Darkly German, and mirrors, mirrors everywhere. There are dozens of complicated re-reflections actually, which took a lot of work I'm sure. It gives the obvious implication of world-within-world, done in a large number of scenes. I suppose I was thinking, OK, enough with the mirrors!
Speaking of dark, the characters were often dressed in their wintery black coats, fedoras, shoes, everything. Very, very dark.
Produced for TV in two episodes, about 1.5 hours each. I understand there were only two TV channels in Germany at the time, and a great many Germans tuned in for these two episodes. The director reached a LOT more people compared to a screening in a movie theater. Good move.
Beyond the black attire of our characters during many scenes, it was wonderful to see the full color world of the early 1970s again, with the cars, the phone technology, the clothing. The main background score from early Fleetwood Mac,
An odd part of the behavior of the main character, Stiller, was his constant nervous movements. Spinning in chairs, jumping up from sitting, then sitting again, or moving quickly from room to room. There must be a reason for that, but maybe that can be uncovered by reading the book "Simulacron-3". There were also many oddball character situations such as the bald guy in the fur coat, wearing lipstick, who went into the phone booth. Or the bare-chested muscleman chef cutting off fish heads in a restaurant kitchen. Really odd stuff. These must be artsy references to somethings that went right over my head.
The main character "Fred Stiller" is like a contemporary James Bond or a Humphrey Bogart, and he played it well. Very athletic in many scenes, he could have been an acrobat. His final and main romantic interest "Eva Vollmer" was certainly like a Lauren Bacall. Very attractive people, and very good acting.
For most of the actors, the acting style was kind of slow, or stilted, or a bit incomplete. My insight is that would be correct since each character is a computer simulation and it would be difficult to "program-in" the fullest personality for each. Not so for the main character, Stiller. He is so fully formed that he and a few others uncover the secret of their existence.
A really good story with lots of drama, color, wonderful characters, cinematography and creative shots. The cinematography has been very influential I'm sure. I was really drawn into it, as well as into the analysis of the movie, provided in the "Bonus" section on the DVD from Criterion Collections. I watched it over three nights. Filmed way before "The Matrix", it gives us hints of that world. Any way before Artificial Intelligence, it gives us some foresight into using complex simulations to predict the future.
It was interesting to see the German standards of beauty of women of that time. Also the director, Fassbinder, brings in a whole bunch of cameo appearances of his regular crew of actors, as well as bringing in quite a few actors who were famed in prior decades, but since faded. So this film brings in a lot of the scope of German TV and movie actors.
Speaking of dark, the characters were often dressed in their wintery black coats, fedoras, shoes, everything. Very, very dark.
Produced for TV in two episodes, about 1.5 hours each. I understand there were only two TV channels in Germany at the time, and a great many Germans tuned in for these two episodes. The director reached a LOT more people compared to a screening in a movie theater. Good move.
Beyond the black attire of our characters during many scenes, it was wonderful to see the full color world of the early 1970s again, with the cars, the phone technology, the clothing. The main background score from early Fleetwood Mac,
An odd part of the behavior of the main character, Stiller, was his constant nervous movements. Spinning in chairs, jumping up from sitting, then sitting again, or moving quickly from room to room. There must be a reason for that, but maybe that can be uncovered by reading the book "Simulacron-3". There were also many oddball character situations such as the bald guy in the fur coat, wearing lipstick, who went into the phone booth. Or the bare-chested muscleman chef cutting off fish heads in a restaurant kitchen. Really odd stuff. These must be artsy references to somethings that went right over my head.
The main character "Fred Stiller" is like a contemporary James Bond or a Humphrey Bogart, and he played it well. Very athletic in many scenes, he could have been an acrobat. His final and main romantic interest "Eva Vollmer" was certainly like a Lauren Bacall. Very attractive people, and very good acting.
For most of the actors, the acting style was kind of slow, or stilted, or a bit incomplete. My insight is that would be correct since each character is a computer simulation and it would be difficult to "program-in" the fullest personality for each. Not so for the main character, Stiller. He is so fully formed that he and a few others uncover the secret of their existence.
A really good story with lots of drama, color, wonderful characters, cinematography and creative shots. The cinematography has been very influential I'm sure. I was really drawn into it, as well as into the analysis of the movie, provided in the "Bonus" section on the DVD from Criterion Collections. I watched it over three nights. Filmed way before "The Matrix", it gives us hints of that world. Any way before Artificial Intelligence, it gives us some foresight into using complex simulations to predict the future.
It was interesting to see the German standards of beauty of women of that time. Also the director, Fassbinder, brings in a whole bunch of cameo appearances of his regular crew of actors, as well as bringing in quite a few actors who were famed in prior decades, but since faded. So this film brings in a lot of the scope of German TV and movie actors.
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