Jim Jarmush im Spiegel-Interview zu seinem letzten Film:

Scheiße, genau das habe ich mir gedacht als ich die Episode im Film gesehen habe. Wie die beiden da genüsslich den Rauch inhalieren. Als würde die Zeit in der Szene stehenbleiben. Wie Iggy Pop die halb abgerauchte Zigarette ausdrückt. Mit dem schlechten Gewissen von einem der genau weiß, dass er da gerade wieder angefangen hatte. Tom Waits war in der Szene übrigens viel interessanter und cooler als der langwelige und hektisch-zerfahrene Iggy Pop. Tom Waits war auch unglaublich jung in dem Ausschnitt. Kein Wunder. Der Teil wurde vor 11 Jahren gedreht.

Via Kingblind: The full translation of what the director of the whiskey spot is saying to Bill Murray and what the interpreter is saying to the director in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation:

Barbara (in Thome's Rot und Blau) verbrennt ihre Vergangenheit in Form von einem Tisch, einem Lampenschirm, mehreren Stühlen und diversem anderen Krempel bei ihrer Datscha. Und dies ist wie ein Katalysator für ihre schlummernde Vergangenheit. Nun nach 20 Jahren taucht plötzlich ihre verlorene Tochter auf. Außerdem trifft sie nach fast 40 Jahren den Mann wieder, dem sie ihren ersten Kuss gegeben hat. Es bleibt übrigens völlig im Dunkeln, welche Erinnerungen sie da eigentlich verbrannt hat. Vielleicht die Unguten, auf dass die Guten zurückkehren können. Gelegentlich muss man vielleicht seine Vergangenheit entrümpeln, auf dass man wieder den Zugang findet zu den wichtigen Ereignissen und Menschen in seinem Leben.

Hannelore Elsner, geboren am 26.7.1942

Rudolf Thome Rot und Blau Drehzeit: 7. 07. - 8. 08. 2002

Gegen Ende des Films feiert die von Elsner gespielte Barbara Bärenklau ihren 50. Geburtstag. Es würde mich nicht wundern, wenn die entsprechenden Szenen am 26.7. gedreht worden sind.

P.S. Der Film ist übrigens göttlich. Und für einen Thome sehr komisch.

I just saw Sofia Coppola's movie in the original. It's a nice film though a tad stereotypical on Japan in places. For example in the beginning when the Japanese director talks and talks and talks and the interpreter translates it into just one phrase: "Look into the camera". Or the scene in the night club where the owner chases a guy who tries to start a fight with a kind of machine-gun. Does this really happen to you in Tokyo? I somehow doubt it.

Bill Murray and this young blonde actress are a weird couple. They seem to be lost in translation too. Everyone seems to be in this film. Murray and his wife take the cake with telephone conversations where Murray just says "who?", "hello", several "ok's" and "bye".

Some nice music. I think I have never heard a My Bloody Valentine track in a movie. Sofia Coppola didn't pick the worst with Sometimes from Loveless. Quite sad though that Kevin Shields excellent new composition City Girl only gets played at the credits at the end. Bill Murray's dry and deadpan karaoke interpretation of Roxy Music's More than this isn't bad neither.

P.S. Some infos on the extras of the DVD over at largehearted boy.

Bei Zweitausendeins habe ich vor kurzem dieses Frühwerk (1969) des deutschen Rohmer, den ich normalerweise genauso schätze wie seinen Vater im Geiste, erstanden. Und mir heute abend angetan. Es war eine Qual. Außer der Story (Frauenkommune entledigt sich der eindringenden Männer nach spätestens fünf Tagen), der Musik (Barockes von Albinoni am Anfang und Ende sowie Psychedelisches von The Nice in der Tanzszene), den Autos (Käfer und alte schwarze 190er Benztaxen), dem Starnberger See und der Sonne, die über ihm unteraufgeht, ist alles andere völlig unerträglich. Laienschauspieler, die so steif und ausdruckslos agieren wie Marionetten. Dialoge, die noch spröder und belangloser sind als bei Godard (A Bout de Souffle nehme ich hier mal aus, aber das war ja sowieso ne Idee von Truffaut). Uschi Obermaier und die anderen Girls im Mini waren so derart unsexy, vielleicht weil sie alle bis auf eine so verdammt dürr waren. Rundum ein Film, den man nicht mal verschenken möchte. Aber bei Ebay verkaufen könnte ich ihn schon, ohne mich zu schämen.

P.S. Unglaublich das Zitat aus dem rororo Filmlexikon von 1977:

P.P.S. Die Unterhaltung zwischen Rudolf Thome und Rainer Langhans während sie den kompletten Film sehen, rettet diese DVD im Endeffekt. Da ist sehr viel Naivität (besonders auf Langhans Seite) dabei. Thome hat einige interessante Hintergrundinfos zu diesem Film und zum Filmemachen generell anzubieten.

It's unbelievable how bland Stanley Kubrick's Shining is in comparison to Rob Reiner's Misery. And that's definitely not only because of the terrific Kathy Bates. Maybe it's the story line which is so one-dimensional and predictable. I mean there is this diffuse frightening suspense in almost every scene but somehow this movie does not grip me at all.

What an unconvincing combination evoking pure cliché: Nicholson the psychopathic monster, his wife in the film a hysteric (which actually seems realistic given the circumstances) and their kid gifted with the shining, a capability of communicating telepathically. Near the end I wished that Nicholson would have smashed his wife's skull with the axe just to finish off this tedious nightmare of a film. I must admit though that this scene on the stairs where she swings that bat when Jack approaches her with his axe made me laugh out loud. In any case now I am even surer that I will never ever read a book by Stephen King in my life.

Einer meiner deutschen Lieblingsfilmemacher über sein Kino, das Wasser und zwei Frauen:

Es gibt zwei neue Filme von ihm, der erste läuft gerade in München beim Filmfest:

Rot und Blau und Frau fährt, Mann schläft.

Sunday afternoon we went to see this unspectacular film on the life of an insurance mathematician after his retirement. It was a rather slowly paced affair which had the advantage that I could follow the conversations almost perfectly. Very often American films are difficult to understand for me. People mumble a lot in a speed making my 39 year old brain dizzy. Not here. There wasn’t even a soundtrack (except Satie when Mr Schmidt drove with his mobile home). My attention went to 100% to Jack Nicholson who played the pensioner. Let’s be honest. Warren Schmidt’s life hadn’t exactly been exciting before the retirement and is neither after. Warren lives in Omaha, in the Midwest. In another blog by someone from Omaha I read something funny about Western Kansas. It is supposed to be the only place where you can fall asleep driving a car and after the car has left the road it will only stop when the gasoline is out. Whatever. Let’s move back to the story. Warren is married and has a daughter. His relation to his wife is a typical relation I’d think. He thinks she has never understood him after 40 years of marriage. Not that it is really clear what there is to understand about Warren. He is a very average, very normal person. But he is a very real person, an archetype if you want. We are surrounded by Warren Schmidt’s in this world. And if we think about it there is a Warren Schmidt in everyone of us. Warren Schmidt is a character out of a Beckett play. Sorry, I didn’t tell you anything about the plot of the film or any scenes. There are some scenes where I laughed tears. What I really loved about the film was its amazing realism. I saw myself and my environment in it. And it was very funny. Especially the sad scenes. By the way Kathy Bates is a genius. She was perfect in Misery but here she is godlike.

(He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not ) A little bit of a dark comedy this new French film by Laetititia Colombani with Audrey Tautou who became famous for her main role in Amélie Poulain. I had a positive surprise after the mixed reviews.

The film tells the story of a female stalker or érotomane like they say in French. The young Angélique (Tautou) is head over heels in love with the married cardiologist Loïc. Though she shows her love with endless presents and almost kills herself for it it will take Loïc a long time to find out about it. In the first scene she buys a rose for him and asks the shop owner to deliver it to her beloved one. As the amount the flower is worth is below the delivery threshold the guy first refuses her wish. But he has no chance. Angélique’s charming smile is absolutely irresistible and the story takes its course. It is told two times. Once from the point of view of Angélique’s wanting to be boy-friend of her age and once from the stance of Loïc. Obviously these two perspectives are extremely different and the second run through Loïc’s eyes is rather surprising and revelatory for the spectator.

The film turns from the obsession of a young innocent girl into a tragic lethal affair without ever losing its sense of humour. A medical history told in a light, fairy-tale like way without being totally unrealistic. A joy for the observer.

The plot reminded me a lot of Ian McEwan’s brilliant novel Enduring Love (enduring has two meanings, guess which is the good one here).