Stranger in the Alps

The Beach Bum (2019)     Harmony Korine’s latest is deeply hilarious and seemingly goes nowhere in between. I was actually surprised how much I liked this one considering how it finds most of its humor in showing the sheer decadence of these rich, privileged people. The trailer of the movie suggests that Matthew McConaughey’s Moondog goes on some spiritual journey in an attempt to become a better person, while in fact that couldn’t be further from the truth. Moondog in this movie is a textbook example of someone failing upwards, who learns nothing in the process, does whatever the fuck he wants, and eventually gets rewarded for this. His so-called writing process of creating the next great American novel comes down to him jotting down some words on his typewriter once in a while in between a hangover and his afternoon nap, usually with some cocktail or a massive joint in his other hand.    And his actual poetry is mediocre at best, w...

Sweetie (1989)   Jane Campion's debut film is very much a first-time feature, the transitions between different sequences are a bit clumsy and something about this movie just feels unfinished. But despite all of this, I couldn't stop myself from loving Jane Campion's Sweetie. I adore movies about dysfunctional families, and this is a very great example of that specific subgenre.     We follow Kay, a young woman who is weirdly hang up on superstition, when she starts a relationship with her coworker’s fiancée because the tea leaves have told her so. They move in together and go live in the suburbs, b ut after a year of being together, their relationship reaches an impasse. They're not able to have sex together anymore and Kay doesn't even want to sleep in the same bed. But one day, Sweetie, Kay's unstable sister, crashes into their house and starts wrecking the monotonous homelife they got so accustomed to.       Sweet...

Never Look Away (2018) Never Look Away has an interesting view of politics and art and how the two relate to each other. But not in terms of the currently very popular debate about the politics in the art itself, yet rather about creating art in a specific political environment (at first Nazi Germany, later the DDR). The movie opens in 193 7 , when are lead character, Kurt, is still a little boy. He goes to visit a modern art exhibition with his rather open-minded aunt. The museum guide gives a lengthy speech about the impurity of this certain art movement, how it is at conflict with the traditional German values and even goes as far as suggesting that this kind of work can only come from someone with a disturbed mind, and therefore it’s the government’s job to take measures. It’s already clear, art can only suffice in this world as a form of propaganda, while also giving us a little hint of what will further happen to this family unit.   In the fi...