Early Fassbinder Criterion Eclipse 39 DVD

Description: This DVD box set features the early works of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including his influential dramas "Brecht" and "Fear of Fascism". The Criterion Collection's Eclipse Series 39 offers a comprehensive overview of Fassbinder's career, with each DVD including commentaries, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage. This box set is a must-have for fans of foreign cinema and those interested in the social and political themes explored in Fassbinder's work. Love Is Colder Than Death (1969) For his debut, Fassbinder fashioned an acerbic, unorthodox crime drama about a love triangle involving the small-time pimp Franz (Fassbinder), his gangster friend Bruno (Ulli Lommel), and Franz’s prostitute girlfriend, Joanna (Hanna Schygulla). With its minimalist tableaux and catalog of New Wave and Hollywood references, this is a stylishly nihilistic cinematic statement of intent. Katzelmacher (1969) Fassbinder’s second film dramatizes the intolerance of a circle of financially and sexually frustrated friends when an immigrant laborer (Fassbinder) moves to their Munich neighborhood. This scalpel-sharp, theatrical experiment (based on one of the director’s successful early stage plays) is both a personal expression of alienation on the part of the filmmaker and a comment on the persistence of xenophobic scapegoating in German society. Gods of the Plague (1969) Harry Baer, a Fassbinder discovery, plays a newly released ex-convict who slowly but surely makes his way back into the Munich criminal underworld. Meanwhile, his attentions are torn between two women (Hanna Schygulla and Margarethe von Trotta) and the beloved friend (Günther Kaufmann) who shot his brother. This is a sensual, artfully composed study of romantic and professional futility. The American Soldier (1970) The German-born Ricky (Karl Scheydt) returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer. Fassbinder’s experimental noir is a subversive, self-reflexive gangster movie full of unexpected asides and stylistic flourishes, and featuring an audaciously bonkers final shot and memorable turns from many of the director’s rotating gallery of players. Beware of a Holy Whore (1971) In Fassbinder’s brazen depiction of the alternating currents of lethargy and mayhem inherent in moviemaking, a film crew—played by, and not so loosely based on, his own frequent collaborators—deals with an aloof star (Eddie Constantine), an abusive director (Lou Castel), and a financially troubled production. Inspired by the hellish process of making the 1971 Whity, this is a vicious look at behind-the-scenes dysfunction. All of the films are presented in German with English subtitles.

Price: 28.96 USD

Location: New York, New York

End Time: 2025-01-26T21:21:26.000Z

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