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Phoenix review
Posted : 7 years, 3 months ago on 26 January 2017 12:31
Siento en Petzold el gusto por contar una buena historia, escogiendo su punto de vista a la altura de las bajas pasiones (Nelly ve llegar a Johnny desde la buhardilla) y la trágica historia de Lene.
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Phoenix review
Posted : 8 years, 8 months ago on 30 August 2015 05:57
Initial Thought: I never saw a trailer for this, but I did read the plot from my movie theater for the movies we play. This one sounded really intriguing. It also helped that basically everyone who saw it was absolutely astonished by it.
Characters/Acting: Most of the people here are German actors I've never heard of or seen. Nina Hoss is the only one I've seen before. Her performance here is captivating. You can still sense the haunting of the camps while she tries to return to a normal life. Ronald Zehrfeld who plays Johnny her husband is really great too. I found it really hard to like him as a person though. He just had this aura around him I didn't like. All the other side characters didn't really add all too much to the story except for maybe her best friend Lene. She had a pretty vital role in the story. She was also very haunted, but she seemed to be much more pulled together than Nelly. Anyways everyone performed here so flawlessly.
Story: A disfigured concentration-camp survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis. From the get go this movie pulls you in as Nelly and her friend are stopped at a barricade. After being extremely timid trying to get the nerve to get to her husband he comes to her. He doesn't recognize her of course. He asks to train her to become his wife. That in it's own doesn't seem to make a likable person. Anyways it is so strange that he has no idea who she is all this time hearing her voice or anything. It never feels too slow, but once it ends you felt like you haven't sat there too long. Oh man the ending was just absolutely wonderful.
Directing/Writing: I should have known this was based on a novel. That's deal these days I suppose. This is the first film I've seen of writer/director Christian Petzold. With this magnificent film I may just check out his other films as well. This is also the first time for writer Harun Farocki who has done some films with Petzold. So they are obviously a good team together.
Final Thought: This was such an excellently captured story. It was mesmerizing and at times even haunting. The performances were stellar. The characters were memorable. It kept you watching to see how everything would play out. I definitely recommend checking this out if it's playing near you. You will not be disappointed in it at all.
Characters/Acting: Most of the people here are German actors I've never heard of or seen. Nina Hoss is the only one I've seen before. Her performance here is captivating. You can still sense the haunting of the camps while she tries to return to a normal life. Ronald Zehrfeld who plays Johnny her husband is really great too. I found it really hard to like him as a person though. He just had this aura around him I didn't like. All the other side characters didn't really add all too much to the story except for maybe her best friend Lene. She had a pretty vital role in the story. She was also very haunted, but she seemed to be much more pulled together than Nelly. Anyways everyone performed here so flawlessly.
Story: A disfigured concentration-camp survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis. From the get go this movie pulls you in as Nelly and her friend are stopped at a barricade. After being extremely timid trying to get the nerve to get to her husband he comes to her. He doesn't recognize her of course. He asks to train her to become his wife. That in it's own doesn't seem to make a likable person. Anyways it is so strange that he has no idea who she is all this time hearing her voice or anything. It never feels too slow, but once it ends you felt like you haven't sat there too long. Oh man the ending was just absolutely wonderful.
Directing/Writing: I should have known this was based on a novel. That's deal these days I suppose. This is the first film I've seen of writer/director Christian Petzold. With this magnificent film I may just check out his other films as well. This is also the first time for writer Harun Farocki who has done some films with Petzold. So they are obviously a good team together.
Final Thought: This was such an excellently captured story. It was mesmerizing and at times even haunting. The performances were stellar. The characters were memorable. It kept you watching to see how everything would play out. I definitely recommend checking this out if it's playing near you. You will not be disappointed in it at all.
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