is a smaller film where the filmmaker tones down many of his more eccentric quirks; it is easily the most "accessible" film he's yet made. But Angelopoulos is not an "accessible" filmmaker, as anyone who has had the particular and often grueling experience of sitting through "Ulysses" or "The Travelling Players" is well aware. Whether you loved or hated those films it was impossible not to come away from them feeling that they were uncompromised visions but "Eternity" feels, well, like a bit of a compromise. At times it almost leans towards the maudlin or even cutesy (and it's not just because of the kid, compare with "Landscape in the Mist" that had not one but two kids). That being said, the film is still frequently powerful and haunting in the manner of Angelopoulos' best works. It's just that unlike his best works, this one doesn't linger in the mind.
The letterboxed transfer on the VHS tape is quite nice, aptly capturing the director's vision of Thessoloniki as a murky, mist-shrouded, rain-soaked city of despair (it aint really) and the protagonist's dreams of life with his wife among the open sea and sand.

This is a film I saw again and again.
This film is about Alexandre, a renowned author, who spent his last years trying to finish a 19th-century poet's work. He unwittingly neglected his loved ones for his writing, to where he feels like an exile whether promoting his books or in his own room writing. Now he is dying. We first hear 8-year-old Alexandre and his friends, asking profound questions for their age: What's time? He sneaks out to join the boys at the beach, swimming out to sea, and his mother calls him back. This harkens him back to the present, aging, lying back in a chair in the same house, in pain, with the taste of salt in his mouth. He tells his housekeeper not to pack too much for where he's going. She begs him to let her go to hospital with him, he pats her hand and explains why not. He takes his beautiful but sad old dog to his daughter, who obviously married a wealthy man, the house is high-end, but cold and ultra-modern, with the bad taste of having a large working clock over the mantle to remind us time is running out. He says he's going away and can't take his dog; she reminds him Nikos doesn't like animals in the house. She reads an old letter from his wife. We now see Anna, vital, lovely yet needy, just after Katerina's birth and celebrating with the family by the sea. When the letter's finished he's brought rudely back to the present: Nikos, robed, appearing, announcing offhand he's sold the seaside house and the wreckers will arrive tomorrow. Shocked, Alexandre reacts: "you sold the house!" Nikos asks, jerking his head pointedly: "Is that your dog? I'm getting dressed," and vanishes. Dad talks of some irrelevant matter: a tennis match she'd lost and how devastated she was. She lamely explains the house was too big, unsafe etc. Alexandre touches her face and leads the dog out. Tomorrow he--and the beloved house as well--will be gone. Katerina doesn't know he's actually dying: but she's really like Nikos, which is redolent of the Buchanans in The Great Gatsby: the careless rich, tearing down things, letting others (here, the "wreckers") clean it up.

Between flashbacks and aiding an 8-year-old (same age as he is when he and his friends carved a date on a rock by his seaside home) Albanian refugee with a gift for expression, he visits his formerly vital mother, now senile, at her hospital window wailing, "Alexandre! Dinner..." When he leaves her, he asks: "Why, Mother, why must we rot?...Why didn't we know how to love?"

The doctor's ominous intonations, the boy's poetic street-bonfire tribute to a murdered friend, and finally, the joyful duo on a round-trip around the quay: all are journeys within journeys, poems within poems, finished in a most unusual way.

Earlier on, he'd interrupted the wedding party of Urania's son, the couple dancing down the streets, bride in stark white in contrast to everyone else in black. Here as throughout the film, Angelopoulos' gift of metaphoric expression is so mesmerizing. I've read that the movie is too long, but I wanted more. The groom and bride dancing in the wind down the stark gray street, she gliding like a flower ("korfoula"): only her hands moving sinuously and her full snowy gown bobbing gracefully to rapid concertina music. Again Urania asks to go with him to hospital tomorrow. He smiles and merely compliments the bride's beauty. As he turns away, she lovingly pats the head of her new canine charge, and watches Alexandre go. All of this is key to (perhaps only) me. She and his doctor know he's dying, no one else.

Both are exiles: the kid with no one accepts him, listens to his tale of the poet who bought words, and Alexander sharing his last day, making him rethink (I think). One's journey is just beginning and the other's is just ending. Alexandre now understands how long time is: an eternity and a day.

My Favorite Angelopoulos Film!
Of all of the 4 films American audiences are allowed to see by Theo Angelopoulos, this is one my favorite. Angelopoulos' films offer the same elements in everyone. He's a bold director when compared to American directors, then again, all foreign directors are bold compared to American ones, even our best like Martin Scorsese, Coppola, or Woody Allen. Angelopoulos' films have long takes. With long single camera shots. And to some, his films are flooded with portentous dialogue. And, I must admit I am usually in awe at the beginning moments of any Angelopoulos film. But, after a while, after I've taken in the subtle charm of the cinematography, the beautiful visuals, and his way of story telling, I can't help but sometimes grow impatient. And, while yes, that happened to me while watching this movie, it's a film that now, after a year or moreso, I think back of fondly. I remember the beautiful scenes by the sea. How beautifully Angelopoulos set up these scenes. He really is a master of imagery.
"Eternity and a Day" tells a rather simple but yet deep and poetic story of a man's dying days, and one day he spends with a small lost boy (Achileas Skevis). The man is Alexandre (Bruno Ganz). Alexandre does not want to die. As the song goes, he has a lot of livin' to do. He now reflects upon his past. Memories of his wife, his mother. He even visit's his daughter whom he has not seen in some time. He wants to rectify all the wrong that has happened in the past. And he gets a chance to when he meets this boy. Here I suppose Angelopoulos is playing with the elements of time. Past, present and future. The more time Alexandre spends with the boy, trying to get him back home, the more he is reminded of his past. Not to mention the fact that he is dying.
"Eternity and a Day" is a film that I'm sure not all will be pleased with. It's too subtle of a film. It takes it's time telling a story. It's moves slow, but it means to. I'm not saying these are faults, but, I know today's society has no time to watch these types of movies. American audiences like fast movies. Filmmakers like Angelopoulos may never find their audiences. But, despite everything, one could not hide the beauty the film has. The script written by Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra, Petro Markaris, & Giorgio Silvagni has moments that are as tender as I've ever seen in any movie. The cinematograhy by Yorgos Arvanitis & Andreas Sinanos is wonderful as well.
"Eternity and a Day" won the Cannes Film Festival's Golden Palm, an award Angelopoulos is no stranger to. His "Suspended Step of the Stork" was nominated before as was "The Hunters". And "Ulysses' Gaze", if I remember right, won second place at the Cannes behind "Underground". "Day" is a movie all foreign film fans should see. You'll be impressed by the simple things the film has to offer. Also, will someone please release "The Suspended Step of the Stork" on video already! And the rest of Angelopoulos' films!
Bottom-line:"Eternity and a Day" is admittedly a slow moving film and does take some patience to watch, but the film has startling imagery. It's subtle charms carry you under it's spell.

Worst movie I have seen in 10 years.
I kept waiting for something to happen that I could care about. But after 60 minutes of drivel, I had to bail. ... Read more

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"There are angels over the streets of Berlin," quotes the movie poster,but these are like no angels you've ever seen. Bundled in dark overcoats, they watch over the city with ears open to the heartbeat of the human soul, listening to the internal musings and yearnings of earthbound humans like existential detectives. In these delicate, astounding scenes we float through the thoughts of dozens Berlin citizens, from the weary and worn to the hopeful and young, as the angels record the magic moments for some heavenly record. But when Damiel (the empathic and sensitive Bruno Ganz) falls in love with an angel of another sort, the lonely trapeze artist Marion (willowy, sad-eyed Solveig Dommartin), he gives up the contemplation and observation of life to experience it himself.

Wim Wenders's most purely romantic film is like poetry on celluloid, a celebration of the transient and fragile moments of being human: the warmth of a cup of coffee on a cold day, the embrace of a friend, the touch of a lover, the rapture of love. Opening with an angel's-eye view of Berlin in silvery black and white (delicately captured by the great cinematographer Henri Alekan, who photographed Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast 40 years earlier), it transforms into a gauzy color world when Damiel "crosses over" by sheer will. Peter Falk plays himself as a fallen angel with a special sensitivity for celestial visitors ("I can't see you, but I know you're there," he proclaims), and Otto Sander, whose smiling eyes brighten a face etched by eons of waiting and watching, is Damiel's partner. Wenders made a sequel in 1993, Faraway, So Close, and Hollywood remade the film as City of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (73)

An Awesome, Mind-Blowing Film!
Wim Wender's best film is a glorious cinematic experience, a film that dazzles the eye, challenges your mind and touches your heart. In other words, a rarity. No other film that I can think of (save perhaps Woody Allen's Manhattan)better captures the spirit and feel of city than this one's portrait of Berlin does. The film follows two angels who roam around Berlin listening to the thoughts of people and observing, only observing. Except for young children who can sense thier presence, the angels remain invisible to everyone and cannot intervene in earthly matters. When one of the angels (Bruno Ganz) sees a trapeze artist(Solveig Dommartain) in a small circus he becomes entranced and eventually falls in love with her. So much that he yearns to give up the eternal life and become mortal to be with her. Oh, but there's so much more to this film than this sketchy summary. This is also a film about a city, the once divided Berlin and its past. Its about loneliness and alienation, about what it means to be human and so much more. This is just a wonderful film, the best movie released in the 1980's. I've seen this countless times and I never tire of watching it. There are moments in this film that will always stay with me: Ganz's angel perched on the shoulder of a statue, the angels congregating in the Berlin Library, the angels comforting a suicide victim, the brief flashes of color as Ganz becomes more and more human, Peter Falk, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and so much more. This needs to be released on DVD now. A GREAT film.

Poetry In Motion Picture Fairy tale Dream a Rant
This is a beautiful film by Wunderkind directer Wim Wenders... The leading Angel in this film is nothing short of the face of Kindess. And the beautiful cinematography blended with the poetic narrations make this flowing story one of the most beautiful glimpses into film magic you will ever witness. The story almost feels like Hans Christian Anderson's the Little Mermaid only with Angels instead of Fish-Tail Folk. The American Remake of this film is an excellent movie to watch side by side so one can see the difference betwen what film should be and what Hollywood does to poetry... it makes it commerce. Witness the addition of hundreds of Angels instead of two - add flowing trenchcoats, sunglasses , and set it in Los Angeles instead of Berlin... also make your leading lady a Doctor instead of a Circus Carnie(must be politically correct) I have nothing against the strong performances of Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage... but come on Hollywood - you aint got nothin on Wim Wenders - You'll probably read reviews of WINGS OF DESIRE that mention this Magic Phrase from the ...Critics' box 'o magnetic words... Well it's an "art" film ... and what may I ask is film but anything else? Film is an artform - but Witness City of Angels in comparison to Wings of Desire - We are HOLLYWOOD we have come to turn your German Uber Art into ...COMMERCE - yes that is the true meaning of an ART FILM a film that is true to the beatuty of the media... but alas couldn't possible be understood by the average American spoon-fed Consumer...amen to the Holy Roman Empire - take us Out if you can...and that's all I have to say aboot that.

EXISTENTIALISM MEETS EMOTIONS IN THIS GORGEOUS ROMANCE
What an absolutely haunting delight. With its introspective pacing, which some may find slower than their cinematic taste allows, the film takes its own sweet time setting things up but it is one of the most mind-boggling romantic tropes you will see in cinema.

In the end it's not just about requited loves and hopes, it also carries a heady undercurrent of other notions: displacement and the natural yearning for emotional connections that transcends humans; the unification of a divided Germany and of a divided race; and, probably above all, about the universality of cinema and its ability to allow people to live multiple lives (from multiple cultures) at the movies.

When I first saw this, I thought the film's fatal flaw was its anti-climactic conclusion. Now I realise that it may be the best part of my favourite film of all time.

One caution to buyers about the DVD. Many bits of the film are in German, but my DVD had no subtitles. All the gorgeous imagery (in noir-ish black and white) was thus somewhat frittered away.

But it surely did make me want to see what Berlin must really be like. If you like your movies laid-back and reflective, this comes highly recommended from me.

The ultimate art film
One of the most touching films created by Wim Wenders, Wings of Desire follows two angels, one of whom decides that his love of a woman is worth more than his heavenly life watching over the recently reunified Berlin. Wenders takes you from the black-and-white world of the angels to the multi-colored world of the inhabitants of earth and challenges you to think about life and love and the important things in life. Touching cameo by Peter Falk. A moving film.

The Sky Over Berlin.
It's ironic that so soon after Wenders shot this film in Berlin (a film about seperation and the search for unity), the wall would come tumbling down. The only entities who can transcend the wall in this movie are the angels, who are nothing but pure consciousness. The original German title for this film translates as 'The Sky Over Berlin' and I certainly think it is more apt than the English one that was chosen. For it is only the sky above their city that unites Berliners each side of the wall. The angels imprisonment in the spiritual world is undoubtedly in my mind, a metaphor for the political set-up in Berlin at that time. Whether it be West Berliners imprisoned on all sides by the communist East or the East Berliners imprsioned from the decadent freedoms of West Berlin.

The angels themselves were banished to Berlin in 1945 for questioning God's intentions. As a city at the apex of 2 world wars and a cold war, there is probably no better choice in choosing it as a symbol of our century. Wenders use of documentary footage from the end of the 2nd world war is frightening in its portrayal of a city's damaged past. A past of confusion and despair that still marks the city's people through their ongoing frustrated desires.

In order to retain some sense of his original 'poetic' vision, Wenders refused to finalize a shooting script before he started filming. As a result he relied on a mostly spontaneous film shoot as well as a lot of improvising from his actors. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Thriller with a First-Rate Cast
When the film was made almost a quarter century ago, the concept of "cloning" was the stuff of science fiction, as far as the general public was concerned. However, with the recent developments in the area making headlines worldwide, the idea is not reserved to the imagination. Therefore, the basic premise of Hitler authorizing his own cloning doesn't seem as farfetched as it may have been. Hey, the Germans have given the world the Volkswagen; thus, their scientists could have possibly been working on the cloning process prior and during World War II.

Regardless, the film features excellent work from stars Peck, Olivier, and Mason. Peck went against type by portraying Josef Mengele as a crafty, calculating, and ultimately evil scientist who would go to any length to preserve the Third Reich. Olivier, as the Nazi hunter Lieberman, displays his versatility with accents by doning a very believable Jewish brogue. Mason shows his usual cool as a Nazi hesitant but forced to support the machinations of Mengele.

But, the film has an outstanding group of supporting players whose on-screen time may be brief but is memorable. Uta Hagen as an imprisoned Nazi nurse is captivating; stage veteran Rosemary Harris stands out as the widow of one of Mengele's victims; A young Steve Guttenburg shines as a Nazi hunter; and comedy team member Anne Meara (sans her husband) is great as another "mother" of a Hitler clone.

But, it is Jeremy Black, a young actor who seems to have drifted into obscurity since the release of this motion picture, who is impressive as four of the "boys."

Oh, yeah, the great Michael Gough is "hanging around" in this one, too! Look fast and you will see Prunella Scales from "Fawlty Towers" as Gough's wife.

Peck vs Olivier as the Nazis try to clone Adolf Hitler
Gregory Peck gets about as far away from his Oscar winning role as Atticus Finch as possible with his over-the-top performance as the infamous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele. Once you learn about the plot of "The Boys from Brazil," based on Ira Levin's novel, Peck's hammy performance makes perfect sense. At a South American summit of Nazis, Mengele announces that over the next couple of years 94 adult males with much younger wives and adolescent sons are to be systematically murdered around their 65th birthdays. Mengele had cloned Hitler, implanted the eggs in all of these women, and now wants to recreate what he believes was the Fuhrer's formative experience as a child. Fortunately young Nazi-hunter Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) overhears the plot and right before he is murdered manages enlists the aid of the legendary Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) to stop this horrific plot. Just think of this film as a cross between "Jurassic Park" and "Triumph of the Will." The scene where a scientist explains the cloning process in excruciating detail to Lieberman is a textbook lesson on how too much exposition can stop a movie in its tracks. But then there is the final living room standoff between Mengele, Lieberman and one of the Hitler clones with his pack of trained killer Dobermans.

Actually, the actor who impresses me in "The Boys from Brazil" is James Mason, who plays Nazi Eduard Seibert and somehow makes the whole thing seem reasonable. Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen, Rosemary Harris and Denholm Elliott round out the stellar supporting cast caught up in this madness. Jeremy Black has the interesting role of playing all the young Hitler-Wannabees (Jack Curry, Simon Harrington, Erich Doring, Bobby Wheelock, etc.). Director Franklin J. Schaffner ("Planet of the Apes," "Patton," "Papillion") directs this straight up while Peck spews curses and Olivier trots out his wise old man routine. But to be fair, once we get past the exposition and Olivier tells the scientist that the person who has been cloned is neither Mozart nor Picasso, the story does get into gear. In what other over the top film can you see this much acting talent chewing up this much scenery? "The Boys From Brazil" is a first-class bad movie.

Overdone but chilling
Gregory Peck plays a Nazi doctor who escaped to Brazil as the Third Reich fell, while Laurence Olivier plays a Nazi hunter on Peck's trail. What is the evil doctor involved in? How about the creation of a Fourth Reich led by an Adolf Hitler clone? Will Olivier catch Pevck in time? Will that be enough?

Both of these great actors seem to have either tried too hard to make this movie work, or else treated it as somewhat of a farce. They overplay many of their scenes. Nevertheless, this is an intense, chilling, creepy movie with enough story to capture and maintain the viewer's attention. There is considerable gore at times; you might not want to pet a Doberman for a while after seeing "The Boys From Brazil". You might also find yourself wondering about the genetic background of eerily familiar-looking boys you might see, especially given recent advancements in cloning.

WHAT a movie!
This is so weird to write this, BUT... The first time I saw this film I had a roaring migraine headache, complete with severe nausea. IF you're a migraine sufferer, as I am, YOU understand what it's like to be stricken with one of them- you know what it's like to lay in bed, in misery and bordom trying to escape the pain. Normally, you just want to be left alone in a nice quiet, dark room and hopefully go comatose till it's all over. Anyway, early in that afternoon- BEFORE the headache part of the headache came on- the time where the only symptom is the onset of nausea, I read in my TV guide that "The Boys From Brazil" was going to be airing that evening. "Cool." me thinks, "I've been really wanting to see that film, now's my chance!" (This was Pre-DVD, Pre-VHS; Damn, this was SO long ago that it was even PRE HBO! It was plain-old-time-commercial-break-infested-TV-land; which, truth be known, was kind of a blessing for me what with the nausea and all... That night, one could call them: "hurl-breaks" !) Anyway, to shorten an already way too long story: In spite of BLINDING, COLOR ARCHING, NUCLEAR-MELTDOWN BRAIN PAIN, I was SO thrilled by this film, so completely enteretained and SURPRISED by the thing, that, migraine or no, I watched the whole dog-gone thing!
MERCY! Talk about "association strengthening memory"! THIS is one film I will never, EVER forget by virttue of association... SHOOT, to this day, every time I watch it, my forehead sweats, I get kinda' achy at the base of my scull, and my stomach commences to churn. But it was WORTH it! What a GREAT flick, go ahead, buy it. You'll like it. Heck, watch it with a migraine sufferer YOU love. ;o)

Passionate
The love secenes were especially moving. Watching two sensitive caring people commit themselves to lives of devotion and sacrifice for the benefit of children and the world was wonderfully refreshing. Long live the IV Reich !
(and George Bush!) ... Read more

Reviews (43)

A romantic comedy set in Venice? Who would have thunk it?
It is bound to happen. A romantic comedy set in Venice is like a Broadway show set in New York. It makes the perfect sense. The pair of love birds might not be your typical young twenty-something in love. In fact, one is a runaway middle-aged mom, Rosalba(Maglietta Maglietta), and the other is an over-the-hill waiter-slash-romantic poet (Bruno Ganz)who is just about to commit suicide the day he meets her. However, it has all the right ingredients to make it a sweet and charming love story, and an award-winning one at that.

If you have never seen Venice in real life, this movie will put you on the narrow streets and alleyways of Venice minus the sewage smell in the summer. As a substitute for the smell, there is a story about the bumbling plumber (Venice does need good plumbers!) who got hired by Rosalba's husband to track her down, and voila, there is your comedic element. The cinematography is breathtaking, as it has become a standard in many top quality European films these days.

It is most likely you won't walk away with the thought that this is one of the best movies you have ever seen. It is a fairly accessible piece that has many of the right elements of a superior movie. One complaint is that the segues between reality and Rosalba's imagination are confusing at times, and in my opinion, do not serve much purpose in the narration. Overall, it is an entertaining film that you should catch one of these days. Especially during those days you miss Venice or want to know what it is like.

A CHARMING ROMANTIC COMEDY - VIVA VENICE!
Forget flurrying pigeons, St. Mark's, Florian's tables, all the standard fare usually delivered by films set in Venice. Silvio Soldini's deftly masterful "Bread and Tulips" is instead an ethereal Venezia, a triptych of shadows, echoes and lights that evoke a city of workers, narrow stone studded streets, mini bridges and interlocking canals.

It is a place that Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) cannot resist. She is an under estimated, unappreciated middle-age housewife and mother of two teenage sons who is on a family vacation to the Adriatic coast. When Rosalba exits the ladies room during a rest stop she sees the back bumper of the tour bus as it trundles down the road without her.

Her husband is Mimmo (Antonio Catania), a self-centered boor who dallies with his mistress and oversees a plumbing business in Pescara. She immediately contacts him by cell phone and is lambasted for being left behind. She agrees to wait there, but evidently ready for a vacation of her own choosing she makes her way to Venice.

After her evening arrival she has dinner at a modest trattoria where she meets Fernando (Bruno Ganz), an Icelander, a despondent waiter who is prone to suicide attempts. (He keeps a noose handy). Ganz's artfully understated portrayal of Fernando is superb.

When Rosalba allows that she is short on funds Fernando invites her to share his lodgings, where she is greeted each morning with a note from him as well as breakfast on a tray. Eventually, she finds work with an elderly florist and becomes friends with her neighbor, Grazia (Marina Massironi), a wide-eyed, other worldly masseuse. The emergence of Rosalba as a confident woman is a joy to watch as her eyes dance and features soften with radiant allure.

When Mimmo's mistress refuses to iron his shirts, he hires Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston), an unemployed wanna be detective to track down his wife. Costantino's arrival in Venice provides some of the film's better comic moments as he searches for a hotel and Rosalba.

When Costantino is able to trace Rosalba to her room, he meets Grazia and falls under her spell. Love's rocky path has more twists and turns when Costantino confesses why he really came to Venice.

Apparently conscience stricken Rosalba returns to her nonchalant sons and indifferent husband. Fernando is left more mournful than ever with only a note and a bouquet of tulips. Or, is he?

"Bread and Tulips" is a charming romantic comedy that leaves one sighing contentedly, hoping for a trip to Venice and maybe even breakfast on a tray.

Dreadfully overrated trash!
Maybe I can't appreciate Bread and Tulips because I am not a middle-aged housewife. I found the film slow, overlong, boring, and pointless. I could not feel any sympathy for the main character, therefore I couldn't like her, which made me dislike the film itself. How can I like someone who leaves her family for no reason to start a new life just for the hell of it. I didn't understand what motivated this character to do what she did or why she didn't even care to find out how her children are doing. Yes, her husband was a pig and didn't deserve her, but what fault do the children have? She was a distant and unlikeable woman who didn't even seem to realize how serious her actions were. The ending was absolutely ridiculous and I was fuming and impatient for the film to end by the time the credits started to roll! Not only does her so-called real love, a man old enough to be her father, drive from Venice to claim her, but he somehow seems to know that she would be at the supermarket in the middle of the day, bringing the film to an end ridiculous even by cheesy American romance standards. This film was recommended to me as a lighthearted comedy, but I didn't laugh once. In fact, I am baffled at all these five star reviews because this film was so awful. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much I hated it. Maybe it was just so overrated that I expected something more, but aside from the gorgeous setting, there is absolutely nothing in this for me to recommend it.

Gently hilarious, humane, and refreshing
"Bread and Tulips," Silvio Soldini's gently hilarious comedy, allows viewers to revel in a lovely story about the renewal of life and hope. It bears some resemblance to "Under the Tuscan Sun," but benefits from a stronger story and more fully realized characters. It also has some similarities to David Lean's "Summertime"--another beloved movie about a middle-aged woman finding romance in Venice--but the mood in "Bread and Tulips" is more sweet than bittersweet. Rosalba (Licia Maglietta), a bored housewife, is left behind on vacation with her crabby family when their tour bus leaves without her. Rather than going straight home to Pescara on the Abruzzi coast, she decides on a whim to head up to Venice, where she has never been. From there on in, the movie is very much about the renewal of the spirit--not only Rosalba's, but also that of Fernando (Bruno Ganz), the romantic restaurateur who falls for Rosalba, and Constantino (Giuseppe Battiston), the tubby, sad-sack plumber who reluctantly spies on Rosalba as a prerequisite for getting a job from Rosalba's bossy husband. These three actors give delightful performances, as do the other players in this quirky romantic comedy. Particularly enjoyable for American audiences is that Soldini places us in a Venice rarely seen in the tourist brochures. San Marco and other wonders are seen only in passing; most of the action takes place in Venice's back streets, among the rainbow-hued houses, tiny fountain-centered courtyards, and toy bridges crossing narrow canals. The photography is lovely, and looks sensational in the DVD transfer. "Bread and Tulips" is a two-hour vacation in a sweeter, gentler world.

Beautiful movie!
This is a beautiful movie. I just love it. I first saw it at the COPIA - The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa Valley, CA. After that viewing I ran out and bought the DVD. It is one of the most often viewed DVDs in my collection. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Not as good as "Wings of Desire", but still has charm
"Faraway, So Close" is a sequel to a perfect movie so perfect that perhaps should have been left untainted by a sequel, however, it still captures the magical feel of "Wings of Desire", but this time with a pop-thriller feel.

It cruises along the border of body and mind, and follows the two intellectual angels that have been tackled with the dillema of reality versus eternity.

The film is lengthy and at times moves slow, but offers many interesting and thoughtfull moments, and it generally provokes many thoughts long after the movie's end. A must for Wenders fans. Since a sequel has already been made to WoD, perhaps master director Wenders can cook yet another chapter in the story, but one that captures the essence of Wings of Desire.

An excellent sequel
This is much lighter and easier to follow than its progenitor, "Wings of Desire".

This movie follows Cassiel's desire to be human. While Tariel may have hade a more ideal life (family, child, job, simple pleasures), Cassiel's story is one more of what happens when humans screw up, make bad choices, or live in denial.

Can't forget Peter Falk. He reprises the best role I have ever seen him in. Also, William Defoe the Fallen Angel is something to be remembered.

A truly wonderful companion movie and also wonderful on its own. I wholly recomment buying it today.

Void of meaning; boring enough to put you to sleep
Starts out great, then descends into a horrifying hell of boredom and ambiguity and mixed up wastelands of celluloid. There was no point to this movie and it literally put me out; yep, it put me to sleep. I thought the beginning looked promising but then it turned into one of the most enigmatic wastes of time I have ever watched.

faraway
airheaded new age schtick. feel-good gobbledygook mixing philosophy, social consciousness, art cinema fetishes, international stars, history, noir, and whatnot. it tries to teach, illume, entertain, humor, and inspire. it also tries to be very hip. it just made me wanna puke.

The Berlin Ground.
The success of 'Wings Of Desire' must have prompted Wenders to come up with a sequel. It certainly makes a greater effort at garnishing a wider audience, with the addition of Natassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe & Horst Buchholz to the previous cast. The script also has the novelty of being in 4 different languages.

In 'Wings Of Desire' Bruno Ganz's transformation from angel to human could be seen as a desire by Berliners each side of the wall to overcome their imprisonment from each other. In 'Faraway, So Close', the moral confusion that Otto Sander witnesses when he crashes down from above, mirrors the uneasy turmoil of the new united Berlin. Like an East Berliner untutored in the ways of the West, he stumbles about in an unsophisticated way until his new freedoms begin to overwhelm him and he finds his only refuge in a bottle. Despite all this, he tries to find meaning and do good, but finds that in the new Germany, the only options open to an ex-angel (or an ex-communist) is the criminal underworld.

Although the film starts to lose its way in the final farcical half hour, there are some impressive performances here, especially Horst Buchholz (last seen in 'The Magnificent Seven').

Wenders last great film, his talent has since floundered in making movies with the likes of Mel Gibson. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Werner Herzog's remake of F.W. Murnau's original vampire classic is at once a generous tribute to the great German director and a distinctly unique vision by one of cinema's most idiosyncratic filmmakers. Though Murnau's Nosferatu was actually an unauthorized adaptation of BramStoker's Dracula, Herzog based his film largely on Murnau's conceptions--at times directly quoting Murnau's images--but manages to slip in a few references to Tod Browning's famous version (at one point the vampire comments on the howling wolves: "Listen, the children of the night make their music."). Longtime Herzog star Klaus Kinski is both hideous and melancholy as Nosferatu (renamed Count Dracula in the English language version). As in Murnau's film, he's a veritable gargoyle with his bald pate and sunken eyes, and his talon-like fingernails and two snaggly fangs give him a distinctly feral quality. But Kinski's haunting eyes also communicate a gloomy loneliness--the curse of his undead immortality--and his yearning for Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) becomes a melancholy desire for love. Bruno Ganz's sincere but foolish Jonathan is doomed to the vampire's will and his wife, Lucy, a holy innocent whose deathly pallor and nocturnal visions link her with the ghoulish Nosferatu, becomes the only hope against the monster's plague-like curse. Herzog's dreamy, delicate images and languid pacing create a stunningly beautiful film of otherworldly mood, a faithful reinterpretation that by the conclusion has been shaped into a quintessentially Herzog vision. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (82)

Werner Herzog creates the ultimate vampire.
Nosferatu was originally a German expressionist film, much in the style of "The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari. Moody, extremley gothic, and very scary, shot in Germany in 1922. Max Schreck played the part of Nosferatu, aka Count Orlok, the ugliest, scariest Dracula in cinematic history. Orlak is tall and skinny, shriveled, actually, with elongated limbs, and long, sharp claws for hands. He is ancient as well. We have no leading man type here, a la Christopher Lee, who was actually a sex symbol back in the late sixties, or handsome Bela, Frank Langella, or more recently, Gary Oldman. Orlak is the combination of an evil old man, mixed with a rodent. His ears are batlike, his eyes, wide and scary, a beak nose, and his full lips hide long, ratlike fangs. He is bald as well. Klaus Kinski captured Nosferatu to a tee, although Klaus is well, flat out not as ugly as Schrek. the story is virtually Dracula retold, including Harker's trip to Transylvania, the Count buying Real Estate, the Count lusting after Lucy, and Lucy's sacrifice. There is a hidden eroticism in the final scene with Lucy that must be seen to be believed. Lucy, by the way, is portrayed by the ever sexy Isabelle Adjani, and she portays a perfect damsel in distress, who knows what she must do. The contrast in Lucy's beauty, compared to Orlak's hideous repulsiveness, only adds to the erotic chemistry that is on the screen during their scenes together, especially when Lucy is first confronted by the lustful old vampire, and he demands her love. During the famous, final scene, we see Orlak consumate his vampiric love, in full detail. Lucy almost seems to be enjoying it. Orlak must have Lucy, even if it means that his very existance is the price to be paid, so he enjoys his night of bloodlust, and lovemaking to the fullest. The movie is atmospheric, and well acted throughout, although the Van Helsing character seems a bit powerless. Then again, aside from Lucy's sacrificial beauty, what can stop the evil Count Orlak.....Highly recommended.

Cerebral, dream-like horror
Nosferatu unfolds like a languorous, disturbing dream. The images have an hallucinogenic, archetypal quality: mummified human remains in an ancient tomb; the figure of a woman sitting on a beach studded with tombstones; a dead sea-captain lashed to the wheel of a deserted sailing ship.

Like Kubrick's The Shining, Nosferatu is less a standard genre film than a singular expression of a filmmaker's vision. Writer-director Werner Herzog began with F.W. Murnau's expressionist classic, mixed in elements from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, then set about creating a meditation on the vampire myth. What would it really mean to live forever, and be compelled to feed on the blood of others? What of the unspeakable boredom? The longing for companionship? For normalcy? For death? As played by Klaus Kinski, Herzog's Dracula has spent hundreds, if not thousands of years alone with these thoughts. He is the ultimate poster boy for German angst. If not for the skill of his performance and Herzog's direction, he might have lapsed into self-parody.

There are shots that all but reproduce moments from the silent classic - right down to the overwrought body language. But Herzog, Kinski, and the rest of the cast (including Bruno Ganz as Jonathon Harker and Isabelle Adjani as his wife Lucy) keep it in check and keep it beautifully stylized, so it all works.

Probably due to the involvement of American studio 20th-Century Fox, Nosferatu was shot in both English and German versions. Both are on this double-sided DVD; comparing them is instructive, since there are non-trivial differences in the visual construction of both films. Most critics agree (and I concur) that the German one is superior.

Finally, to get an idea of whether you will like this - or any - Werner Herzog film, take the Armageddon-Matrix test: if you hated Armageddon because it was empty and overblown, but kind of liked The Matrix because of its ideas, then you may like Nosferatu. If, on the other hand, you thought Armageddon rocked, but only kind of liked The Matrix because it was slow in places, then don't even think about it.

Good remake!
Remakes don't get much better that this, lets give a round of applause to the drictor, it's hard to make a remake of a classic film. So the film follows the story of the orignal, some guy goes to see Dracula, who he later bits( the guy goes crazy). Dracula later takes a ship to England and starts a rampage of death. This film does not have as much action as the first but it's still fun to wach. Make-up for Dracula rocked. Worth every penny.

The Classic Art-House Version of Dracula
For our second outing between Kinski and Herzog we find that the director has chosen to remake, or rather retell, his favorite film of all time - 'Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens' by F.W. Murnau (1922), while at the same time adapting more of the original Stoker novel into the remake, using the original name of Count Dracula (Kinski) instead of Orlok and injecting his own take on the story of Dracula (in German), which for all intensive purposes is a story about 'tragedy' and Herzog has correctly identified this main theme that would help levitate this entry to one of the all time great art-house horror films with images of Kinski's vampire often filling many film magazine pages and posters. In fact, it is Herzog's most commercial and accessible film to date. It was this telling of the Dracula story that influenced Coppola to remake the Stoker novel entirely into a film. It was not the first time Coppola had been influenced by Herzog. Coppola learned from Kinski and Herzog in "Aguirre: Wraith of God" that guerilla film making while going up a jungle river would be just what he needed for his version of Conrad's "Hearts of Darkness" (Apocalypse Now).

The usual Kinski/Herzog display of frustration is more subtle in this film than all the others probably because the beautiful Isabelle Adjani keeps Kinski distracted long enough for him not get angry with Herzog's cruel daily shoots to 'get it right' and deliberately making the actors and actresses angry for their performances. Here everyone just looks deathly sick and move extremely slowly. Even Adjani looks paler than Kinski at times. For some reason this has given Herzog a more controlled approach to this film with certainly less improvisation and 'on the spot' acting than any of his other collaborations with Kinski. Here we see a mix of Herzog's favorite - Tarkovsky's slow shooting style while cutting in shots of water (Herzog uses a bat in slow motion) and some sort of strange cinematic art house presence that we would see in many of Andy Warhol's productions. Herzog also gets the lighting just right and the cinematography is sublime - watching Kinski materialize from the darkness is again some of the most memorable images in art house cinema ever. Herzog also brings coffins en masse for display. Black coffins play a major role in the design throughout the film. Later on during a plague thousands of rats covering a city become central to Herzog's eye for capturing horror (a formal dinner takes place among hundreds of rats because the diners have the plague and wish to make the best of it before they die) - again extremely visionary and talented. Adjani puts on an amazing performance while remaining stunning under all the white. In one classic scene where she is confronted by Kinski she looks and acts more scary than Kinski almost performing him off the screen. The ending is an erotic take on the original film with Kinski touching Adjani all over, but the acting is excellent. The final twist comes as a shocker and is a bit funny. The end scene is like something out of a great Western and looks spectacular. Also the strange atmosphere of holiness is found throughout this film more than in any other Herzog/Kinski collaboration. The use of Orchestral sounds makes it all the more eerie while at the same time retaining that spirited electric connection to the presentation of madness that Herzog and Kinski are so well noted for.

'Nosferatu the Vampyre' is probably one of the most original art house horror films ever made even though the subject matter has been beaten to death, however it still ranks up there as one of the best versions of Dracula you can see. The DVD transfer is good and crisp. The aspect ratio is 1.85:1 and there are a lot of extras including director's commentary. By the way you can get the Kinski/Herzog box set of 6 films for a few quid extra than this stand alone DVD. Go look for it.

Belief and Science Clash
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht directed by Werner Herzog, is really a color remake of the 1922 film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens directed by F.W. Murnau. There are a couple of name changes: Count Orlok became Count Dracula; Jonathan's fiancée Nina became Jonathan's wife Lucy. The original film was silent and in black and white, where the 1979 version is in color and is in German with English subtitles.

However the plot is close to Bram Stoker's book on Count Dracula which has a very similar plot line and story. F.W. Murnau bought the movie rights to the film; however these rights were owned by Bram's widow Florence and she refused to allow the use of the name and storyline. Even though Murnau had changed the major names of the main characters (Count Dracula, Thomas and his wife Ellen) and location enough similarity remained that Florence took the case to court and in July of 1925 the German court ordered all the copies of the movie destroyed. However a few copies did manage to survive.

While the film starts off slow it shows spectacular scenes of an ocean voyage, and waterfalls experienced during Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) Harker's journey to Count (Klaus Kinski) Dracula's castle. The contrast with his return trip is startling, since he was healthy when he started, but on the return is very sickly and barely alive. The Count's journey is very stark, his companions' death and rats board another ship, which glides into port with no one left alive on board except the rats. As the rats depart the ship one reminded of the story of Ben, where the rats were everywhere and out of control.
An interesting dilemma in this film is the direct confrontation of belief in the existence of the supernatural and sacramental with belief in the rationale of science. Science was believed to able to explain away rationally anything that happened out of the ordinary. Yet here it could not produce an answer for Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) Harker. The way that this was shown was that after consulting with the town physician, Lucy broke and crumbed the Eucharist around Jonathan to keep him locked into a chair in a corner all night, while she became the sacrificed lamb to save him from the Count and death. While she did this out of her love for Jonathan, her sacrifice resulted in the final demise of Count Dracula and her own death. Yet Jonathan in essence lives on to carry the legacy of the living dead, alive yet not fully. The last that is seen of Jonathan is when he is released from his imposed prison, by the removal of the broken host around him, he declares that he has much work to accomplish he mounts a horse and rides off. ... Read more

Description

An enchanting love story of reborn passions, inspiration and humanity about two elderly childhood sweethearts who reunite at an old-age home and set off on a poignant, magical journey. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

We Do Not Know Where We Are Going, But They Are Taking Us
F Fredriksson's _Children of Nature_ clearly shows how much it is possible to say in cinema when a director chooses to focus his or her attention upon essentials, striving to tell a story without resorting to that sort overstatement and trickery all to familiar to audiences of typical Hollywood fare. There is nothing to find in its viewing which should have been left out. There is nothing wanted which must have been left out in its making that a viewer would wish he or she could see.

Portrayal of the elderly protagonists' simple human dignity did not preclude letting us come to know them through their foibles as well as their particular strengths. The spare and moving scenery of Iceland is not gratuitiously included. It is there to tell its part of the story. (One might even suggest that the landscape is one of the 'characters' in the film.) The situation which drives the story forward is commonplace enough, but it is given just sufficient push in the direction of the mystical and the humorous as to soften inevitable sorrow and grief with the only sort of hope an ironically 'post-modernist' era might bear.

Most of all, the story speaks plainly about the almost unbearable human cost of misplanned, onrushing change: Change now so commonplace, even in 'out of the way corners' of the world, that there is no escape, nor much hope of modifying its outcome, or negotiating a space to live even a brief span of years in peace--one can only refuse to go along, and pay the price of doing so.

(Of course we do not speak of how the wealthy must view the world, here. Wealth is to be understood, if it is to be understood at all, as the aberration it is, particularly when one marks the almost infantile renunciation of decency, restraint and responsibility displayed by those with the means to accomplish almost anything they could wish. Of course, with sufficient means, one can create almost any illusion of stability and sustainability.)

The scenes of embrace and of renunciation particular to the final moments of _Children of Nature_ bespeak of all that is best within the human spirit. The characters, from the first moments we see them, are anything but superficial or one-dimensional. The choices they must face are the choices we are going to have to face for ourselves.

I have not been so moved by a film in many years. This was so, even though I did not see it on the big screen.

Touches heart and soul
Beautiful movie of how a simple dream can come true through love and dedication of ones life here on earth. Photography is beautiful, story line is pure, lesson is true to the heart.

Two old souls who have become prisoners to societies daily care, run away to find comfort in joining there ancestors. This will tug at your heart and soul, making you wish you could find that one soul here on earth that is willing to grow old with you.

I'm pleased I ordered it ....
I first heard about this movie when it premiered in L.A., but was unable to attend. Knowing that it was a nominee I was hopeful to find it in the video stores. Was I ever optimistic! Here, 8 yrs later on a whim I searched for it; what a bargain unlike the near $100 one of the major video rentals wanted to charge me for a special order.

Now that I've viewed it, I came back to re-read the other reviews and like one other reviewer I have to admit I ended up watching it 3 times to her 4. Subtitles never bothered me, but I know others are put off by it - this one has to be the easiest one to follow.

Trying to find the words to describe the movie - charming, endearing, mystical, the unique landscape and beauty of Iceland. Moments of humor, irony and yes sadness. In one sense, it's a "simple" movie by today's "standards" - but there are layers of issues going on - not only with the individuals portrayed but how the viewer may react to their own beliefs towards those very issues. I also was drawn to the soundtrack music. When Thorgeir twice asks the truck driver, "Do you think your brother will take us on the ferry?" He replies, " I don't think about what I know " I just loved that line! Never heard that before- don't know if anything was lost or made better in that translation. "Babette's Feast" was an instant favorite of mine many years ago - and somehow this movie found a place in my heart along with it. Do wished my husband had watched the movie with me, as I am looking forward to discussing a couple of scenes with him.

Children of Nature reveals our own nature
This film had such an endearing aspect, that I could not watch it enough (four times). I especially recommend it to people who live a fast paced "hurry up" type of life. It will definitely calm them down. The beautiful images of the sea, landscape, music, and the lives the main characters lead are extremely soothing and dignified. I also enjoyed the spiritual aspect and hope to see more of these types of themes in films.

Are the eldery this defunct? Not yet!
As a former student of Scandinavian theatre and general studies, I felt that this film portrayed a view of the "elderly" bordering on lunacy. While the film itself was entertaining and well done, I disagreed with the image created in younger viewers' minds on the mental state of older people. Scandinavian film, from what I've seen, has been very dedicated to supernatural/metaphysical themes in addition to the nature/environmental themes. This holds true also in Scandinavian literature, in general. I've heard this film described both as uplifting and depressing. It is one which needs to be viewed and individually interpreted based on one's own experience with the older generation. I feel the film didn't give the amount of respect that I would have liked to see. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

daydream brilliant
along with the passinger and the american friend this is maybe the best euor-weltsmeachfest one can think of.......its strange lost and found dreamtime quality will linger with you for years...... ... Read more

Amazon.com

Gregory Peck hams it up big time in this 1978 thriller based on Ira Levin's bestselling novel. Peck plays an old German Nazi behind a mysterious series of murders, the investigation of which leads to an astonishing plot to create the Fourth Reich. Laurence Olivier is equally outrageous as a Nazi hunter who stumbles onto the scheme. Director Franklin Schaffner (Planet of the Apes) doesn't make any bones about the preposterousness of the story or of his legendary stars' performances, and a viewer is advised not to push too deeply into this tall tale for cautionary meaning. The film is a bit bloody--particularly unnerving in a climactic scene involving some attack dogs under the command of a young but familiar-looking monster.--Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Thriller with a First-Rate Cast
When the film was made almost a quarter century ago, the concept of "cloning" was the stuff of science fiction, as far as the general public was concerned. However, with the recent developments in the area making headlines worldwide, the idea is not reserved to the imagination. Therefore, the basic premise of Hitler authorizing his own cloning doesn't seem as farfetched as it may have been. Hey, the Germans have given the world the Volkswagen; thus, their scientists could have possibly been working on the cloning process prior and during World War II.

Regardless, the film features excellent work from stars Peck, Olivier, and Mason. Peck went against type by portraying Josef Mengele as a crafty, calculating, and ultimately evil scientist who would go to any length to preserve the Third Reich. Olivier, as the Nazi hunter Lieberman, displays his versatility with accents by doning a very believable Jewish brogue. Mason shows his usual cool as a Nazi hesitant but forced to support the machinations of Mengele.

But, the film has an outstanding group of supporting players whose on-screen time may be brief but is memorable. Uta Hagen as an imprisoned Nazi nurse is captivating; stage veteran Rosemary Harris stands out as the widow of one of Mengele's victims; A young Steve Guttenburg shines as a Nazi hunter; and comedy team member Anne Meara (sans her husband) is great as another "mother" of a Hitler clone.

But, it is Jeremy Black, a young actor who seems to have drifted into obscurity since the release of this motion picture, who is impressive as four of the "boys."

Oh, yeah, the great Michael Gough is "hanging around" in this one, too! Look fast and you will see Prunella Scales from "Fawlty Towers" as Gough's wife.

Peck vs Olivier as the Nazis try to clone Adolf Hitler
Gregory Peck gets about as far away from his Oscar winning role as Atticus Finch as possible with his over-the-top performance as the infamous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele. Once you learn about the plot of "The Boys from Brazil," based on Ira Levin's novel, Peck's hammy performance makes perfect sense. At a South American summit of Nazis, Mengele announces that over the next couple of years 94 adult males with much younger wives and adolescent sons are to be systematically murdered around their 65th birthdays. Mengele had cloned Hitler, implanted the eggs in all of these women, and now wants to recreate what he believes was the Fuhrer's formative experience as a child. Fortunately young Nazi-hunter Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) overhears the plot and right before he is murdered manages enlists the aid of the legendary Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) to stop this horrific plot. Just think of this film as a cross between "Jurassic Park" and "Triumph of the Will." The scene where a scientist explains the cloning process in excruciating detail to Lieberman is a textbook lesson on how too much exposition can stop a movie in its tracks. But then there is the final living room standoff between Mengele, Lieberman and one of the Hitler clones with his pack of trained killer Dobermans.

Actually, the actor who impresses me in "The Boys from Brazil" is James Mason, who plays Nazi Eduard Seibert and somehow makes the whole thing seem reasonable. Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen, Rosemary Harris and Denholm Elliott round out the stellar supporting cast caught up in this madness. Jeremy Black has the interesting role of playing all the young Hitler-Wannabees (Jack Curry, Simon Harrington, Erich Doring, Bobby Wheelock, etc.). Director Franklin J. Schaffner ("Planet of the Apes," "Patton," "Papillion") directs this straight up while Peck spews curses and Olivier trots out his wise old man routine. But to be fair, once we get past the exposition and Olivier tells the scientist that the person who has been cloned is neither Mozart nor Picasso, the story does get into gear. In what other over the top film can you see this much acting talent chewing up this much scenery? "The Boys From Brazil" is a first-class bad movie.

Overdone but chilling
Gregory Peck plays a Nazi doctor who escaped to Brazil as the Third Reich fell, while Laurence Olivier plays a Nazi hunter on Peck's trail. What is the evil doctor involved in? How about the creation of a Fourth Reich led by an Adolf Hitler clone? Will Olivier catch Pevck in time? Will that be enough?

Both of these great actors seem to have either tried too hard to make this movie work, or else treated it as somewhat of a farce. They overplay many of their scenes. Nevertheless, this is an intense, chilling, creepy movie with enough story to capture and maintain the viewer's attention. There is considerable gore at times; you might not want to pet a Doberman for a while after seeing "The Boys From Brazil". You might also find yourself wondering about the genetic background of eerily familiar-looking boys you might see, especially given recent advancements in cloning.

WHAT a movie!
This is so weird to write this, BUT... The first time I saw this film I had a roaring migraine headache, complete with severe nausea. IF you're a migraine sufferer, as I am, YOU understand what it's like to be stricken with one of them- you know what it's like to lay in bed, in misery and bordom trying to escape the pain. Normally, you just want to be left alone in a nice quiet, dark room and hopefully go comatose till it's all over. Anyway, early in that afternoon- BEFORE the headache part of the headache came on- the time where the only symptom is the onset of nausea, I read in my TV guide that "The Boys From Brazil" was going to be airing that evening. "Cool." me thinks, "I've been really wanting to see that film, now's my chance!" (This was Pre-DVD, Pre-VHS; Damn, this was SO long ago that it was even PRE HBO! It was plain-old-time-commercial-break-infested-TV-land; which, truth be known, was kind of a blessing for me what with the nausea and all... That night, one could call them: "hurl-breaks" !) Anyway, to shorten an already way too long story: In spite of BLINDING, COLOR ARCHING, NUCLEAR-MELTDOWN BRAIN PAIN, I was SO thrilled by this film, so completely enteretained and SURPRISED by the thing, that, migraine or no, I watched the whole dog-gone thing!
MERCY! Talk about "association strengthening memory"! THIS is one film I will never, EVER forget by virttue of association... SHOOT, to this day, every time I watch it, my forehead sweats, I get kinda' achy at the base of my scull, and my stomach commences to churn. But it was WORTH it! What a GREAT flick, go ahead, buy it. You'll like it. Heck, watch it with a migraine sufferer YOU love. ;o)

Passionate
The love secenes were especially moving. Watching two sensitive caring people commit themselves to lives of devotion and sacrifice for the benefit of children and the world was wonderfully refreshing. Long live the IV Reich !
(and George Bush!) ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Biiter-sweet romancing with an air of doom
This is classic Gillian Armstrong giving us a snapshot of inner-urban life in a Sydney home one long humid summer.

JP (played brilliantly by Bruno Ganz who was so memorable in Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire") is a Frenchman far from home. With his marriage to Beth (a woman whose vitality seems to have been snuffed out by marriage) already under stress, it takes only the arrival of Beth's wild and vibrant sister Vicki to send everything spinning out of control.

Vicki is Beth mirror image - but she is a reflection of what Beth once was. Beth longs to be wild and alive once more but that can never be. JP sees in Vicki what attracted him to Beth - and alone and longing for something that he can't find Down Under, JP drifts apart from Beth as she does from him.

But Beth has another problem - unresolved issues with her father (played by Bill Hunter who seems to be everywhere in Australian movies). Her father has all the personality of a prune, and won't admit his oldest child is now a grown woman with a mind of her own.

Beth, played in a deeply stressed manner by beautiful NZ actress Lisa Harrow, finds is being tossed about from the roles of mother, daughter and wife all at once - and she's the one that is left to suffer.

Truly a brilliant film, with a young Miranda Otto in the role of Beth's all-observing but resilient daughter, this is a touching film that captures much of the tension of our lives that will often cannot identify. ... Read more

Reviews (73)

An Awesome, Mind-Blowing Film!
Wim Wender's best film is a glorious cinematic experience, a film that dazzles the eye, challenges your mind and touches your heart. In other words, a rarity. No other film that I can think of (save perhaps Woody Allen's Manhattan)better captures the spirit and feel of city than this one's portrait of Berlin does. The film follows two angels who roam around Berlin listening to the thoughts of people and observing, only observing. Except for young children who can sense thier presence, the angels remain invisible to everyone and cannot intervene in earthly matters. When one of the angels (Bruno Ganz) sees a trapeze artist(Solveig Dommartain) in a small circus he becomes entranced and eventually falls in love with her. So much that he yearns to give up the eternal life and become mortal to be with her. Oh, but there's so much more to this film than this sketchy summary. This is also a film about a city, the once divided Berlin and its past. Its about loneliness and alienation, about what it means to be human and so much more. This is just a wonderful film, the best movie released in the 1980's. I've seen this countless times and I never tire of watching it. There are moments in this film that will always stay with me: Ganz's angel perched on the shoulder of a statue, the angels congregating in the Berlin Library, the angels comforting a suicide victim, the brief flashes of color as Ganz becomes more and more human, Peter Falk, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and so much more. This needs to be released on DVD now. A GREAT film.

Poetry In Motion Picture Fairy tale Dream a Rant
This is a beautiful film by Wunderkind directer Wim Wenders... The leading Angel in this film is nothing short of the face of Kindess. And the beautiful cinematography blended with the poetic narrations make this flowing story one of the most beautiful glimpses into film magic you will ever witness. The story almost feels like Hans Christian Anderson's the Little Mermaid only with Angels instead of Fish-Tail Folk. The American Remake of this film is an excellent movie to watch side by side so one can see the difference betwen what film should be and what Hollywood does to poetry... it makes it commerce. Witness the addition of hundreds of Angels instead of two - add flowing trenchcoats, sunglasses , and set it in Los Angeles instead of Berlin... also make your leading lady a Doctor instead of a Circus Carnie(must be politically correct) I have nothing against the strong performances of Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage... but come on Hollywood - you aint got nothin on Wim Wenders - You'll probably read reviews of WINGS OF DESIRE that mention this Magic Phrase from the ...Critics' box 'o magnetic words... Well it's an "art" film ... and what may I ask is film but anything else? Film is an artform - but Witness City of Angels in comparison to Wings of Desire - We are HOLLYWOOD we have come to turn your German Uber Art into ...COMMERCE - yes that is the true meaning of an ART FILM a film that is true to the beatuty of the media... but alas couldn't possible be understood by the average American spoon-fed Consumer...amen to the Holy Roman Empire - take us Out if you can...and that's all I have to say aboot that.

EXISTENTIALISM MEETS EMOTIONS IN THIS GORGEOUS ROMANCE
What an absolutely haunting delight. With its introspective pacing, which some may find slower than their cinematic taste allows, the film takes its own sweet time setting things up but it is one of the most mind-boggling romantic tropes you will see in cinema.

In the end it's not just about requited loves and hopes, it also carries a heady undercurrent of other notions: displacement and the natural yearning for emotional connections that transcends humans; the unification of a divided Germany and of a divided race; and, probably above all, about the universality of cinema and its ability to allow people to live multiple lives (from multiple cultures) at the movies.

When I first saw this, I thought the film's fatal flaw was its anti-climactic conclusion. Now I realise that it may be the best part of my favourite film of all time.

One caution to buyers about the DVD. Many bits of the film are in German, but my DVD had no subtitles. All the gorgeous imagery (in noir-ish black and white) was thus somewhat frittered away.

But it surely did make me want to see what Berlin must really be like. If you like your movies laid-back and reflective, this comes highly recommended from me.

The ultimate art film
One of the most touching films created by Wim Wenders, Wings of Desire follows two angels, one of whom decides that his love of a woman is worth more than his heavenly life watching over the recently reunified Berlin. Wenders takes you from the black-and-white world of the angels to the multi-colored world of the inhabitants of earth and challenges you to think about life and love and the important things in life. Touching cameo by Peter Falk. A moving film.

The Sky Over Berlin.
It's ironic that so soon after Wenders shot this film in Berlin (a film about seperation and the search for unity), the wall would come tumbling down. The only entities who can transcend the wall in this movie are the angels, who are nothing but pure consciousness. The original German title for this film translates as 'The Sky Over Berlin' and I certainly think it is more apt than the English one that was chosen. For it is only the sky above their city that unites Berliners each side of the wall. The angels imprisonment in the spiritual world is undoubtedly in my mind, a metaphor for the political set-up in Berlin at that time. Whether it be West Berliners imprisoned on all sides by the communist East or the East Berliners imprsioned from the decadent freedoms of West Berlin.

The angels themselves were banished to Berlin in 1945 for questioning God's intentions. As a city at the apex of 2 world wars and a cold war, there is probably no better choice in choosing it as a symbol of our century. Wenders use of documentary footage from the end of the 2nd world war is frightening in its portrayal of a city's damaged past. A past of confusion and despair that still marks the city's people through their ongoing frustrated desires.

In order to retain some sense of his original 'poetic' vision, Wenders refused to finalize a shooting script before he started filming. As a result he relied on a mostly spontaneous film shoot as well as a lot of improvising from his actors. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The RAF (Red Army Faction): terrorism in 1977 Germany
As he is trying to pick up his wife at a political rally, the scientist Dr. Berthold Hoffmann is severely wounded when shot in the head by the police. He must learn to do everything all over again, and the police are intent on keeping his innocence a secret by labeling him a terrorist. Great story from the era of the Baader-Meinhof group...when Germany's politics walked the line of conviction and paralysis. A left-wing activist named Volker, who is in love with Hoffmann's wife, becomes fiercely intent on exposing the scientist's innocence, and the police's guilt.

Little Known, But Great
A profound film about consciousness and reality. Bruno Ganz is at his best delivering a subtle and complex performance. One of the best examples of modern German cinema I know, yet hardly anyone has seen or heard of it!

Wholly engaging, challenging and brilliantly subtle triumph!
Powerful and complex film that pulls you deeper into mystery even as it offers seeming clues to the story and the characters involved. Delivers psychological suspense as I've never seen in any other film. Fearless and bold direction and acting with a mindbending climax. Truly a great film. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A Meditative Masterpiece
Despite the casting of a well-known (some would say, "infamous") American actor in the form of Dennis Hopper, Wim Wenders' take on the very American "film noir" style in "The American Friend" was every bit a fit with the work that came before and after. The same thoughtful approach to character and story that animates Wenders' "road movies" is also on display in this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel "Ripley's Game."

"The American Friend" draws the viewer into its web with subtle twists, a captivating atmosphere and excellent performances by Dennis Hopper as the mysterious Ripley and Bruno Ganz (later to star in Wenders' "Wings of Desire") as the ordinary man who gets caught up in Ripley's web. With its exceptionally careful pacing, the film is certainly not for everyone. For those willing to embrace Wenders' unique approach, however, the end result is a truly gripping film that will stay with you long after some more viscerally thrilling movies have faded from memory.

With friends like these. . . .
One of the best adaptations of a Patricia Highsmith novel (*Ripley's Game*) ever filmed, and one of Wim Wenders' best movies, too. But, according to the commentary on this DVD, Ms. Highsmith was originally aghast at Wenders' treatment of the story -- it's a very loose adaptation -- and of the character Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper in a cowboy hat, a figure radically different from the suave manipulator in the book). As the years passed, she apparently grew reconciled to the movie on its own terms, and why not? -- the themes of the seductiveness of evil and of the abyss yawning below any "normal" person's life are rigorously limned in *The American Friend*. And Wenders brings some ideas of his own to this material, most notably the distasteful spectacle of a dominant world power and culture (e.g., the United States) crassly pirating the leavings of an older civilization (e.g., European): a way of life and thought, even a fraudulent version of it, is available to the highest bidder only. Above and beyond the intellectual stuff, the movie also happens to have several suspenseful stretches. Best example: the scene where the modest picture-framer from Hamburg (a never-better Bruno Ganz), having been roped into being a hitman due to the machinations of an insulted Tom Ripley, ineptly tails an American gangster through the subterranean Paris metro. Ganz needs the money for his family, but he's in bad health (a heart condition), an