"Welt am Draht" is a German movie from over 40 years ago written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. At 3 hours it is certainly among his longest works, which is only one difference from his usual approach. He rarely crossed the 2-hour mark in his other films. Then again, this one here is really 2 films in one. "World on a Wire" consists of 2 90-minute films basically. The lead actor is Klaus Löwitsch, who may not be alive anymore, but his name is still known here in Germany. And the cast includes other known names and regular Fassbinder actors, such as Lommel, Valentin, Lamprecht, Hoven, Raab, Carstensen, Caven and John. This may not seem spectacular today, but back in the 1970s this was among the best Germany had to offer. Fassbinder was still in his 20s when he made this one and yet it was far from early in his career. He was already a most prolific filmmaker at this point.
Sadly, the cast does not match the film in this case. I may be a bit biased as I am not the greatest Fassbinder admirer in general, but nonetheless, there are films by him that I quite enjoy ("Angst essen Seele auf" / "Warum läuft Herr R. Amok"), Not so this one. I am also not too big on science fiction usually, so it was not a great combination to be honest. I also felt that Fassbinder's approach to film does not really work with the genre. His films are often beautiful in terms of set decorations etc, but very depressing in terms of character elaboration and the behavior he depicts in people. From that perspective, it is easy to recognize Fassbinder in here. So yeah, to me this film felt overlong and uninteresting, even if there were a couple decent scenes. But far from enough to me to let me recommend it. It was actually closer to a */***** than ***/***** for me. Thumbs down. One of Fassbinder's weaker films.
Sadly, the cast does not match the film in this case. I may be a bit biased as I am not the greatest Fassbinder admirer in general, but nonetheless, there are films by him that I quite enjoy ("Angst essen Seele auf" / "Warum läuft Herr R. Amok"), Not so this one. I am also not too big on science fiction usually, so it was not a great combination to be honest. I also felt that Fassbinder's approach to film does not really work with the genre. His films are often beautiful in terms of set decorations etc, but very depressing in terms of character elaboration and the behavior he depicts in people. From that perspective, it is easy to recognize Fassbinder in here. So yeah, to me this film felt overlong and uninteresting, even if there were a couple decent scenes. But far from enough to me to let me recommend it. It was actually closer to a */***** than ***/***** for me. Thumbs down. One of Fassbinder's weaker films.