For It Is Man's Number: moritz bleibtreu

Showing posts with label moritz bleibtreu. Show all posts

Monday, 18 December 2023

Mubi Monday: Soul Kitchen (2009)

Director Fatih Akin has delivered some interesting variety in his filmography. The only common denominator, in the films I have seen from him anyway, is the level of quality. If you have seen and enjoyed one film from him then I encourage you to check out more. Soul Kitchen is a comedy drama that wanders through some very familiar territory with enough enjoyable quirks and twists to avoid feeling stale.

Adam Bousdoukos plays Zinos, a young man about to have a very bad time of things. Zinos is in charge of a struggling restaurant, his girlfriend is heading to Shanghai for a while, his brother seems intent on ruffling feathers as he “helps” at the restaurant, there’s a new chef making a menu that the regulars don’t find appealing, and a back injury to top everything off. With odds stacked against him, and deadlines set by both the local environmental health officers and representatives of the tax office, Zinos finds himself staring into quite an abyss. But there may be glimpses of light.

Co-written by Akin and Bousdoukos, this is a satisfying viewing experience that places extra obstacles in between central characters and their potential happiness, but also wants everyone to have a third act that will lead to people ultimately smiling and happy, even if it’s a bittersweet resolution for some. The titular restaurant is a cool and vibrant place, and we get to see it effectively transform and realise its full potential as Zinos steers through some incredible choppy waters.

Bousdoukos is good in the lead role, happy to be as helpless and shambolic as he needs to be before he manages to fully screw his head on. Moritz Bleibtreu is also very good as the brother who may end up doing more harm than good, and there are very enjoyable performances from Pheline Roggan, Anna Bederke, Birol Ünel, and Wotan Wilke Möhring. You even get a cameo appearance from Udo Kier, always a welcome addition, even if he is delivering one of his more sane and staid turns.

Akin and Bousdoukos work well together, using the characters as links in a circuit that energises the material, and the visuals are accompanied by a soundtrack that features some cracking tunes, including a couple of classic tracks that you would expect to enjoy hearing played in any premises named Soul Kitchen.

8/10

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Monday, 6 June 2022

Mubi Monday: The Walker (2007)

Although this might seem to be a bit different from other movies we've had from writer-director Paul Schrader, The Walker is ultimately very much in his wheelhouse. It might wear some smarter clothes, and there may be a greater age range in his main cast, but it certainly looks at things through that Schrader lens.

Woody Harrelson plays Carter, a "safe" gay man who works as an escort to some well-to-do ladies in Washington D.C. He accompanies them to various events, making himself the walker of the title, and also enjoys often playing cards with them. He is a trusted figure, which is why Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas) turns to him when she discovers the corpse of a murdered man. Not just any murdered man, but someone she was close to. To save her from any potential embarrassment, tricky questions that could cause problems for her husband, Larry Lockner (Willem Dafoe), Carter decides to claim that he found the body. This makes things problematic when the investigation quickly turns more serious, and Carter realises he may have got himself mixed up in something quite dangerous.

A murder mystery where viewers won't really care about the mystery element, this is a film that I hadn't previously heard of, unusual for me when it comes to the filmography of Schrader. By the time the end credits rolled, I could understand why. There's nothing here that stands out, nothing here to make this memorable in any way. And the sad thing is that a SUPERB cast is largely wasted.

Harrelson is good fun in the lead role, better in the few quieter moments that he has, as opposed to the scenes with him being relentlessly cheery to those around him, and Thomas is effectively vulnerable and quiet during the times when events threaten to overwhelm her. Having kickstarted the chain of events for Carter, her character soon disappears for a while, but her presence continues to overshadow everything. The other main women are played by Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, and Mary Beth Hurt, all giving great performances, and all sorely underused. Dafoe is underused, Ned Beatty has a small role (underused), William Hope has a main scene or two (guess what . . . underused), and there's a solid turn from Geff Francis, playing a detective, that surprisingly gives him just enough screentime to make the best impact. Moritz Bleibtreu also gets a fair few scenes, but his character, and the performance, just doesn't work as well as the other people who should have been allowed to shine a bit brighter.

You should like The Walker, but only because it doesn't have much to actively dislike. There's enough here to enjoy, but it feels like a tray of samples, as opposed to a full, satisfying, meal. Schrader being a bit more restrained than usual ends up working against himself, especially when he is still keen to dissect guilt, the masks that people wear, and just how often no good deed goes unpunished.

5/10