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German Cinema

A collection of 20 posts

Fritz on Fridays: The Lost Films of Fritz Lang

Fritz on Fridays

Fritz on Fridays: The Lost Films of Fritz Lang

Like many prolific filmmakers active in the first half of the 20th century, Fritz Lang’s filmography did not make it to the present in its entirety.

Fritz on Fridays: Metropolis

Fritz on Fridays

Fritz on Fridays: Metropolis

Not all masterpieces are without their flaws. I’m sure the Sistine Chapel has its dents and dings, too.

Fritz on Fridays: Four Around the Woman

Fritz on Fridays

Fritz on Fridays: Four Around the Woman

As confusing as its title situation.

Fritz on Fridays: Woman in the Moon

Fritz on Fridays

Fritz on Fridays: Woman in the Moon

A blueprint for the blockbusters of today.

Fritz on Fridays: Man Hunt (1941)

Fritz on Fridays: Man Hunt (1941)

What greater thrill could there be than killing the leader of the Third Reich?

Fritz on Fridays: Death’s Domain in ‘Destiny’ with Daniel Gorman

Bernhard Goetzke

Fritz on Fridays: Death’s Domain in ‘Destiny’ with Daniel Gorman

A conversation about what sets Destiny apart, the technological advances of the early silent-film years, Langian metanarratives related to destiny and much more.

Fritz on Fridays: Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler

Fritz on Fridays: Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler

The man dropped classics like drivers dropping fast-food litter off I-71 on their commute: naturally, frequently and as if no one was looking.

REVIEW: GIRL YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE (2023) dir. Simon Verhoeven

REVIEW: GIRL YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE (2023) dir. Simon Verhoeven

We need more Milli Vanillis.

Fritz on Fridays: The Wandering Image

Fritz on Fridays: The Wandering Image

The Wandering Image is not a great film. It is an important one, though.

Fritz on Fridays: The Spiders — The Diamond Ship

Fritz on Fridays: The Spiders — The Diamond Ship

The second of Fritz Lang’s two Spiders films, released in 1920 but considered a lost film until the 1970s, might be the most reprobate picture of his nearly six-decade career.

Fritz on Fridays: The Woman in the Window (1944)

Fritz on Fridays: The Woman in the Window (1944)

The Woman in the Window might be the most important film the director made after leaving the German industry.

Fritz on Fridays: The Spiders — The Golden Sea

Fritz on Fridays: The Spiders — The Golden Sea

I try not to interpret Lang, or all Austrian and / or German cinema for that matter, through the tragedy of the Shoah and fascism more broadly, but The Golden Sea makes that hard through the confession of the Incan leader, who offers “a sacrifice to the sun that rises and promises to make our people

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: The Zone of Interest

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: The Zone of Interest

I’m not convinced that The Zone of Interest, the first film in a decade from provocateur Jonathan Glazer, is a film about the banality of evil per se. It’s more of a horrific record of of the banality — and that distinction matters.

Fritz on Fridays: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

Fritz on Fridays: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

At the absolute maximum, there are but a handful of filmmakers in the history of the seventh art who have left a greater mark on the medium than Fritz Lang. I’m even hesitant to identify a single filmmaker with a definitive case for being more influential over the course

Fritz on Fridays: <i>The Big Heat</i> (1953)

Fritz on Fridays: <i>The Big Heat</i> (1953)

Beginning today, on the first Friday of every month, this column by critic Joshua Polanski will feature a short review or essay on a film directed by Fritz Lang (1890-1976), the great Austrian “Master of Darkness.” Occasionally (but not too occasionally), Fritz on Fridays will also feature interviews and conversations

Analogies of Continuity in The Marriage of Maria Braun

Analogies of Continuity in The Marriage of Maria Braun

The opening and closing images of The Marriage of Maria Braun are some of the most biting bookends in all of cinema. An image of Hitler, operating like a visual overture, opens the film, accompanied by auditory wedding vows; it provides something of an interpretive key for the film. The

Afire, One of the Year's Most Romantic Films

Afire, One of the Year's Most Romantic Films

The Berlin School’s prized filmmaker director and writer Christian Petzold’s new film, Afire, releases this weekend at the Coolidge Corner Theater. The German summer romance is bound to be one of the year’s most literary films, a claim that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the

Paradise Leaves a Tainted Impression

Paradise Leaves a Tainted Impression

How much pain and injustice must one suffer to become radicalized?

Piaffe Is Weird, Sexy

Piaffe Is Weird, Sexy

Read my capsule review of Piaffe, as part of the Boston Underground Film Festival, on the Boston Hassle's website.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Magical Run and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Magical Run and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

From 1971 to 1975, Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed 18 films or mini-series. The titles include Beware of a Holy Whore (1971), The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972), World on a Wire (1973), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972). Fassbinder’s four