In a Year with 13 Moons

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary late Fassbinder film
Review: Despite the flaws of '13 Moons,' I still believe that this is one of Fassbinder's best films. Part of that conclusion is of course the understanding that every Fassbinder film has flaws. But I judge films on how effective they were in telling a story and how effective they are in making me think. And this film still has a strong impression on me 10 years after seeing it last. For me, the film is best understood during the skyscraper sequence. We have an unknown character peeping through a keyhole in an abandoned office tower and laughing hysterically. That of course, is Fassbinder's little jab at the audience, as we are all voyeurs. Later, we see an executive playing a kind of "movieokie" / imitation of a Jerry Lewis sequence on television. A total carbon copy of a preexisting text, done in the twisted humorous style that only Fassbinder can deliver. We later see that same executive subject himself to a staged kidnapping drill by his security staff, which places the film in historical context as left-wing terrorists attacked CEO's during the 1970's. And finally, we see a man hang himself in an abandoned suite. It is over the top, unrealistic, and I'm sure it is torture for most viewers (if they weren't driven out by the early slaughterhouse scene), but it is still a masterpiece as it is a compelling example of post-modernism in the true sense. If you are a student of New Wave or Avant Garde cinema, 13 Moons is a must-see. I can't convince you that it is a masterpiece. You just have to see it for yourself. It ranks with "The American Soldier," "The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant," "Love is Colder than Death," "Chinese Roulette," and "Fox and his Friends," as Fassbinder's best works. If you want to see the darkest work of art to come of out West Germany in the late 1970's, this is it.

Rating:
Summary: Spend your day getting wisdom teeth removed instead!
Review: Fassbinder inflicts his personal pain and suffering upon his viewers. I've seen graduate film students walk out of this film. In fact, the INSTRUCTOR of the class walked out as well. The relief felt when he/she finally commits suicide was not worth the utter hell of watching the protagonist's torment for two hours. The remaining students actually cheered when death finally ended not only his suffering but our own.

Call me insensitive and closed-minded, but only after you have experienced this ordeal for yourself. This is the worst film this film instructor has ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Spend your day getting wisdom teeth removed instead!
Review: Fassbinder inflicts his personal pain and suffering upon his viewers. I've seen graduate film students walk out of this film. In fact, the INSTRUCTOR of the class walked out as well. The relief felt when he/she finally commits suicide was not worth the utter hell of watching the protagonist's torment for two hours. The remaining students actually cheered when death finally ended not only his suffering but our own.

Call me insensitive and closed-minded, but only after you have experienced this ordeal for yourself. This is the worst film this film instructor has ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Middle-of-the-road Fassbinder
Review: My first response to '13 Moons' is that it is not a great Fassbinder film. I'll admit, though, that maybe it's just too tragic to be "enjoyable" in the normal sense.

Volker Spengler is an excellent actor, and the chance to play a character like Elvira must have been fascinating for him. Ingrid Caven is as seductive as ever, although not quite as intriguing in this film as she is in `Merchant of Four Seasons' or `Mother Kusters.' The biggest treat is Gottfried John as Anton Saitz -- a real hoot of a character. It's a shame that not all corporate hot-shots can be as outrageous and fun as Saitz. We see him and his hirelings playing what is apparently a daily game of a shoot-out (with blanks, of course) in the company parking lot. You also get the sense that Saitz wears those white tennis shorts to work every day. Saitz is the real high point of the film.

But '13 Moons' is ultimately a tragedy, and a deeply affecting portrait of a transvestite's humanity. You'll be shocked by the horrid slaughterhouse scenes; and also by the irony that a sensitive character like Elvira could work in such a bloody place. A metaphor of a feeling soul in a sublimely horrible world? Worth a look, but still not one of Fassbinder's greatest.

Rating:
Summary: Middle-of-the-road Fassbinder
Review: My first response to '13 Moons' is that it is not a great Fassbinder film. I'll admit, though, that maybe it's just too tragic to be "enjoyable" in the normal sense.

Volker Spengler is an excellent actor, and the chance to play a character like Elvira must have been fascinating for him. Ingrid Caven is as seductive as ever, although not quite as intriguing in this film as she is in 'Merchant of Four Seasons' or 'Mother Kusters.' The biggest treat is Gottfried John as Anton Saitz -- a real hoot of a character. It's a shame that not all corporate hot-shots can be as outrageous and fun as Saitz. We see him and his hirelings playing what is apparently a daily game of a shoot-out (with blanks, of course) in the company parking lot. You also get the sense that Saitz wears those white tennis shorts to work every day. Saitz is the real high point of the film.

But '13 Moons' is ultimately a tragedy, and a deeply affecting portrait of a transvestite's humanity. You'll be shocked by the horrid slaughterhouse scenes; and also by the irony that a sensitive character like Elvira could work in such a bloody place. A metaphor of a feeling soul in a sublimely horrible world? Worth a look, but still not one of Fassbinder's greatest.

Rating:
Summary: Unpleasant and Unforgettable
Review: The other reviewers are correct to write that this is a difficult film to watch, as are all of Fassbinder's films. But that's why "In a Year with 13 Moons" is such a masterpiece: the director isn't trying to slip you a wink; he has made a brutal film to convey brutal ideas. And whether you agree with those ideas or not, Fassbinder's violence here is never insincere or gratuitous. (There are also a few well-timed moments of comic relief.) An astonishing combination of craftsmanship and raw emotion from a filmmaker at his very best. It makes other films look lazy or cowardly, or both.

Rating:
Summary: Unpleasant and Unforgettable
Review: The other reviewers are correct to write that this is a difficult film to watch, as are all of Fassbinder's films. But that's why "In a Year with 13 Moons" is such a masterpiece: the director isn't trying to slip you a wink; he has made a brutal film to convey brutal ideas. And whether you agree with those ideas or not, Fassbinder's violence here is never insincere or gratuitous. (There are also a few well-timed moments of comic relief.) An astonishing combination of craftsmanship and raw emotion from a filmmaker at his very best. It makes other films look lazy or cowardly, or both.

Rating:
Summary: A Difficult Film, from the Master of Difficult Films
Review: This film is a bit difficult to watch. On one hand, this film features a few scenes that are almost unwatchable. There are long monologues, graphically violent visuals, and many characters (like the Nun in the courtyard) who seem automated, like wind-up toys. On the other hand, I cannot deny that after 3 viewings, this is one of the most significant films Fassbinder ever made. This film is meant to be difficult to watch. It throws cinema back at the audience. There are characters in the film who are representive of the audience (voyeurs, for example). There are post-modern quotations of film, especially the highly disturbing and somehow funny scene in which the executive is imitating Jerry Lewis a he watches a Lewis movie on television. But these are just details. I urge anyone who has in interest in Fassbinder to see this movie. You might love it. You might hate it. But you may never forget what you see...

Rating:
Summary: Fassbinder's Dark Masterpiece
Review: This film is a masterpiece because of the way it challenges viewers: it refuses to be mere escapist entertainment as so many movies are. It bleakly confronts the way the legacy of the holocaust in Germany and the alienation of modern capitalism have turned people into soulless machines: love is impossible, a real life of honest emotion becomes unlivable. The main character, Elvira Weishaupt, is a lonely, forgotten soul who is kicked around and ignored by the rest of the world; what gives her life meaning is that she once loved someone passionately enough to change her entire life and identity for him, which, nonetheless, did not make any difference at all. Fassbinder mourns, in this film, the violent mysterious deaths of two previous lovers, El Hedi Ben Salem and Armin Meier; he bears witness to the crushing collapse of the utopian dreams of free love and personal liberation that marked the 1960's. This is one of Fassbinder's most intellectual films (Schopenhauer, Kafka and Sartre are all explicitly referenced) but it's also one of his most human and heartfelt, using great music (Mahler, Roxy Music, Connie Francis) to express the bittersweet longings of the main character. This is a nihilist statement that can actually make people appreciate life -- Utopia is what we all make of it, and everyone is an "outsider" in one way or another.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary late Fassbinder film
Review: THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST STYLISH FILMS EVER MADE. NOTHING IN IT IS EXCESSIVE - THE DIRECTOR IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING WITH EVEN THE MOST DISTURBING SLAUGHTERHOUSE SCENE.