Christian Petzold’s Barbara (2012)
Happy New Year! and may my big dumb city have a real mayor in 2013.
I’ve been a huge fan of German director Christian Petzold since is his flawed yet atmospheric and surreal Yella (2007) appeared on DVD during the final days of New Yorker Video. This was probably the last DVD released by the company before it was shuttered, and even under its revivified shingle, Yella remains unavailable in North America.
Petzold hails from the Berlin school, which is another branding to describe his generation and the group of filmmakers whose style and subjects differ greatly from the mainstream. Petzold has not made a great many films, but the roughly dozen titles have appeared on European TV and DVD, with a few making their way to Region 1 land.
His films have also appeared at TIFF, and while Barbara will likely make its way to DVD (and hopefully Blu-ray), Petzold’s films are worth seeing on the big screen for his highly peculiar use of sound and image in directing our attention to things only he wants us to process.
Petzold’s works have a way of lulling the viewer into a calm state that’s just a hair away from the emotionally distanced characters in his films, and his use of sound is especially important in manipulating our senses. His latest work, Barbara [M] (2012), starts longtime collaborator Nina Hoss as an East German doctor (circa 1980) who’s staying calm & cool until a chance appears to the west.
Some reviewers have compared it to Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s oscar-winning The Lives of Others (2006), a film I’ve yet to see (yes, shame on me – but give me a few weeks) yet being familiar with Petzold’s style, it’s not hard to see how the story of a persecuted character is given a very different spin by the Berlin director. My film review goes into some detail about directorial specifics, but certainly in terms of his use of sound, it’s a treat to catch his work in the cinema. (Barbara is currently screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.)
I hope it enjoys a modest run and has already been earmarked for a spring 2013 video release, because its success may unlock prior films from their Region 2 editions, and give us a bit more choice across the pond.
Also added: mobile editions of existing reviews for Yella [M] (2007), Gespenster / Ghosts [M] (2005), and Wolfsburg [M] (2003).
Coming shortly: soundtrack reviews, a podcast with composer Atli Orvarsson, new rare Hitchcock, and Nikkatsu smut of a typically Wrong nature.
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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )
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