The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

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nick
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#151 Post by nick » Tue Oct 10, 2017 8:45 am

I finished Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day a few nights ago and I think this might be Fassbinder’s most humanistic work. Honestly I never expected a character like Grandma to show up in a Fassbinder film: she has such an enthusiasm, initiative, and persistence that it’s easy to get caught up in her scheming and swayed by her charm.

One of the aspects I really appreciate is how much the film shows people at their job and how work, and the politics of work, affect their lives: The way frustration at work often carries over into home life. Where I often feel that Fassbinder’s main theme is power dynamics (dominance and submissiveness), which are still relevant in Eight Hours, here he is much less cynical about relationships, choosing to show familial warmth and bonding (even through bickering!). Jochan and Marion’s relationship often centers around discussions of work, with Marion offering clarity to Jochan’s raw ideas and sense of justice.

There are still power dynamics, most obviously in the case of Harald and Monica. But even here Fassbinder offers more depth to the abusive Harald, ultimately showing that his authoritarian violence is a front to his sense of inadequacy.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#152 Post by ozufils » Tue Oct 10, 2017 9:33 am

Totally agree. The charming grandma, even with her petty connivances, expresses a warmth that's not very different from similar characters in ozu's films.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#153 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:18 am

Chinese Roulette used to be my hands-down favorite RWF, and while a return didn't bowl me over like the first watch did, it's still sitting near the top of his oeuvre. This is Fassbinder’s most puckish film, where the cruelty is earned through a combination of specifically-deserved mockery and broad-minded sympathy for humanity’s sensitivities. No matter how awful these characters are, there’s a tragedy to how soft and vulnerable they are, a weakness Fassbinder identifies with and feels empathy for, just as he does with the projective spouts of emotion that attempt to hide the pains of isolation by connecting through maladaptive harm. The acidic humor revolves around the objective interplay, cut through to reveal a universally terrifying pathos. We don’t care about any of these people, just their existential trappings that hit our own Achilles' heels of psychosocial horror.

Even before the titular game beings, Angela spends the bulk of the narrative playing 'games' with the adults in her life as unwitting chess pieces. She is getting power where she can, as kids do, but we also suspect that she's playing by the rules emulated from her social context; her parents gaming each other through lies and secrets, Gabriel doing the same with his plagiarizing, Kast enabling everyone through posing as a pathetic gatekeeper without an identity of her own. Angela's mother resents her, the innocent, due to her own failings and incapacity to actualize her full desires openly. So it would logically make sense for Angela to project her own anger reciprocally on her mother. The irony is that everyone wears their selfishness on their sleeves, even as they hide their other emotions, relational secrets, etc.

As for the game, well... no wonder Sarris supposedly taught a whole class on this film. The game is intricate in how it dominates its opponents, which are really everyone in the room regardless of who they're distinctively talking about. By coding reflections of one’s feelings for another person, passive aggression finds its sharpest weapons in what is left unsaid. The game forges vague reflections from clear cultural representations (including people both in the room or artists, symbols in psychological art-test suppositions, roles in historical events) to define the way they see the mystery person in question. All must evaluate themselves against these overwhelmingly nebulous, and thus threatening, anti-signifiers by the nature of their invisible connotations from the beholders. If 'hate' was an obvious implication, I doubt anybody would have been so affected, but unknown judgments engulf the subjects in the oil of everything they know, from superficial ideas to intimately familiar people, and they are forced to wonder what others' associations are to these terms. This then triggers another awful reminder for each person on the other team: that they don't really have a pulse on anyone else. They are each so. fucking. alone.

If a key theme is how fragile our egos are, it's significant that only one round of this game is able to be played before ids erupt. They can’t bear to cope with this kind of flooding paranoia, and there is a sadomasochistic pleasure in unmasking this vulnerability, just as there is a relatable discomfort when we process the idea of being in their place. The cowardice of anyone but Angela to be transparently honest is worth exploiting though, and my favorite moment of the film is when they all go after the ‘help’ in their final answer (of course), protecting themselves and one another from the shame for a brief instant, to engage in a self-fulfilling prophecy by projecting onto the safest mascot in the room, as Angela immediately calls them all out for doing! They can't possibly believe it's her, but it doesn't matter- they choose to believe it because any alternative is too insufferable to endure even musing on internally.

The mystery of the second gunshot disinvites us to join in finding out who is the second most ego-fragile person in the room, and who provokes them into violence to cope… a mystery that reflects the dense, disturbing, confounding experience of witnessing the game and engaging in negative self-reflection while wondering what others think about you- as a half-truthful consideration of who you really are. Why are we not invited? Well, probably because it doesn't matter. The first answer in the game was obvious, given the information we had through the narrative as well as the body language and framing of the scene- but it was still tense, because everyone in the room was being tortured through their persecution-complexes being tested. Now that we've experienced this horror by proxy, there's no need to know who is next to cave to their ids to protect their egos, as their culturally-ingrained consciences crumble. We only know that it's definitely not Angela who fires the gun, for her weapon is exploiting these deficits in the adults around her with language and wit, nor Traunitz, who supports her by doing the same via sign language. It's an anti-mystery because by now we know that they're all equally empty characters, vapid personalities -not because they don't have them but because they're hidden from everyone, including themselves- and so with the information we're given, only their emotional control is salient. Who fires the second shot (or any subsequent ones) doesn't matter, as the game has been established and the consequences set in motion, so all that matters is that someone else does- and that action, divorced from any of its details, evokes the brutal point that the violence was not specific to the mother-daughter dynamic, but to the intolerability of psychological challenge to adults, as Fassbinder sees them.

The final image we see is texted script: a binding-marriage vow question asks us to consider whether we really want to be tied to another human being, who morphs and becomes unknowable and leads to tragedy, or perhaps even exist in a social world. Does Angela want to be killed? Does she hurt others as a death wish, or simply because she is so hurt herself? Is this the only strategy she -or Fassbinder- knows to implement to stay alive, acerbically provoking others' emotions in order to feel stable? If humanity's cowardice, and failure to be honest, is worth exploiting- and if Fassbinder relates to these people, as I assume he does- this film feels a bit like a suicide note; or an admission that he needs to continually, masochistically exploit himself for a chance at salvation.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#154 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Jul 30, 2021 10:34 am


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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#155 Post by Dr Amicus » Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:40 am

As an assumption, this looks like a repackage of half the original box set with Wolves added and a book including the relevant original entries from the Boxset's book and the Wollves booklet. Or have I missed something?

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#156 Post by Glowingwabbit » Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:53 am

Dr Amicus wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:40 am
As an assumption, this looks like a repackage of half the original box set with Wolves added and a book including the relevant original entries from the Boxset's book and the Wollves booklet. Or have I missed something?
Yes, except there are new essays in the book sadly.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#157 Post by senseabove » Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:56 am

Last edition's authors: Tony Rayns, Gertrud Koch, Michael Pattison, Nick Pinkerton, Ashley Clark, Erica Carrer, Alex Davidson, Glenn Kenny, Margaret Deriaz.
This edition's authors: Tony Rayns, David Jenkins, Nicole Brenez, Phuong Le, Carmen Gray and Sean Hogan.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#158 Post by DRW.mov » Fri Jul 30, 2021 4:57 pm

The most important thing to note here is “Vol. I”. Vol II and beyond are not far behind and will eclipse the previous set.

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tenia
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#159 Post by tenia » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:05 pm

I suspect there really only will be a 2nd volume with no movie added, and that the main draw will be to offer those movies in a boxset again but with new written material. Hardly enough to eclipse the previous set IMO.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#160 Post by R0lf » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:19 pm

It would be nice if Arrow had a Studio Canal deal and released the films they’ve been sitting on. After the LOLA blu ray they announced a set was coming which then never materialised.

Obviously a big draw for these sets would be if they had new transfers or could fix the colour timing.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#161 Post by Glowingwabbit » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:25 pm

tenia wrote:
Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:05 pm
I suspect there really only will be a 2nd volume with no movie added, and that the main draw will be to offer those movies in a boxset again but with new written material. Hardly enough to eclipse the previous set IMO.
It's been confirmed that there will eventually be titles beyond what was in the original set So we'll probably see a vol 3 at some point at the very least.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#162 Post by tenia » Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:52 am

I snooped around and indeed, the artist illustrating these sets (Sister Hyde) is saying there'll be more titles than in the original set "including movies that have not been on Blu-ray yet".
My bad !

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#163 Post by swo17 » Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:56 am

But will all the original titles show up in one of these new ones, or am I going to have to keep it for one or two movies?

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#164 Post by Calvin » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:00 am

The extras appear to be identical to the previous releases, so I suspect the existing discs might be re-used here.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#165 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:03 am

tenia wrote:
Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:52 am
I snooped around and indeed, the artist illustrating these sets (Sister Hyde) is saying there'll be more titles than in the original set "including movies that have not been on Blu-ray yet".
My bad !
Sorry tenia, I meant to come back to edit my post to mention Sister Hyde as the source, but then I forgot. Glad you found it anyway.
swo17 wrote:
Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:56 am
But will all the original titles show up in one of these new ones, or am I going to have to keep it for one or two movies?
My assumption is that they'd only drop original titlesif they've lost the license to any of them. Does anyone remember if they are all licensed from the same company? I guess it's still a gamble if you want to sell your set off which I'm currently considering.

At least Maria Braun, Fear Eats the Soul, and Fox and His Friends have Criterion editions (if they don't rerelease them), which I think just leaves Effi Briest and Chinese Roulette (although I think this one shares a disc with Fox so I'd assume they'd just use that same disc).

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#166 Post by Calvin » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:22 am

I'm fairly sure that they were all licensed from the R.W. Fassbinder Foundation. They own enough of Fassbinder's films over and above what was in the original set to fill further volumes, but fingers crossed that Arrow can rescue one of the not-on-DVD TV films like Nora Helmer or Bremen Freedom.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#167 Post by Drucker » Mon Aug 23, 2021 12:32 pm

From Fran Simeoni:
It feels like the right timing to relaunch and give people the option to get these more special releases. It's not logistically possible to just sell the book and the box I'm afraid but if you got the first box there's no reason to double dip really.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#168 Post by swo17 » Mon Aug 23, 2021 12:35 pm

Weren't we expecting some new titles to be included? Also, having difficulty squaring these two statements:
Using our earlier blurays we are relaunching our Fassbinder collection
Now we've relicensed the films and there's new restorations...

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#169 Post by Drucker » Mon Aug 23, 2021 12:50 pm

Yes that's possible. He clarifies in a reply to Daines that there are new restorations as in "films we haven't released yet." But there are not newer restorations of films already released.

In another reply, he clarifies that there will be three boxes.

See here and here.

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tenia
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#170 Post by tenia » Mon Aug 23, 2021 1:19 pm

Yes, it seems to say that films already released are recycling the existing discs, but there will be movies not released yet and that are sourced from newer restorations.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#171 Post by senseabove » Mon Aug 23, 2021 1:50 pm

So, this is Vol. 1 (take 2):
Love is Colder Than Death / Katzelmacher
The Merchant of Four Seasons / Beware of a Holy Whore
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Tenderness of the Wolves

And since Simeoni also says that "the new stuff that will be added will be added without overlap with the first box," that leaves these discs from the original RWF Collection to be reused for Vol. 2:
Fear Eats the Soul
Effi Briest
Fox and His Friends / Chinese Roulette
The Marriage of Maria Braun

And presumably Vol. 3 will then be entirely new releases/restorations.

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#172 Post by swo17 » Mon Aug 23, 2021 1:53 pm

Perhaps Vol. 2 or 3 will include Eight Hours Don't Make a Day as well

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#173 Post by L.A. » Mon Aug 23, 2021 2:02 pm

How about Whity? :-k

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#174 Post by Calvin » Mon Aug 23, 2021 2:19 pm

I haven't heard about any recent restorations, but these are the other titles that are owned by the Fassbinder Foundation - who all the other films have been licensed from:

Gods of the Plague
Rio das Mortes
Whity
The Niklashausen Journey
The American Soldier
Pioneers in Ingolstadt
Wildweschel
Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
Fear of Fear
Satan's Brew

Seems likely that the third set will contain some of them, but I do have my fingers crossed that Arrow have got some of the previously-unavailable TV films like Nora Helmer or Bremen Freedom

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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#175 Post by L.A. » Mon Aug 23, 2021 2:35 pm

I understand Whity is one of the very few scope films from Fassbinder, that is why my interest for it. Plus a western in question.

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