Dilemma: The 15 hour Fassbinder version of Berlin Alexanderplatz is out, and it appears it will take forever to get the first of the seven discs from the mail service, but the subsequent ones are easily available. Start at two? Start at Fassbinder’s epilogue? Wait? None are satisfactory options. "..something that comes from the outside, something unaccountable, something that looks like fate.."
On the occasions when I go to a blockbuster art show, I get a timed ticket for first thing in the morning, and when admitted I make for the middle to end of the show. But that tactic hinges on the perceived absence of narrative structure.
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plus disc two of Watkins' The Freethinker came today and not one, which was supposed to also come..
Ooh. Time to finally watch that Fassbinder. All at once, if possible.
I’m not a big fan of his other films; I’m not against them and like him, and think that he reached the potential that his talents permitted while he was working.
Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz is extremely loyal to Doblin after which Fassbinder indulges his ego with the critically controversial epilogue. I think because of its loyalty I’m going to start with disc two this weekend if I don’t get disc one, since the novel can be used to reconstruct what has happened up to that point.
There’s also a doggedly loyal 8+ hour The Idiot that came out in Russia in ‘03 which I started watching a few months ago but got sidetracked, by Vladimir Bortko who followed it up with a 6 hour Master and Margarita. What I saw was great, and the Myshkin looked sort of like you as all Myshkins should.
Badiou speaking in Philly tonight (Scalapino read Tuesday night)
holy crap! i was hoping to go from season 1 of the wire straight into 2 & 3 but may have to abandon that on favor of this...
there's some RWF films i like but have seen so many i can't remember which...
I don't think the Wire is based on a novel which means you can't read the first season, plus Berlin Alexanderplatz is more accurate than anything on HBO I'm aware of.. I still haven't seen any of it, as they keep sending films below Disc Two even though it says it's available 'now'
I think I adore all of RWF's movies (or at least the 50% of his output I've managed to see), but it took me a long time to get to this point.
Largely because the acting is better than almost anything else in film--closer to the Berlinner Ensemble than to the movies in general.
Seen the Todd Haynes Dylan flick? I think it's remarkable. And definitely some signs of Fassbinder, in amongst the more obvious Fellini and Godard references.
Oh, yeah--and I'll have to look for that Idiot I resemble.
I’m going to check out the Haynes thing for home viewing where you can pick and choose the critically well received chapters with favored actors.
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