Compared to the great films that Christian Petzold has brought to the table in recent decades, surprisingly few people know about the leading representative of the German New Wave called the Berlin School. Perhaps the 63-year-old director's most famous works are those dating back to 2018 Crossingin which a desperate man tries to escape from France to America during the Nazi occupation, but it is based on a similar theme to the film made six years earlier. Barbara Also, where a doctor tries to cross from the GDR to her lover. Petzold's new film Fire Red Sky, released in local theaters on February 22, has a lighter tone compared to the films mentioned above, but still deals with the same subject matter in more abstract ways. Crossing the boundaries of ourselves.
The main character of The Fire Red Sky, Leon (Thomas Schubert), a young writer already carrying the manuscript of his second novel under his arm, arrives with his friend Felix (Langston Uebel) on the shores of the Baltic Sea for a short stay. vacation. The vacation home they're staying in for a few days isn't exactly a Hilton hotel, as there's a hole in the ceiling and dripping water, and the two men are forced to share a room for the night because they already have a third roommate. , the mysterious young woman Nadia (Paula Bear) who defiantly occupied the toilet. Petzold's new film revolves around them, complete with Karakan's lifeguard, David (Eno Trips). The writer-director collides with four very different characters, locked in a narrow, relatively closed space, while smoke billows in the distance and an eerie light illuminates the night horizon – because wildfires are raging, which could cut short the holiday at any time. . It's ominous at best, if one asks us.
In the history of cinema, we've already seen a few insufferable writers on the big screen, and we don't even have to search far back in our memories. There was, for example, Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance, who used an ax to drive himself and his family crazy in The Shining. Fear and Trembling in Las Vegas and the horribly underrated Rum Diary showed what happens when a journalist (Johnny Depp) loses his temper and falls in love with booze, alcohol and easy-going women. Well, the main character of Red Sky, Leon, is a big ass even compared to them, but in a different way. Looking at a seemingly gentle portrait of Thomas Schubert, we would never imagine how toxic, self-indulgent and self-absorbed he is, but that is precisely why he is such an exciting artist.
Summer is in full swing, you can go swimming and sunbathing on the beach, have a little fun, but Leon spends most of the game puffing, with a cigarette in his mouth and a laptop on his lap on the balcony, complaining about how stupid his new novel, Club Sandwich has become. Christian Petzold's new film is a summer coming-of-age story, a coming-of-age story, but the interesting thing is that everyone grows up in it before the central character, who lags behind the others in this respect. A talented photographer and always open to the world, Felix (Langston Uebel) also finds himself on the shores of the Baltic Sea ahead of Leon, who begins carefully building his portfolio, feeding himself artistically from holiday homes, while engaging in a heartbreaking business. A real-life love story with the previously mentioned bisexual David.
And here is the unrecognizable Nadia, it would be a sin not to highlight her in a separate paragraph Personal, brought to us by Paula Bear, always with a sly smile on her face, one of Petzold's favorite actresses, who slowly becomes his muse, and who serves as a wonderful counterpoint to Leone's energy vampire – and ultimately leads this occasionally dramatic film in a more playful and humorous direction. We really need Nadia, because without her Leon, who constantly suffers even in the picturesque environment, would have taken us out of life.
By the way, tribute to Thomas Schubert, it is very rare to see such an anti-pathetic character, but he endures it, and accepts that the audience will not like him even for a moment. A brave performance, a bravely written character, and despite all his faults and stupidity, you can still identify with him in a surprising way.
Christian Petzold has always been a master of small-scale, yet clear and sympathetic human dramas, and he delivers the must-see in The Fire Red Sky.
Compared to how carefully the characters in The Fire Red Sky are developed and brought to life with artistic sophistication, and the characters in The Fire Red Sky look like real people, the film's screenplay seems superficial. Of course, this is intentional on Petzold's part, to convey the atmosphere of summer lazing around and doing nothing. To some extent, it hypnotizes us, the viewers, sitting in front of the screen, so that the drama with capital letters knocks on the door with elemental force, hits us over the heads, and turns The Fire Red Sky into a tragic love film, in a way that the creator avoids all the clichés of love films.
Throughout the film, from the first minute to the last, this German drama has an amazing “character”, as the camera lingers on the landscape, and we also catch a glimpse of the main characters' summer dinner in the courtyard, where the filmmakers found the song “On My Mind” from Wallners as background music, and is played in at least three versions…
The Fire Red Sky is the kind of movie that makes us start looking forward to summer so we can go to the beach and let go of the noise of everyday life for a bit. At the same time, it's also the kind of film that reminds us that summer only lasts for two months, a fleeting happiness followed by sadness at its end. Christian Petzold's credits can also be taken advantage of, as Fire Red Sky will make us happy and sad at the same time.
Fire Red Sky is a rare treasure, one that may one day become a cult classic, but audiences certainly won't discover it for themselves today. Perhaps it was not made for the masses, but for those who appreciate the German New Wave built on avant-garde foundations. We can only hope that there will be more like them.
8/10
Fire Red Sky can still be shown in Hungarian cinemas.
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