I have not sought out information on this film, but every bit I've ever heard/read focused on two things: the length of it and the epilogue's sharp turn into madness. What I had not heard before (and what I suspect is bandied about in more in-depth reviews that I just hadn't read) is that this is Fassbinder at his visual best. It's wrapped in shadows, tilted and framed through bars, around corners, and beneath its subjects. It captures the bleak beauty of Berlin in the throes of depression and nascent fascism. Had it been a shorter film, I would have screencapped it.

Since I brought it up, let me address the length. This is a miniseries. If you have the…

Much like my review for Out 1, I'll be updating this after each episode as opposed to trying to remember all of it at the end. Enjoy!

Part 1: The Punishment Begins

A fitting title for the beginning of this series as our lead character Franz is introduced. He is for lack of a better phrase a total piece of shit. Having spent the last 4 years in prison for killing his girlfriend, Fassbinder makes no illusions that this is someone we should root for. What strikes me immediately about this series is how it reminds me in a way of There Will Be Blood, in the sense that it follows a completely unlikable yet fascinating lead character. As a…

One does not simply walk into BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ.

This towering 15 1/2-hour all-or-nothing experience is something that every cinephile at some point needs to watch, digest, talk about, ruminate on, etc. I somehow managed to masochistically binge-watch it over the last 4 days, and I think that's the correct approach. If you're able to consume it under a shorter period, kudos to you, mostly because the film's hypnotic power grows on your ability to completely immerse yourself in, and endure, its sheer colossal length. The fact that it takes Fassbinder so long to tell this story ultimately becomes a theme itself. By repeating, prolonging, and stretching out scenes, Fassbinder milks what easily could've been told in 3-hours but would've lacked…

Berlin Alexanderplatz is true poetry in cinematic form. From the story itself, to the jaw dropping epilogue, to the literal fragments of incredible poetry laced throughout each episode, this series is a force which I have yet to fully wrap my head around. Who could? It's so dense and multifaceted on near every front. As insane as it is to say I may need to rewatch something that's 16 hours, it would probably take several rewatches to absorb most of what's to be found here. There's an endless amount of layers, as there's the sociopolitical commentary which could eat up 20 pages of literary analysis like nothing, the exploration of sexuality and love (not a standard exploration of those subjects…

The time to crack into Fassbinder's magnum opus has finally arrived. Due to the film's gargantuan nature I figured it would be best to continuously add to this as I make my way through the fifteen hour epic.

Part I: "The Punishment Begins" - "Die Strafe beginnt"

From the start, Fassbinder's attention to detail when it came to recreating 1920's Berlin is absolutely incredible, aside from the technical aspects, I would have no problem believing this was actually filmed in 1928. The use of long tracking shots as a method of establishing settings and worldbuilding is also a really nice touch that compliments the attention to detail perfectly. It becomes apparent quite rapidly that much of Berlin Alexanderplatz will be…

Added to: Sight and Sound Greatest Films

BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ is often cited as the magnum opus of the singular German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who died at the age of 37 in 1982, just two years after the broadcast of this mammoth TV series. It’s marked as "a film in 13 parts with an epilogue" at the beginning of each episode, and it’s the only TV film included in the top 250th in the Sight and Sound Greatest Films poll.

Considering it’s 15.5 hours long in total, it’s definitely an arduous task ought not be taken lightly. I have watched it twice, the first time is a binge-watch, I devoured the entire series within 2-3 days and subsequently had an…

Obra-prima árdua e mui recompensante, que literalmente obriga os espectadores a repensarem e ressentirem a lógica reativa, tamanha a quantidade de experimentações inicialmente teatrais convertidas em puro cinema de vanguarda emotiva, demonstrando mais uma vez o quão político é o subgênero melodramático!

A protagonização do Gunter Lamprecht é absolutamente soberba em seu misto de repugnância factual e desamparo emocional, resultando num personagem tão complexo quanto situacionalmente previsível, um fantoche ditatorial convertido em medíocre sobrevivencial.

Infelizmente, precisei dividir os capítulos num punhado de dias, por conta de outras atividades pessoais, e talvez fosse melhor assim, de tão abalado que fiquei com a dramaticidade violenta da narrativa, com certeza muito expandida em relação ao romance original, que tenho a obrigação de ler…

And they said I would fail!
Alrighty, since I am officially an Insane Person, decided to start watching Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 14 episode mini-series adaptation of the acclaimed novel, Berlin Alexanderplatz. Due to the fact that the mini-series runs a truly daunting 15 and a half hours, it's pretty much impossible to watch, comprehend, and fully review the mini-series in one single viewing, since, of course, 15.5 hours of content and narrative is truly overwhelming to try and comprehend, especially if binged. So, instead of the traditional "watch it all and then write a review" format I usually do (see my review for Fassbinder's two-part mini-series World on a Wire, or the one I wrote for Olivier Assayas' three part…